23 Jul 50 awesome meditation tips for beginners
by Matt Valentine via Buddhaimonia
The popularity of meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, has exploded in recent years. Because of this, huge waves of people are just beginning their meditation practice, or still working out the kinks, and could use some simple guidance.
I don’t pretend to know everything, but I have uncovered a number of tips and tricks from my own meditation practice over the years which I’d like to share here for everyone. I’m sure just about everyone can find at least a few tips from the 50 below which will help them move their practice along or deepen their practice in general.
Below are a whopping 50 (super) awesome meditation tips and tricks for anyone starting their own meditation practice (centered around mindfulness meditation practices). The title says meditation tips for beginners, but the reality is even if you’ve practiced for a while there’s probably a few gems here you can use to take your practice to the “next level” so to speak.
I hope you find them useful! Here’s 50 awesome meditation tips for beginners:
1. You can meditate anywhere
Meditation isn’t just sitting in a crazy difficult folded leg position (the lotus position) with your eyes closed.
You can meditate anywhere, anytime of day, and in multiple positions with multiple forms.
Expand your practice to your entire day and utilize multiple forms to see the real power of meditation. To learn how to meditate, or for ideas on where to start your practice, you can read The Ultimate Guide to Meditation.
2. You don’t have to close your eyes
It’s a common misconception that you have to do meditate with your eyes closed, and while this is perfectly acceptable (for sitting meditation at least…), it’s highly beneficial especially in the beginning to meditate with your eyes partly open to help you stay alert and avoid dozing off.
Many traditions and backgrounds meditate exclusively with eyes partly open, never closed.
3. Start simple
Don’t jump right into walking meditation or mindful eating, start with breathing meditations. The most basic, most common, and most useful of which is mindful breathing.
This is essentially the same as sitting in meditation (with mindfulness of breath), so whether you sit or take a minute or two throughout your day to practice mindful breathing, whatever works for you is fine.
4. Walk it off
There’s an exception to the last point. Whether you’ve just begun or have meditated for some time, if you feel a strong energy in your body, or are extra restless, you shouldn’t force sitting meditation, you should get up and walk slowly with mindfulness (walking meditation).
This is a common practice that helps the practitioner calm their nerves so that they can sit more successfully.
In the beginning, you should sit despite this restlessness, but if you’ve sat for a few weeks and still find yourself moderately restless it can be beneficial to do walking meditation for a moment and then sit after.
This is also a valuable advanced meditation tip for those who are experiencing an abnormal level of restlessness.
5. Find what works best for you
Once you’ve practiced mindful breathing for a few weeks I’d suggest you start trying out the various other forms of meditation. This usually begins with walking meditation and expands out to eating meditation, driving meditation, and so forth.
It’s limitless really, and I wouldn’t just dive into them without some instruction, but you’re free to experiment, find what works best for you, and structure your meditation practice accordingly once you’re passed the initial phase of practicing mindful breathing.
Keep in mind, I’m not saying don’t sit in meditation, but I am saying that you can sit for half a day in meditation or you can sit for 30 minutes and do other meditative forms, like do walking meditation, and focus on simply living your everyday life as it is in mindfulness.
For anyone living a halfway “normal” life, this is generally much more effective and far more natural.
Even with regards to sitting meditation, there’s no one way to do it. You can sit and be mindful of your breath, or you could mix it up and be mindful of the many sights and sounds within your field of awareness as well. Or you could even meditate on compassion from time to time.
The choice is up to you, so find what works best for you…
…keep reading HERE for more great meditation tips