If there’s one thing I could recommend that could improve many aspects of your life all at once, it would be meditation.
Now, this is a practice that requires a lot of patience and a little bit of time each day. But the results are so powerful, if you have never tried a consistent meditation practice before I’d recommend that you try at least once in your life.
It helps you feel more calm. It helps you feel more balanced. It helps you become a witness to your thoughts and your life in a way that’s hard to achieve otherwise. You’ll learn so much about yourself and your patterns, and be able to take control of your life like never before. Most importantly, you’ll connect with a spiritual purpose and experience deep levels of healing.
Read on to learn how to start your own meditation practice!
How I Started Meditating
I was not exactly planning to start a meditation practice, it’s something that found me in a very random way.
In the summer of 2022 I decided to go kayaking on Trillium Lake near Mt Hood. While I was there, a park ranger struck up a conversation with me, asking what I did for a living. I said I was planning to become a yoga teacher, then left for an hour to go kayaking.
When I came back I was surprised to hear him pick up the conversation right where we left off, and he started telling me about how he did an eight-week meditation practice during COVID and continued it for a long time. It was one of those random conversations where I didn’t really ask to hear any of it, but I figured he must be telling it to me for a reason so I listened. He was really adamant that I should check out this book that inspired him to do it, and I was intrigued so as soon as I got back home I downloaded it.
The book was John Kabat-Zinn’s “Full Catastrophe Living.” It turned out to be the first of many of his meditation books- and it’s not the one I would recommend starting with for most people- but I happen to be a huge nerd and I LOVE informational books with all the research, so I was super into it. A few days into reading it I was sold into the benefits so I decided to follow the program it listed out, which included 45 minutes of meditation each day.
I did the eight week program and continued my meditation practice for a long time after that. It was extremely impactful to me that summer- after week 4 I started to witness my life, my reactions and my patterns in a completely different way.
For the first time I experienced a lifting of my anxiety that I hadn’t realized was so present. My fear of death completely vanished into an acceptance of the nature of life, the immortality of the soul, and an appreciation for living in the moment. I experienced my soul in an entirely new way, as a witness to everything I experience in this body. I discovered self-compassion, healthy detachment, and a more peaceful way of being.
I honestly think it changed my brain forever- to this day I’m still much less reactive and view life from a different perspective.
Sound like something you want to try? Here are my top tips for getting started, and I’ll go more in depth with each of these:
- Read up on mediation and download some meditation apps
- Find a good time of day and a comfy set up
- Decide how you’re going to meditate and for how long
- Keep meditating and don’t give up!
Read Up On Meditation and Download Some Meditation Apps
While I experienced great benefits, I think the biggest motivator for me in keeping my practice going was reading about all the benefits. I would recommend reading a book or two about meditation while you’re trying it- that way you’re immersed in information, which will keep you interested and excited about continuing your practice. John Kabat Zinn’s books are foundational, although they’re very long- but that might be a good thing so that it takes you a while to finish them and therefore it gives you a long time to continue your meditation practice.
The John Kabat Zinn app is very useful as well, it only costs $2-3/month and it has very reliable meditations. I always come back to the body scan meditation- it’s so hard not to fall asleep but it’s the most powerful meditation in my opinion.
Find a Good Time of Day and a Comfy Set-Up
It works best if you meditate at the same time each day, although that time will be different for everyone. Many books recommend early in the morning or late in the evening, but I just couldn’t hack either one of those so I chose to do it during my lunch break each day.
I also very much prefer to meditate in nature rather than indoors, but don’t let it stop you from meditating if you don’t have access to an adequate outdoor area. A backyard, back or front porch, or a nearby park with some good trees is perfect. It’s best to be alone so if the area is too public, try to find a quiet area where you won’t be bothered.
I also feel it is very important to make yourself comfortable. You don’t have to meditate when you’re super hungry, and you don’t have to keep doing it if your body is starting to hurt. A key element of meditation is learning to sit with feelings of discomfort, and I think this is very useful and helps you become more resilient and emotionally intelligent. BUT, I think there’s also something to be said for setting yourself up for success and not making yourself suffer. Plan your meals to make sure you’re well fed and sit or lay down in a comfortable position during your meditation practice.
Tips for Women’s Meditation Practice:
For women in particular, finding a cushion or some yoga blocks to sit on will be very helpful. The optimal sitting position for the female pelvis differs from the male pelvis, and women are more likely to experience discomfort when sitting on the ground because of this difference in their physiology. When you read meditation books or listen to guided meditations, you’ll hear ques like “breath into your belly,” “sit criss-cross on the ground,” and “shoulders back.” Just know that while these cues might help men out more, these cues were not designed with women in mind.
For women, sitting on a cushion with both knees on the ground is helpful to maintain a natural anterior pelvic tilt. You could also sit on two yoga blocks with your knees on the ground. Additionally, breathing into the back and side ribs as opposed to “breathing into the belly” is helpful, as 70% of women’s lung tissue is located in the back body. Lastly, broadening the shoulder blades and the collarbone while gliding the ears gently back is more helpful than shoving the shoulders back, so as not to compress the back body, which limits the range of motion you get when you breathe. These are the tips I wish I knew when I started my meditation practice.
Decide How You’re Going to Meditate and For How Long
I recommend trying all the types of meditation and deciding what works best. There’s sitting meditation, laying down meditation, walking meditation, yoga (moving meditation), and you can even meditate while you’re eating!
There are also different things you can focus on while you meditate. You can focus on your breath, sensations, sounds, thoughts, or you could follow a visual meditation, like a lake, mountain or tree of life meditation. You can also visualize yourself in the ocean, or on a tropical beach or in a jungle. The different types of meditation all help you to deeply relax and can offer very different experiences.
No matter which kind you decide to go with, I’d recommend starting with guided meditations from apps until you get more confident on your own. It’s so hard to focus at first and it’s easy to feel like you want to give up, but guided meditations can offer a powerful experience and help keep you focused.
Another thing to consider is how long you want to meditate for. People usually meditate for anywhere between ten minutes to an hour. Starting with 10 minutes is fine, but I think the best benefits come from meditating for at least 20 minutes. For me it takes 10 minutes for my mind chatter to calm down. It’s also best to do it daily, so even if that’s only ten minutes one day and twenty minutes the next, it’s better than not at all. Meditating for 45 minutes per day is powerful but most people won’t be able to fit that in their schedule, and staying still for that long is very challenging and can be painful if sitting.
Keep Meditating and Don’t Give Up!
I know it can be frustrating to try and focus when you have so much on your mind distracting you. But don’t give up! Just notice whatever is on your mind and bring yourself back to the present moment. Bringing yourself back a thousand times is part of the practice and it cultivates patience and self-compassion.
If you fall out of practice, it’s important to practice self-compassion and just meditate if you can make the time for it, not worrying about the days that you missed. The whole point is to practice living in the moment.
If your meditation practice isn’t working for you for whatever reason, then don’t be afraid to change things up. Be sure to give each strategy a fair chance before you move onto the next. But the most important thing is to turn inward, listen to your own intuition, and adapt your meditation practice to what is going to be most sustainable for you. At the end of the day, meditation is a deeply personal, spiritual, and healing experience and everyone deserves to reap the benefits by finding what works for them.
Have you ever tried meditating? Do you make it a part of your daily practice? Let me know in the comments!