Discover 5 Must Learn Meditation Techniques For Beginners

Would you like to increase your self-confidence, feel grounded, improve focus, reduce anxiety, improve your health, general well being and your appreciation for life?

All of this can be achieved through meditation, in my ignorance I used to believe meditating was just for monks sitting under a bell chanting om. I then later discovered simple practices that anyone new to meditation can follow.

If you’re new to meditating and would like to know where to start then this article is for you as I’ll be sharing what I have discovered with 5 meditation techniques for beginners.

Before going straight into the techniques it’s worth covering the basic fundamentals of meditation and how to prevent making common mistakes most new meditators make.

Meditation has different definitions depending on where you look, meditation could mean a practice for becoming enlightened or a form of mindfulness practice for achieving a calm state of mind.

To keep things simple view meditation as a mindfulness technique for training your focus and being able to live more in the present moment.

With increased conscious awareness of your thoughts and actions that involves sitting in a fixed position.

You will have your own personal reasons for meditating whether it’s improving your health, general well being, improving g focus or one of the many other benefits of meditating or for a variety of reasons.

However regardless of the reason the following are some tips and principles that will allow you to get much better results from any form of meditation, technique or practice.

Trying to suppress thoughts is the equivalent of squeezing on the tube of a hosepipe to stop the flow of running water which will work temporarily but to then only come with more force than before.

The same is with our emotions sit with your thoughts and emotions that arise without following or trying to change them.
We’re usually so busy and constantly being stimulated that we aren’t consciously aware of how we truly feel which you will begin to realise when you start meditating.

In most meditations you will be instructed to close your eyes but if you find you keep falling asleep sit in front of a wall or a location without any distractions.

facing downwards so you can only see a 2-3ft in front of you with your eyes slightly closed as this will keep you more alert and awake.

Quite often when getting into any new practice we strive to get better at it with improved results. Which can have the opposite effect when it comes to meditating as this is a desire of the mind.

When the majority of benefits from meditating come when the mind is out of the way, simply aim to be aware during the practice and accept whatever thoughts and emotions come to the surface.

The following steps can be applied and set you up for any of the following meditation techniques

1. In a quiet room switch off any device that may disturb you unless it is necessary such as you’re on call for work.

If this is the case at least turnoff notifications for unnecessary disturbances such as app notifications.

2. Either seated in a chair but ideally on the floor on something comfortable such as a mat or cushion with your legs crossed, arms either in front or by your side with your lower back slightly bent and chin tucked in.

3. Eyes fully closed unless instructed otherwise whilst following a guided meditation or keep them slightly open if you keep falling asleep.

The above steps can be used as preparation for any of the following meditations, the following are beginner friendly meditations.

To do this meditation all you need to do is visualize yourself being scanned similarly to a full body scan by an x-ray machine starting from the top of your head working all the way down to your feet and toes whilst focusing on the sensations in each area.

Working down slowly being aware of aspects of each area from your nose and mouth also fingers when you reach your hands. If you struggle to visualize just know that you’re being scanned and focus on the sensations.

If you feel any particular tension or unease in any area avoid trying to contemplate or think about it just simply scan through it and move onto the next area.

This can be repeated several times if you feel that it is benefiting you and should take from 30-60 seconds for each full scan.

One of the most ancient forms of meditation is to focus on the breath whilst meditating. To do this simply keep your focus on both the inhale and exhale focusing on the sensations of the air flowing in and out of your body.

Breathing in always through the nose and you can experiment whether to exhale through your mouth or nose and see which you find works best for you.

Expanding on the previous breathing meditation in this variation you count up to 10 with both the inhale and exhale counting as a single count.

When you reach 10 you reset and keep repeating the process until the end of the meditation.

For this meditation simply keep your awareness on a single part of your body, whether it’s your hands, legs, face or even the sensation of the floor beneath you until you can no longer maintain focus.

Without straining to maintain your focus move onto another area as you improve your ability to maintain your focus in one particular area you will find this meditation energising.

For this meditation breath slowly and have a few second pause on the inhale whilst focusing on your mind seeing if it remains silent until exhaling. Gradually over time repeating until the duration the mind remains silent increases.

Bonus 1 Guided meditations: Guided meditations are a great way for beginners to meditation to learn how to meditate with exact instructions to help maintain focus throughout the process.

The following guided meditation I used to use which I have found very useful.

Bonus 2 meditations with binaural beats: A simplified explanation of binaural beats is that they “trick” the brain which causes it to go into a difference brainwave frequency which can be useful for different areas including meditation or concentration.

This is done by two different sound frequencies in each ear which is why earphones are required when using the following binaural beat meditation which will help put you into a meditative state.

Like most things, meditation gets much easier and enjoyable once you have done it for a few months and formed the habit. With that said you may even start noticing big improvements in many areas of your life almost immediately upon starting.

If you’re wanting to start a mindful practice that doesn’t take time out of our day I recommend reading 6 Easy Methods For Mindful Living Without Changing Your Routine.

If you want to find inspiration and wise teachings on mindful living I recommend Transformative Spiritual Quotes That Will Empower Your Journey.