How to Meditate: Meditation Techniques for Beginners
Hi there! In this article, we will cover the benefits of meditation and how you can incorporate these beneficial practices into your everyday life. We hope these tips and techniques will be helpful. If you have any questions, send us a dm on Insta! @soulbarn.wellness
The ancient practice of meditation can be traced back to 5,000 BC, originating from ancient China and Egypt, and has evolved in the 21st century so that one can practice meditation by simply downloading an app.
Why start meditating?
Science has proven the many benefits of meditation to the body and mind -- even five minutes a day can make a significant impact to improve focus, mood, immune functions, and quality of sleep.
How does it work?
Meditation counters and alleviates the damage that accumulated stress causes our bodies. When our bodies experience stress, it is responding to any kind of demand or threat. Naturally, it will go into a “fight-or-flight” reaction, which can help save you in emergency situations or provide that extra spurt of energy to rise to meet a challenge.
Stress, in excess, however, can lead to serious health issues. By meditating, we allow our mind and body to relax, rest, and cleanse.
A few of the many benefits of long-term meditation:
Alleviates stress
Improves immune functions
Improves concentration and memory recall
Improves self-awareness and self-esteem
Improves pain and pressure tolerances
Improves ability to control anxiety, stress, and other emotions
Enhances empathy for self and others
Helps to find and maintain balance in everyday life
Meditation can easily be associated with religion or other types of spiritual practice. At Soul Barn, we prefer to think of meditation as a “tool to help find inner peace.” By being aware of our thoughts and maintaining a state of calmness, you will find more balance and appreciation in life everyday.
3 meditation techniques for beginners:
While everyone has a different preference for how to approach meditation and which techniques to use, we’ve compiled three techniques suitable for anyone to get started.
1. Breathing Exercise
While breathing seems to be a very natural thing, did you know that there actually is a right and wrong way to get oxygen into your body and through your lungs? If your breathing is shallow, irregular, or chaotic, you likely aren’t doing it right. Breathing improperly long-term can have an impact on your physical and mental health. Don’t worry! Practicing this technique can help.
Breathing is the foundation, and in this technique, we’ll practice counting breaths.
First, find a comfortable sitting position. Gently close your eyes and take a deep breath, making sure to inhale from your nose. Feel the air enter and expand your chest, drawing it deep into your abdomen before exhaling through your mouth. Make sure to clear all the breath from your body, and repeat.
As you are doing this, count from 1 to 10. When you inhale 1, exhale 2, inhale 3, exhale 4... Continuing this pattern until you reach 10. Then repeat.
This technique can help us release stress, massage our internal organs, and purify. We recommend practicing for 3-5 minutes to feel its effects, however, you can practice for as long or short as you’d like. Even if you get distracted, keep breathing, practicing, and push through! We promise it will get easier with time.
Try it out and let us know how you feel after a week @soulbarn.wellness
2. Body Scan
Find your most comfortable sitting position and relax your entire body.
Now, imagine there is one horizontal line scanning your entire body, starting from the top of your head down to your feet. As the line slowly descends, it scans each and every part of you -- your head, neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, lower abdomen, waist, hips, knees -- all the way until it reaches your feet. During the process, make sure to take note of where your body feels discomfort. Was there any pain in your chest? Any soreness in your limbs?
It’s easy to ignore the state of our body when we’re busy. By taking less than 3 minutes to do this simple exercise, we can help ourselves by detecting any discomfort in our bodies so that we can make the necessary adjustments.
3. Being Present
You are standing in front of a busy road. An endless stream of cars flies past. Some cars stop at the red light, others don’t and simply run it. Some go slow, some speed, and some honk their horns loudly.
This picture is like your thoughts. They can be chaotic, however, they will all continuously come and go -- sometimes flying past and sometimes stopping at a light. Our thoughts are not who we are, but are a result of our brain trying to help us deal with our feelings and emotions.
We are often distracted by our thoughts, worried about things that have yet to happen or do not exist. Yet, these distractions can be silenced if we simply let them be, and choose to let them go.
By accepting that our thoughts will continuously come and go we are allowing them to run their course and will not become attached to them.
The next time you find yourself caught in a downward spiral engrossed by your thoughts, instead of engaging, try this instead:
Find a comfortable position, close your eyes, and gently place your hand on your chest. Breathe deeply, inhaling and exhaling ( practice the counting-breath technique ).
Inhale, exhale.
Kandee Chen is the Creative Director of Studio Kandee. She can usually be found searching for vintage wares, sitting in quiet cafes, relaxing by the lake, or exploring new places in the city.
Kandee’s Instagram @mysouldairy
Article translated by Helen Luo
