Meditation is a large field, with many varying practices, do’s and don’ts. It can feel a little overwhelming and uncomfortable trying to find a practice that fits in with your life, here are 6 tips that help make meditation easier, leading to you finding the inner qualities you want most in life
You don’t need to meditate for hours.
Meditating for long stretches of time is an advanced method. For everyday people, sitting in meditation for an hour or two a day is often unsustainable, especially when you’re busy with work, kids, hobbies and working. The benefits of meditation actually occur faster from sitting for shorter periods every day, rather than from meditating for long stretches of time only once now and then.Try 15-20 minutes, no more than twice a day, especially if you’re a busy urban professional. Even 5 to 10 minutes of meditation every day is better than meditating sporadically, or not meditating at all.
There is a right way to meditate.
There are certainly more efficient ways to meditate, just like there are more efficient ways to swim. With proper technique, athletes enhance their performance. But without training with the correct technique you are laying a foundation for poor performance. Likewise, employing a simple meditation technique will allow you to glide through your mind with ease. Without training, you risk getting distracted by outside influences, fighting your body and getting caught up in your thoughts. all of which can cause your meditation to feel like torture.
The appropriate technique for you is generally going to be one that is enjoyable, and leaves you feeling more relaxed than you were before you sat to meditate. Try our Silatha Guided meditation sample {will insert hyper link to meditation sample} for a peek into the technique.
Studying meditation with a teacher really pays off.
Nowadays, there are all kinds of options for learning meditation, from books, to apps, free courses and very expensive courses. Recommendations from others is often a great way to find a course you like, and then it’s about trying and finding what works best for you.
It's totally normal to have thoughts during meditation.
Meditators have thoughts. No matter how long you’ve been meditating, you will still experience thoughts, emotions and sensations in most meditations. The only difference between long-term meditators and new meditators is that brand new meditators are surprised by all of their thoughts! They spend the majority of their time in meditation resisting, fighting, or going into these thoughts. Regular meditators have gotten used to the idea that they will be thinking all sorts of thoughts during meditation, and have a much easier time accepting this as a normal part of the practice.
Once you begin embracing all of your thoughts, meditation will feel easier. And if you can go “deep” in a particular sitting, you will do so a lot quicker and easier by welcoming all of the thoughts as they come up.
Meditation should feel easy.
This idea that meditation is supposed to be uncomfortable, dates back to a time when people associated meditation exclusively with monasticism. But did you know that the original meditators were householders and that they had families and jobs, just like you? Householder styles of meditation were born out of the need for family-oriented people to maximize the little time they had for meditation.
These styles of meditation have quietly co-existed alongside of monk practices for thousands of years, and they got revitalised when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began teaching Transcendental Meditation in the late 1950’s. Since then, The Relaxation Response, ACEM, Primordial Sound Meditation, and Vedic Meditation all surfaced, using similar principles, such as sitting comfortably with back support, and using a sound (usually a mantra) as a triggering device for de-exciting the mind.
When you experience the householder approach, meditation goes from feeling rigid, to being as natural. If your meditation doesn’t feel that easy, it’s probably because you’re still trying to meditate like a monk.
Meditation is great for optimum health.
Every day, our bodies accumulates stress which, if left unchecked, can have an effect on your sleep. Getting quality sleep is important for the mind to organize thoughts, and for the body to make repairs. It also helps the body protect itself against stress. Mediocre sleep, on the other hand, creates stress accumulation, which can have a negative effect on our long-term health. Meditation can help with better sleep and therefore decrease of stress and better health.
If you have any tips to share about how you’ve made meditation a practise of ease and love in your life, we’d love to hear about it! Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook.
