If this is the first post you are seeing regarding tips to meditation, you might want to back up some and check out my other posts about discovering meditation, beginning meditation, and during meditation. If you are in the right place, awesome.
I will admit that I don't always follow my own advice once I have completed a meditation, but these are some good tips of what you can do. These tips do apply to a lot of different meditations, not just the ones I have written. First and foremost, be thankful for the meditation. Show your appreciation for being able to take a break and thank yourself for being able to take care of you. This can help you to feel even better. Revisit a meditation. Sometimes our minds are like beehives and doing one meditation doesn’t always quiet all the bees. If you need to, continue to do meditations throughout the day. Practice meditations. When you are first starting out with meditations, you may struggle with the thoughts that pop into your head. You may struggle to quiet the thoughts in your head if you are really stressed out. Practicing meditations when you are feeling good can help you get better at it and get the most out of the meditations. Try different types of meditations. You may find that guided imagery is just not your thing. There are many different types out there that you may find more helpful. Do some research, try different ones out, join classes to see which ones may be more useful to you. I think everyone can benefit from meditation and that they can find one that works for them. If you would like to try guided imagery meditation, check the next couple of posts out during the next couple of weeks. I will be sharing one of my meditations along with talking about my go to meditation.
0 Comments
If you are at this step and you have missed the other steps, check out my posts and discovering meditation and beginning meditation before continuing on. If you are following along, please continue reading below.
Now that you are all ready to do a meditation, there are some tips I have while you are doing the meditation. Again, these tips apply more to guided imagery type meditations as that is what I have here on the website and more specifically, these tips are for how to do my meditations. First off, focus on the words. Whether you are reading the meditations yourself or you are listening to them, focus on the words only. Try to ignore any outside distractions and try to keep your thoughts on the meditation. Be aware that you have thoughts. It can sometimes be impossible to not have a stray thought pop into your head while you are meditating. This is not an issue. Let the thoughts pop into your head, but let them pass by you without focusing on them. Take deep breaths. Deep breathing has been proven to have many benefits. Don’t believe me, then please feel free to do the research!! And yes, I am leaving this up to you so that you have the opportunity to give yourself something to focus on for a little bit. Add your imagination to the meditations. If you are like me and have a vivid imagination, then please do use it. I have written my meditations as a guide to a world you are envisioning. Please do add what you see, smell, hear, feel, and taste to the worlds I have described. Make these worlds your own place that you can visit when you need a break. There are a few tips that I have once you have completed your meditation and that will be in the next post. So if you haven't looked at the post regarding discovering meditation, you should probably check that out before reading this one. Discovering what you hope to gain from meditation is and then discovering what type of meditation works best for you is a very important step before you begin to meditate. If you have completed that step, then see below for how to get ready to meditate. Most of my tips with this is for guided imagery meditations as that is the type of meditation you will find here on this website.
I find it difficult to jump right into a meditation without a little preparation first. Following these steps can help you to have a more meaningful, more successful experience when you meditate. First, recognize that you do need to meditate. This is a very important step to follow before you do anything. People can struggle to realize when they need to give their minds, hearts, and/or spirits a break. Paying attention to what your body is telling you is a good step to recognition. Ask yourself about what you’re feeling emotionally and physically. If you answer that you don’t feel good or normal, then consider using a coping skill like meditation to help you feel better. Make the choice to meditate. After you recognize that you need to do something to feel better, make a choice to do something. If you decide that meditation will be helpful in that moment, then prepare to do one and actually do it. Don’t put off the decision for too long and don’t stew with intruding thoughts and emotions. Make sure it is an appropriate time to meditate. If you are right in the middle of an important meeting or in the middle of class, you may not be able to do a meditation right away. Make sure you have a quiet space of time to be able to do one. If you need to, find a place where no one can bother you for just a couple of minutes. Put a do not disturb up to let people know not to bother you. Get yourself physically comfortable. It is hard to concentrate on anything when you are sitting in an uncomfortable chair and your butt is falling asleep. Take the time to find a place that will be comfortable for you to sit in. The next step is to meditate and I'll go more into that with the next post. Stay tune for more information on meditating and what my go to meditation is. ![]() Meditation has been a practice for thousands of years and is a practice that helps to promote relaxation and mindfulness. With access to more information on meditation and the various types, people have been getting more into meditation as a means of stress relief and as a coping tool for mental illnesses. If it is your first time looking into to meditation, researching information is an important tool for learning about what meditation is all about and the different types there are. Meditation can mean something different for everyone as it all depends on why you are meditating to begin with. For me, meditation is a tool for coping with my stress or to help me shut off the thoughts that are buzzing around in my head so that I can fall asleep. For other people, meditation can bring about greater self-awareness, improved emotional well being, management of certain medical conditions, or may be a practice that goes with their religion. Researching and discovering what you are going to use meditation for is a great way to determine what type of meditation will work for you. There are many different types of meditation out there. The main components that I notice with meditations is that they all require you to focus on something and you seem to take a lot of deep breaths at some point. Some meditations have you listen to a script, some have you focus on an object, and some have you moving around. Doing the research and then trying them out is a great way to see what works best for you. For me, I found that focusing on a single noise or repeating affirmations in my mind just didn't work for me. I could focus for a little while, but my mind would start to get bored and the affirmations sometimes just annoyed me if I wasn't quite in the right mindset for them. I found focusing on an object like a candle would not work well as there was too much other stimuli around to distract me. I found walking meditations (yes, this is a thing) to be kind of weird and again, had too much other stimuli. The one type that I found that works best for me is guided imagery meditation. This is when you listen to a script, normally with your eyes closed, that describes something that you are experiencing. The scripts usually describe what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling physically, and sometimes what you are tasting. With my vivid imagination, these meditations hit all the right buttons to get my mind focused on something else other than my intruding thoughts. I especially do well when the script takes on the form of a story that I follow along with. Especially since I use meditation as a stress reliever and as a way to fall asleep, I like my meditations to be a little more on the fun side rather then a more serious side. YouTube has been a great tool for finding scripts that work well for me. To see more on this, check out my blog post on my go to meditation. Overall, meditation can be a great tool to use for many different reasons. There are many different types out there for people to try and find at least one that benefits them the most. Discover what your meditation is and use it on a regular basis. If you are interested in guided imagery meditations, please check out more of my blog as I have written my own scripts. The biggest piece of advice that I can give to people when they are discovering meditation is to figure out what you are going to use meditation for. Be patient as it can take time to find the one that will work for you. And to also keep in mind that meditation may not be for everyone as well. But you won't know if meditation is right for you unless you try it out. |
Archives
November 2019
Categories |