If you are reading this blog post, chances are you have read a how-to article about meditation, and feel like every time you read another one, you are even more confused about HOW to actually meditate! That is because there are a million and one ways to actually meditate, with none being better than the next. It really is all about what you prefer, what works for you, and what you are actually going to stick with.
I started meditating almost seven years ago, while I was taking a “Psychology & Meditation” course in college. Although I technically learned how to meditate in that class, my interest in meditation had already been piqued enough to register for the class, so the formal course was really just a gateway to me starting my meditation journey.
Some of the techniques I learned in that class have stuck with me, and I still use them today when I meditate. I am going to break down exactly what I do when I meditate to make it easy for any of you to try it, start a routine, and actually stick with it!
PART I: Deep Breaths
First things first: get in a comfortable position, sitting or lying down, close your eyes and take three DEEP breaths: in through your nose and out through your mouth. Really put all your attention and focus into these exhales, allowing yourself to picture whatever you want to let go of as you exhale, to really get rid of it and make space for something better.
If you need more than three deep breaths, go ahead and take them! This part can take as short or as long as you need it to. The key is to calm your nervous system down enough that you can tap into your inner world. Once you feel that you are able do that, you are ready for the body scan.
PART II: Body Scan
This part is the most important! Think of it like your makeup primer: it sets you up for success and makes everything else easier after you do it. Essentially, the body scan is just a little check-in with your body, making sure every part of it is present, accounted for, and relaxed for when we start to drop in to our inner world.
There are several ways to do this, but my favorite is the “light” method. All you do is imagine a bright white light beaming down from the sky to the top of your head, and as you mentally “scan” your whole body, imagine the light pouring down and filling up every part of your body.
I like to start from the crown of my head, working my way down my face and neck, going down one arm at a time, then moving down my chest and back, pouring over each hip and down each leg, until I am filled with light from head to toe.
This part is crucial to the rest of your meditation, but is certainly not as easy as it sounds. If you get distracted during this phase, you can simply return to the part of your body you left off at, or start over if you prefer. This may even take up all the time you’ve set aside to meditate, which is more than ok. Like I said, there is no wrong way to meditate, and you are still getting all the calming benefits with this.
PART III: Meditation
As I said before, there are a million ways to meditate, you just have to find one that resonates with you. I am going to describe several methods that are all fairly simple, and you can feel free to try one or all of them until you find one that you like! Keep in mind, that with any of these, it requires a LOT of trial and error to hit that “zen” spot, so try each one for at least a week before giving up on it.
- Open meditation: This is the method that I have been using since I started meditating, since this is what I learned in class. Essentially, you “open” up the senses to receive whatever input they can, letting your mind float from one thing to the next, without attaching to anything. For instance, if you are outside in nature (a GREAT place to meditate), you would try to take in as many sounds as you can — anything from cars passing to a bird chirping in the distance — then move your attention to how the air or sun feels on your skin, what smells are coming from nearby. Basically, you are just noticing your surroundings, but not making any judgments on them, getting annoyed at any of them, or letting them feel like they are distracting you.
- Breath meditation: This method is probably the simplest one – it is just Part I of this guide without the other following steps. You literally just breath in and out and focus on your breath the whole time you are meditating. Each time you get distracted, just bring your attention back to the breath.
- Focus meditation: This method is similar to the last one, but instead of your breath, you will pick another thing to focus on in your mind. It can be anything from the sound of the ocean to a mental image of something soothing. Just like the last one, you will keep your focus on this mental imagery, and every time you get distracted, you just bring your focus right back.
- Mantra meditation: The last method is similar to the last two, but for this one you pick a “mantra” to repeat in your head over and over the whole time you are meditating. It can be a single word like “gratitude” or a phrase/affirmation like “I live in peace and happiness”. Similar to the last two methods, you simply repeat this mantra, bringing your attention back to it every time you get distracted. Since it is a more “active” meditation, it gets your brain primed to focus more with the less active methods, like open meditation.
PART IV: Close
The closing part of your meditation is something that you can personalize however you want, and will figure out as you go. Although I rarely do mantra meditations, I almost always close my meditation with a mantra. Once my meditation timer goes off, I take a deep breath as I sweep my hands over my head, meet them above my head, then bring them into prayer position in front of my chest as I exhale.
After that, I bow my head to my hands, say a mantra in my mind, raise my head and touch my hands to each upper chakra (heart, throat, third eye, crown), then bow my head to the ground. I almost always use the mantra “surrender, trust & manifest”, but sometimes switch it to “gratitude” or “clarity”, depending on what I need that day. There is no wrong way to do this, I just thought I would share my own personal method in case anyone wanted to try it.
Additional Tips
It is likely that you will get easily distracted while you are meditating and have to start over many times. It is important not to judge yourself when you get distracted and have to refocus or start over, because that is our human nature and part of the practice! Trust me – even after seven years, it is pretty rare for me to just sit down and drop in right away. No matter how distracted I get, I almost always feel better afterward, just from sitting and having my eyes closed for a set period of time.
I hope this guide has helped you break down the seemingly very complicated process of meditating into something that seems doable. Meditating has changed my life in SO many ways, and I truly recommend it to anyone! Please feel free to comment below if I left anything out, if you have any more questions, or have tried these methods and want to share your experience.
