meditation for beginners

I wanted to write about meditation for beginners because so often when I talk about it with people, the responses I get are “Oh, I can’t do that…its too hard.” or “I probably should but I don’t know how”. Well, if you can sit still and breath for at least 5 minutes, then you can meditate…or you can at least try!
There are many benefits to meditation such as lowering blood pressure, reducing stress and anxiety, improving clarity, improving creativity, developing intuition,  increasing focus of mind and many more including research from this Harvard University study on it decreasing gray matter in the brain.
While these are all amazing outcomes of meditation, the purpose really lies more in tuning inward to find peace within yourself. Not to escape the world or your stressful life. But to find the space between your thoughts. Those tiny moments of quiet that at first can seem so hard to find but can grow and become more real and expansive.
Here are some simple ways to start your meditation practice.
Concentration Techniques:
A really great way to get started with meditation is to concentrate on one thing. The way I started was to stare at a candle flame and place all my attention on that flame. This is great if you aren’t ready to close your eyes because you are worried about drifting off or getting sleepy.
You can also try repeating a mantra like “Om” (aum) that is something you may have heard in a yoga class or a more modern mantra could be “I change my thoughts, I change my world.” -Peale.
There is also listening to repetitive music like a gong or being guided through a visualization. I guide visualization meditations for classes and clients and find that it helps those getting started because it helps them get into the mode of meditation but not getting caught up in their thoughts too much.
Another method that works well is counting the beats of your breath. For example you would count: 6 breaths in, hold for 3, 6 exhale, hold 3 and then repeat over and over.
There are may other techniques and ways to practice meditation but if you are just wanting to try it out and get started one of the methods above is a wonderful way to start. Remember, this is something to practice over time in your life. It is not something to achieve in a day. It is not a competition and there should be no judging of yourself or others. It is simply your time to go within. No one else can be in that space with you and if you find judgement coming up, then maybe take the time during meditation to discover why that is showing up.