Finding out how to learn meditation can seem impossible, but it’s simple. Find out what meditation is, why meditation can help you, and different ways you can meditate, even if you have never meditated before.
Have you ever meditated? If you haven’t, you might wonder what people who do it often think is so great about it. Meditation trains the mind, helps you detach, and can grant inner peace, but how do you do it? Read our guide to meditation to learn all about meditation for beginners. Find out what members of some major religions who include meditation in their practices have to say about it and why people meditate. Learn the difference between active and passive meditation and learn how to get started meditating. Pretty soon, people might be asking you to help them learn to meditate!
What’s Meditation?
A lot of mainstream articles show photos of pretty models sitting cross legged, their eyes closed, and a happy look on their faces. Is that all it means to meditate? Not necessarily. Psychology Today defines meditation as “ A mental exercise that trains attention and awareness.” Wikipedia says ‘Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive “recursive thinking,” achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditation process itself. “ Different religious traditions have their own definitions.
Hinduism
Temple Purohit discusses dhyana, and says it “ Is the most common designation both for the meditative state of consciousness and the yogic techniques by which it is induced.” They say meditation helps to steady the mind, which is fickle and is responsible for most of our disturbances and afflictions. They say that meditation helps to eliminate such undesirable things as attachment, ego, and ignorance. Dhyana is specifically achieved by fixing the mind on one specific thing. They say “ Meditation gives us an opportunity to be self aware…you can learn to control your thoughts, cultivate discernment and respond to situations arising in your life with intelligence and thoughtful consideration” Read more from them here: What is Dhyana? Meditation in Hinduism - TemplePurohit
Buddhism
Wikipedia says Buddhists use meditation to move toward awakening and nirvana, or liberation from the suffering the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth brings. Breathing exercises, reading scriptures for knowledge, yogic body exercises, and listening to teachers speak as well as thinking deeply about things are techniques used in meditation. Some goals are to become aware of yourself and stop automatic reactions to things. Other reasons are to feel, and learn to be kind to other living beings. Quenching powerful cravings and the desire to cling to things is another goal of meditation.
Christianity
Do Christians meditate? Sure they do, they just don’t think of it the way Hindus and Buddhists do. Christians use prayer as a tool to meditate, reading scriptures, attending Bible Study, and going to worship services where they listen to preaching. They focus their minds on their god and the teachings of their religion, and seek to think of their god so much, they turn away from sin. Singing hymns helps, as well as prayers right before they go to sleep. Read about how to use prayers for spirituality and love here: Spells and Prayers for Love and Spirituality
Why Meditate?
Even if you are not religious, meditation can be good for you. You can learn to control your mind better, and your sense of emotional wellbeing will improve. You can also use meditation to help you understand things better.
Mind Control
Do you have unwanted thoughts? Do your anxieties overwhelm you sometimes? Do you think about past hurts or over focus on things you have no control over? Meditation can help you to shift away from these things. Whenever an unwanted thought pops into your head, take a break and sit for five minutes focusing on one good thing that you are blessed with. Some people call this “counting your blessings”, and it helps you to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
Another mind control technique is to just hold your concentration on one thing. For example, focus on a point on the wall quietly for a minute, before shifting your focus. This mind control technique to train your mind to focus can be especially helpful when you have to focus on difficult things because it helps you get into the habit of thinking about one thing only. Read about beginning meditation here: A Beginner’s Guide to Mindful Meditation
Better Wellbeing
Many who meditate say it helps them to achieve a sense of better wellbeing. Deep breathing exercises during meditation help lower heart rate and blood pressure, and fills your body with nourishing oxygen, all of which improve your health. Meditation can help reduce stress as well. Having a regular meditation practice at a specific time each day when you shift your focus away from everything else can give you much needed “me time”. Pick a time each day and don’t let anything interfere with it. Use the time to read, journal, pray, chant, relax your mind, or just deep breathe. Over time, your body and mind will feel rejuvenated by your daily meditation. To improve your sense of wellbeing, psychic healing can be used and you can learn how here: Psychic Protection for Family Problems
Illumination
Focusing on one topic can help you to discover new things about it and meditation can make you more self-aware. To be mindful of yourself, focus intensely on your thoughts and feelings in a situation. You will see how you react and what triggers you. You might not be proud of your reactions, and decide you want to react differently. As you control your reactions to things, you will find that you are able to de-escalate situations instead of escalating them, and that will make a more peaceful life for you.
Meditating in nature can be done to experience it fully. This can help you see and feel what is there. For example, you are probably aware of birdsong, but are you aware of which birds are singing, and what times of day they are silent? Are you aware of how the temperature shifts right before it rains? Have you noticed how the birds behave differently before a storm? Over time, the more you quietly observe things, the more you will learn about them. Read about the symbolism of birds here: What Do Different Birds Symbolize?
Different Types of Meditation
There are two main ways to meditate and multiple different variations of them both. The first is passive meditation, which means you do nothing but relax and clear your mind. The second is active meditation, and it entails physically doing things. Both provide great results.
Passive
Passive meditation entails sitting or lying in a specific position. Some people use yoga poses for this, which are believed to set the body and mind up for positive progress in meditation. Then, you still your mind, focusing on one thing, or striving to completely clear your mind. Focusing on a word, concept, or an object can be as simple as looking at a leaf that is changing in autumn to see what thoughts come to you or thinking of the name of your god. Emptying the mind can be done for relaxation, or to see what naturally comes into your mind. Some people will choose a specific sacred place to meditate passively. Read more about beginning meditation here: Guided Meditation For Beginners & Benefits
Active
Active meditation is when you do something physical while meditating. The purpose of this is to use an action to focus your mind on learning something. Doing different yoga poses is one way to do this, and praying the rosary is also. Some people will chant a mantra or sing hymns. Journaling or reading is one way to do active meditation, and some people achieve a meditative state while making music or art. Some people even repeat their favorite prayer over and over while doing housework as a form of meditation. Active meditation focuses your mind on a topic or action and deep spiritual messages can come to you while you are doing it. Geminis have curious minds and might like this form of meditation. Read about Gemini here: Gemini Traits | Star Sign in The Spotlight
How To Meditate
There are many ways to meditate we have already discussed. You have probably already been doing a lot of those things and just didn’t realize it. Once you realize how simple meditation is, you can start incorporating it into your day easily. Practicing mindful breathing, prayer, and deep study are three easy techniques you can use to meditate.
Breathe
A term for focusing on your breath is pranayama. Some use pranayama to practice measured breathing. One simple way to do this is to breathe and count and hold your breath in a pattern. For example, hold one nostril closed so you breathe through only one. Breathe in for a count of four and hold the breath for a count of four. Release that nostril and cover the other one. Then breathe out for a count of four and hold your breath for a count of four. Repeat this for a while. Some people say doing things like this deepens their breaths and carries more oxygen through the body.
Prayer
Prayer is a form of meditation. It focuses your mind on speaking with your higher power, and reminds you that mundane life is not all that matters, but spirituality does too. Prayer is often turned to in tough times, but some people pray daily. One especially powerful meditative prayer is The Navajo Beauty Way Prayer that is a part of a greater ceremony. The prayer says:
“ In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
beauty around me I walk
has become beauty again
has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again”
The prayer prepares people for everyday life and creates an attitude of gratitude for all the beauty surrounding us. Watch Navajo historian Wally Brown talk about the Beauty Way Prayer and it’s meaning here:Traditional Native American (Diné) Beauty Way Prayer (youtube.com)
Study
Studying a topic counts as meditating on it. Pick any topic you want to know more about and delve into deep research on it. Read, speak with people who know about the topic, and visit places that the topic is about. For example, to meditate on the earth to feel closer to creation, spending time in nature is a first step so you can observe firsthand what the earth does. However, reading about the planet itself will provide deep insight. Reading about the seasons and then being outdoors to experience how the seasons change the planet will give much knowledge. Reading, exploring, and learning everything you can about a topic is a form of meditation. Read about the Element of Earth here:What is the Earth Element in Astrology?
What if I Don’t Want to Meditate?
If you try one meditation technique and you just don’t like it, that’s okay. You don’t have to use it. There are so many different ways to meditate, so there will definitely be at least one you enjoy doing. One woman used to meditate by making her mind blank and went deep into meditation every time. She had trouble coming out of that meditative state, though, so she meditates actively by studying or painting something now. Another man used to clear his mind for ten minutes in the morning while burning incense and chanting to Green Tara every day. Don’t give up on meditation if the first way you try doing it doesn’t work for you. Another way will work and the longer you practice meditation, the closer you will get to finding the best way to meditate for you.
Is Meditation a Sin?
Some Christians feel that meditation is a sin. They say it assumes the human mind is mightier than faith. This is false for a number of reasons. First, Christians meditate, and many of them meditate every day in prayer. Training the mind through meditation is actually called for in the Bible. Psalms 1:1-2 says “ Blessed is the man who walks not in counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and he meditates day and night.”
Meditation won’t sell your soul to evil, and it won’t make you turn away from your higher power. It will open your mind to whatever it is that you focus on and that is why it can actually bring you closer to the divine. It all depends on what your intention of meditating is. A meditation to bring you closer to the goddess or god you serve can be something as simple as, “ Mother/Father, I open myself to you. Guide me, speak to me, and reveal yourself to me every day.” You can even chant the name of your deity or meditate on your personal religion’s scriptures.
Meditation focuses the mind, provides self-awareness, and gives us the right attitude. Some people say that meditation has made them the best form of themselves, and others are constantly reshaping themselves, and the messages that come to them during meditation guides them on what improvements they want to make. Other people use meditation as a way to connect to their higher power, and members of every religion known to us meditate in one form or another. May your journey with meditation guide you and give you the answers you need. So Be It.
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