Meditation is a method for calming the mind and achieving a state of consciousness that differs from normal waking consciousness. It’s a way of understanding all of our degrees of self-awareness and eventually experiencing the core of consciousness inside. If you want to practice meditation and get in the habit of mindfulness, here are the things you should know about meditation for beginners.
What Happens During Meditation?
The mind is calm, relaxed, and inwardly concentrated during meditation. You are fully awake and alert while you meditate, but your mind is not based on the outside world or the activities that are taking place around you. Meditation necessitates an inner state of stillness and focuses on the mind to become silent. Meditation deepens when the mind is still and no longer distracts you.
How Do You Maintain Stillness?
If you’re just starting to explore meditation for beginners, keep in mind that meditation is the practice of focusing your entire attention on a single object. You are choosing to be mindful of you breathing in this situation. How do you do that? Allow yourself to openly and acceptingly feel your breathing. Don’t pass judgment on it, and don’t try to regulate or alter it. Open yourself up to the point that there is no separation between you and your breathing.
You should also be prepared as many thoughts will arise as a result of this process. When is this going to be over? Maybe I should have shut the curtain. I failed to make a crucial phone call. My neck is in excruciating pain. You may be confronted with hundreds of thoughts, each of which will elicit a different response: a judgment, an action, a desire to pursue the thought further, or an effort to eliminate the thought.
You will become conscious of how restless your mind is if you stay aware of this process rather than responding to the feeling. It tosses and turns as you do when you can’t sleep at night. However, this is only a concern if you identify with the mind and respond to the different thoughts it generates. You’ll be trapped in a never-ending whirlpool of restless activity if you do. However, if you pay attention to those thoughts when they emerge without responding, or if you respond and pay attention to the reaction, they won’t be able to bother you. It’s important to remember that it’s your response to your thoughts that cause you to be disturbed.
Meditation for Beginners: How to Do It
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. You may want to consider purchasing a meditation chair or cushion.
- Close your eyes for a moment.
- Don’t attempt to regulate your breathing; just let it happen naturally.
- Concentrate on the breathing and body movement as you inhale and exhale. Pay attention to your body: how your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and belly button moves. Simply concentrate on your breathing without attempting to regulate its rate or strength. Try to focus back to your breathing if your mind wanders.
Meditation Benefits
Relaxation is one of the good side effects of meditation, although it’s actually not the target. Herbert Benson, MD, a researcher at Harvard University Medical School, coined the word “relaxation response.” According to Benson, the relaxation response is “an opposite, involuntary response that induces a reduction in sympathetic nervous system function.”
Researchers are now looking into whether a daily meditation practice has long-term benefits, and they’re finding that meditators have improved brain and immune function. However, it’s worth noting that the aim of meditation isn’t to reap benefits. Meditation’s aim, to use the words of an Eastern philosopher, is “no goal.” It’s as simple as being present and in the moment.
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