Much like the breath itself, meditation is always there for us—accessible to anyone. It pains me to hear people tell me that they or someone they know can’t meditate. I think people can be averted from practicing meditation because it has been somehow overcomplicated for them. Meditation is simple, easy, and so profoundly important for its numerous health benefits. This article aims to clear up some common misconceptions about meditation and shed light on the fact that meditation is something you can personalize to your own tastes—it’s not a rigid practice and it doesn’t require rules. We thought a fun way to write this post would be to answer some of the most Googled questions on meditation. Let’s start with ‘How do you meditate?’
How do you meditate?
To me, meditation consists of two fundamental elements: breathing and quietude. It’s about finding a quiet time and space to simply breathe. You can sit or stand or walk, but as long as your surroundings are relatively still and you take even just a few deep, conscious breaths, you’re already well on your way to meditating.
I’d like to expand on this by listing some truths about meditation with the hope of busting some myths or misconceptions.
Meditation is not about silencing your thoughts. It’s actually quite the opposite. Meditation is a time to experience your thoughts and observe them, as neither good nor bad, in a deliberate and dedicated way. Meditation is a great way to process thoughts on your own time. It’s all right if you find yourself thinking about your problems and worries during meditation—it’s entirely natural and inevitable. When this happens, just observe and label your thoughts neutrally: “There’s a thought about my upcoming deadline”.
Meditation has to be perfectly still. A common blocker that prevents people from meditating is their inability to sit still. Many people try to sit perfectly still in the lotus position (legs crossed) and quickly give up when their back starts to ache. First, you don’t need to sit in this position. You could sit in a comfortable seat, stand, or even walk. Check out our article on walking meditation. I don’t give up when my back starts to ache while sitting legs crossed. Instead, I use some gentle movement to smooth out the tension. You can pause and get up to stretch, use some yoga poses, or even alternate between sitting up straight and slouching a bit.
Keep it fresh
You can use different techniques or styles depending on your mood or needs. There are times when my meditation practice consists of simply sitting in silence and thinking. Letting my thoughts come to me naturally like this is an excellent way to process the day’s events. There are other times, perhaps when I’m worried about a loved one or troubled by events in the world, where my meditation consists of sending out compassionate thoughts and wishes. If I’m nervous about something coming up, the focus of my meditation session becomes positive affirmations, remembering my strengths and past successes, and visualizing myself being successful.
If I’ve been feeling anxious or stressed, then I use the breath as my sole focus point. Beginning with some deep, cleansing breaths, I then attempt to focus entirely on my breath. When my concentration is interrupted by a thought, I don’t get frustrated. Instead, I return to the breath, building my focus muscles much like you would with physical muscles by repeating an exercise in the gym. These are just some of the methods I use to vary my meditation practice. Adding variety to your meditation practice keeps things fresh and interesting, but it also helps address specific needs and feelings you’re having on a given day.
What is meditation in simple words?
Meditation is breathing and concentrating with the goal of simply breathing and concentrating.
What are the 3 types of meditation?
There are certainly more than three types of meditation, and as described above, you don’t have to adhere to any given technique. In fact, I recommend that you personalize and experiment freely with your meditation practice. However, I’ll still attempt to answer this question by providing a brief description of three common types of meditation.
Concentration meditation. In concentration meditation, you simply identify one thing to attempt to concentrate on with full effort and focus. For all practical purposes, the breath is the best object of focus for beginners. Your concentration doesn’t necessarily have to be the breath. According to different meditative traditions, the object of your focus can be a mantra or positive affirmation, an imagined visual image, or a sound.
Vipassana meditation. Prevalent in the West, Vipassana meditation (pronounced Vip- ah-suh-nuh), which roughly translates into Insight Meditation, generally allows the meditator to achieve insight into three fundamental teachings of Buddhist philosophy. Simply put, Vipassana meditation is a time to reflect on these three fundamental teachings, which are impermanence, suffering, and ego. Here we see some similarities with Stoicism, because the Stoics also prescribed acknowledging the finite nature of life, accepting suffering, and dissociating with the part of our ego that tells us we’re special. It can seem complicated at first glance, but a simple way to practice this could be sitting in quiet meditation and taking a few seconds to acknowledge that life is short, suffering is what makes us human and enduring it is noble, and reminding yourself that you’re not a finished product. Read our full post on Vipassana meditation for more.
How do you meditate? Loving kindness meditation
This type of meditation was largely popularized in the West by great meditation teachers and writers like Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. It’s similar to mantra meditation because you can leverage mantras or positive affirmations to send loving thoughts to yourself or others. Here’s a simple combination of affirmations you can use or adapt to your needs: “May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be at peace”. As a more affirmative approach for yourself, you could try “I am happy. I am healthy. I am at peace”. Simply repeat these or similar words to yourself for as long as you’re comfortable and try to cultivate a half smile throughout. You’ll be surprised by how this can significantly boost your mood and strengthen your compassion for others.
What is meditation and its benefits?
I feel we’ve already answered the first part of this question, but I can certainly discuss some of the health benefits of meditation. Studies have shown benefits against a plethora of health conditions both physical and mental, including irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Here’s a short video from The Harvard Gazette article When Science Meets Mindfulness, which touches on the definition of mindfulness meditation. It also distinctly describes how meditation practice increases one’s ability to listen to their body and disengage from negative thought patterns. This fundamental characteristic enables meditation’s various health benefits.
This Harvard article on the health benefits of meditation is excellent and definitely worth reading in its entirety. It touches on the clinical realities of meditation research and provides a reality check to remind us that although the benefits are real, meditation is not a cure-all. If you are suffering from any kind of illness, you should always seek advice from your doctor. We should not approach meditation with the aim of reaping specific benefits. Instead, we should view it simply as mental hygiene that should be combined with other self-care practices such as diet and exercise.
What should I focus on while meditating?
Focus on whatever you feel like focusing on in that moment. It’s not so important what you focus on. The key is to choose something and try to stick with it. It can be your breath, your thoughts, a sound, or even an object.
How do you meditate?
My parting advice in addition to the above for anyone Googling ‘How do you meditate?’ is to start small. Another misconception is that meditation has to last for 20 or 30 minutes. You can have a healthy meditation practice with sessions of just two minutes (although I’m positive that as your meditation practice becomes more habitual you will want to meditate for longer). Be patient with yourself and stick with it. Building a habit takes repetition, so start with small sessions and try to do it every day. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up. In fact, it can be beneficial to take breaks from your meditation practice. When you return to it, you may find a renewed motivation or that there was something missing before. Remember, meditation is simply carving out a moment from your busy schedule to simply be.