At its very core, meditation is about taming your mind. Our mind has a habit of unraveling, overthinking, and at times, don’t you feel like you could just, not think?

A lot of people struggle with trying to overcome anxiety, despair, agitation, and other habitual thought patterns which they may find difficult to break out of. Taming the mind through mindful meditation is how you give yourself control of your own well being once more.

Mindfulness meditation will bring you, A sense of fullness and completion, tranquility that is easily accessible to everyone on this planet, temporary forms of serenity, it will lead to long term peace.

Peace of mind and heart is something all of us seek no matter what you may be going through in your life, and it helps if we can learn to quieten the mind, even if it is temporary. And what is why we learn to meditate.

Meditation has been practiced traditionally for hundreds, if not thousands of years, it is not something that just came about overnight as a new trend. Meditation is something that is inherent in all human beings, something we all have it in us to be able to do.

Many are already reaping the benefits of what meditation has to offer, and now it’s time for you to start doing the same thing.

The 11 Essential Steps for A Novice Meditator:

There’s more to meditation than merely sitting cross legged on your mat with your eyes closed as you breathe in and out. The key for a successful meditation begins with establishing a consistent practice, these are the building blocks of a firm foundation.

1. Establishing a meditation practice.

The purpose of establishing a meditation practice is because you want to make meditation a habit, a part of your daily life, something you are willing to do every day without even thinking twice or resisting it because you’re pressed for time. Establishing a practice will help meditation become an ingrained activity in your life, much like how brushing your teeth or showering, preparing something to eat, and even your daily commute to work.

Those habits are so deeply ingrained in you that you do them without any effort or a lot of thought put into it.

That’s what establishing a meditation practice aims to do for you right now.

2. Know Your Intention.

You must first set your intention before you begin your meditation. You need to have a purpose in mind, to remind you of why you are doing this.

This intention is something you need to think about before you begin each of your meditation sessions.

Some examples of intentions could be that you hope to be less stressed, hope you gain better mental clarity, hope to learn how to balance some intense emotions.

Or, you simply want to take this time for yourself to quiet your mind after a long and stressful day, if you’re meditating at the end of the day. Meditation is all about being mindful, so bring to mind before each session what your intention may be.

3. Posture Matters.

In meditation, your posture is important. You need to be able to breathe deeply and bring your attention inwards.

You’re going to be doing a lot of deep breathing during these meditation sessions, and you need to ensure your posture is right.

You’re going to find yourself struggling to get through a lot of the pain and discomfort you might experience during the early stages of practice if your posture is off.

4. You Must Relax.

The reason meditation focuses on deep breathing is because you need to let your body relax.

Mindfully focus on relaxing every muscle of your body during your meditation session, from your face, neck, and hands all the way down to your stomach area and other parts of your body.

Being able to relax is key during a meditation session because you’re not going to be able to learn to quiet your mind if your body is a tense ball of anxiety throughout. Whenever you may find yourself tensing up, you need to remind yourself to relax, relax, and relax.

5. Find Your Focus.

If you’re struggling to steady your thoughts during your meditation, it helps to have something for your mind to focus on.

The easiest thing would be to focus on your breath, to concentrate on breathing in and out slowly, rhythmically and methodically. Just focus on the in and out of your breath.

During this time, you may find your mind occasionally wandering to other thoughts, and that’s okay.

Whenever you catch yourself being distracted, just slowly bring your thoughts back to your breathing once more. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

6. Start small.

Trying to do too much too soon is how a lot of people crash and burn. You need to start small, and this can’t be emphasized enough. Yes, it seems like slow progress in the beginning, but that’s okay.

Start small at first by meditating for short periods of time, maybe 5 to 10 minutes a day, especially if you’re new at it.

You can do anything for 5 to 10 minutes a day with no resistance, and the time will pass before you even know it.

When you see how easy that was, it keeps you motivated to keep adding onto that.

7. Make Use of Apps.

There are several apps available that could help you enhance your meditation sessions, with everything from timers to ambient sounds to help set the mood.

If it helps make your daily practice more enjoyable, why not? You’re more likely to stick to something if you like what you’re doing. Headspace, Calm and even YogaGlo are great apps to use for your meditation.

Alternatively, you can also use Spotify to look for podcasts or guided meditation recordings to help you in this process.

8. Make use of Oils.

Adding certain types of oils to your joints and pressure points can really boost your energy, increase focus as well as allow for a smoother meditation. A good dose of hemp oil such as https://elitehealthproducts.org/ can help you reduce stress and frustration, calm your joints, and aid in releasing the tension, ensuring that you stay focused on your intentions for your meditating sessions.

9. Make use of guided meditations.

Guided meditations can be a great tool, especially for beginners on this journey, to help you stay on track and on the right path.

It will help you make sure that your breathing techniques are what they should be, that you’re relaxed, it helps you visualize, and it helps you free your mind and immerse yourself better in the whole experience if you’re not constantly focused on whether or not you’re doing it right.

Guided meditations make it much easier for beginners especially to start getting into the flow of things and helps you progress in the right direction with your meditation sessions, especially when you’re doing it alone as a solo practice, it’s good to know that you’re heading in the right direction.

10. Create Your Space.

Identifying a space of serenity, a space that you consider safe and secure is an essential part of mindful meditation.

It also makes you look forward to spending some time and is an essential part of establishing a consistent meditation practice.

Create a space in your home that is dedicated solely for your meditation sessions, and fill that space with anything you need to make you feel comfortable, that makes you feel like you want to be there for a while.

You can fill it with pillows, cushions, pictures that inspire you, incense or scented candles if it helps, anything that helps soothe your soul and brings you a sense of calm. That will go a long way towards helping you make meditation a consistency in your life if you have a space that you look forward to spending some time in each day because of the comfort and calm that it envelopes you in.

11. Calendar It In.

Starting to make meditation a practice can be hard at first. Which is why you’ll need to have reminders that you need to practice your meditation for today.

Make it a point to pencil it into your calendar or make a note of it on your calendar app on your phone.

It can be easy for other things going on during the day to take precedence over your meditation session, which is why you need to purposely make that time to just stop and meditate before the day comes to an end and you realize you didn’t get to spend any time meditating at all.

At any point you feel like you need to add some space in your mind, clarity to your thoughts, and calm in your emotions, meditation is a simple and easy thing to do.