Learning How to Meditate

by Thomas Sechehaye and Milly Sonneman

Meditation is a technique for calming your mind. As you can imagine, learning meditation is a core skill to reduce stress and feel more relaxed. If you look on the Internet under meditation and stress, you’ll find over 2,300,000 entries! Obviously, there are many approaches, philosophies and people who find this a valuable tool. Don’t you wonder why?

Benefits of Meditation While the practice of meditation is thousands of years old, decades of scientific research document the benefits. These include:

• Increased feelings of calmness
• Decrease in stress hormone concentrations in the blood
• Increased ability to focus attention
• Increased resilience to dealing with stressful situations
• Normalization of blood pressure

The good news is you don’t need to travel to the other side of the world, join a religious cult or chant unusual sounds. While there are thousands of approaches to meditation, you can start with one that is described below and start to experience the benefits right away.

Meditation is a technique of awareness. You’ll practice focusing your attention internally. This practice is one that doesn’t require any special equipment or even music. All you need is you.

How to Get Started: Follow these few steps and you’ll be on your way.

1. Sit in a quiet place.

Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably and will not be disturbed. If you like, you can sit on a chair, or on a cushion on the floor.

2. Set a timer

Set a timer where you will hear it, but not be disturbed by the noise or light. You may want to start with five minutes of meditation and build up to 15-20 and 30 minutes, as you desire.

3. Sit straight.

Notice your spine and sit as straight as possible. If you’re in a chair, you may want to put a small pillow in the small of your back. Or you can sit cross-legged, either on a chair, couch, cushion or floor

4. Get comfortable.

Do what you need to do so that you are comfortable. Take your shoes off, loosen your belt, and adjust any of your clothing that feels tight. Also you may want to have a blanket, so that your body is warm and comfortable while sitting.

5. Close your eyes.

This is time for you. Your private and interior time. Let your eyes close and focus inside. Turn your attention fully to your interior experience.

6. Notice your breathing.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You aren’t trying to change the breathing. Rather, you are noticing your breathing and being present with each inhale and exhale.

7. Notice thoughts.

You may have thoughts that pop into your mind and distract you from your breathing. Come back to your breath when you notice that you’ve gone away. It is natural to have thoughts, so don’t be hard on yourself if you notice that you’ve drifted off. Just return to the breathing once more.

8. Focus on a word.

You can do the above meditation without this, but if you like, you can also add a word to focus on to help you concentrate on feelings of calmness. Words to choose include: peace, calm, smooth, gentle, space and light.

9. Come back.

When the timer goes off, take a deep breath, stretch and open your eyes slowly. Take this feeling of your own experience with you as you return into the rest of your day or evening.

Now—you may be wondering…”Is that it?” That doesn’t seem so challenging. Doesn’t seem so compelling. And it certainly doesn’t seem like it could be doing much. This mini-vacation from your exterior world can be remarkably refreshing. But don’t take my word for it. Experiment. Try it. Make time for it. Let your own experience determine your answer.

Take This With You:

Take five minutes to practice the art of listening inside. This is a skill that you can grow by doing it.

Keep going—You’re in for a special treat!

About the Author

Milly is author of Beyond Words: A Guide to Drawing Out Ideas. She is co-author with Thomas Sechehaye of just-released Design Yourself and SOS: Stress Options and Solutions, available at http://www.better-stress-advice.com

Milly and Thomas translate field-tested methods, from 17 years at Hands•On Graphics corporate trainings, to practical tools to help you reduce stress today!

Discover the newest visual and holistic approaches to manage stress and reduce information overload. http://www.better-stress-advice.com