When I started meditating few years ago, I couldn’t concentrate initially. There were moments when I was frustrated and wanted to give up meditation. But I still don’t know, what kept me going. Don’t know, what motivated me to continue meditating. When I failed multiple times, I decided to use “guided meditation” videos on YouTube and slowly I learnt the simplest ways of meditating from the YouTubers.
I never shied away from accepting the fact that, YouTube has always been my teacher. There are lot of content creators who preach wrong information. Over the period of time, I added some filters to sweep out the bad YouTubers. But I thought of sharing 5 simple steps to start meditating. It’s a great stress buster. Here you all go:
- Initially, start counting and focusing on your breaths. Don’t go into the intricate part on the very first attempt. Deep breathing (Anulom-Vilom) is a great breathing exercise to increase the level of oxygen in your body. Remember, the more oxygen you are supplying to your brain, the better your brain functions. It also decreases the biological age of your body cells which constantly need oxygen.
- Try to sit all alone without any thoughts for few minutes. Sounds difficult? Well, take one step at a time. Start with 2 minutes and increase the minutes with each passing day. Don’t think that, you are too weak to do it. Believe me when I say that, when the thought of meditation came into your mind, then the universe or your personal deity put that thought into your mind. Universe and the god want you to improve you and you are a chosen one by them.
- Doing a simple body scan can help you get through this. Close your eyes, start with slow and deep breathing and start feeling every part of your body. Start with your 5 sense organs. The sense organs are known as sense organs because, they help you sensing each and every vibe inside or outside your body. This process also brings your body, mind and soul into a single alignment.
- As I mentioned that I sought help from guided meditation, it really helped me in multiple ways. If you can, you can tone down the light available in your room where you are meditating. Low light can relax your nervous system and can help you to focus on your breathing and rest of the sense organs. Use the guided meditation instructions as sound, to learn the process. Once you follow the instructions for few days, you won’t be needing those videos anymore. You can keep continuing it on your own.
- Maintaining the consistency is a big deal. You really need to keep on meditating, even if it seems like a huge task. Consistency can make or break the habit. I was consistent enough and developed this thought that, why can’t I learn it. I’m a good and pretty fast learner, then why meditation looks like an enormous activity to me. Obviously, I was not so mindful and insightful back those days. But I’m still very grateful to the universe and my personal deity that, they chose me to start meditation.
You don’t need to be some type of spiritual guru or do a rigorous training to meditate daily. You need the conviction and focus, that it’s not an enormous activity. Think that it’s a simple mindful activity to relax your tired mind and gain psychological strength.