Everyone has heard that meditation is one of the best things you can do for your health. So why doesn’t everyone do it?
One of the biggest reasons is because most people can’t stop their minds from spinning long enough to get any benefits from meditation.
But that is actually not the goal of meditation!
We cannot stop our thoughts, it is just not humanly possible. This is a myth that trips up anyone who attempts to meditate “correctly.”
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Table of Contents
What Is the Goal of Meditation?
Where prayer is asking for guidance from a higher power, meditation is listening for the answer. Answers can only come when the mind is silent. This doesn’t mean empty, however!
The mind is silent anytime it is in the alpha state, where the brain waves are one level below normal waking levels. The alpha state is where you are receptive, open, and calm.
So the goal of meditation is simply to put the mind into this state so that it can receive guidance, answers, insights, and peace.
Meditation Positions
The traditional meditation position is also a turn off for many people. For those who are inflexible, overweight, or just plain unmotivated, it can be almost impossible to sit cross-legged with your feet propped up onto your thighs, which is called the lotus position. The half-lotus position is where you sit the same way except only one of your feet are propped up, the other is resting on the floor.
It is acceptable to sit in any way you can be comfortable, so if you can’t get your body into those positions, don’t worry! Sitting cross legged like a child does, with both feet touching the floor, is even okay. It is also ok to lay down or sit in a chair.
The goal is simply to find a position where you can easily lose awareness of your physical body. Sitting upright is conducive to this only because you are making minimal contact with the ground, so it is easier to lose body awareness. It is also the preferred position because the spine can be straight, so the chakras can be aligned with the energy flow that goes upwards.
Most people aren’t yet at that point where they care about their chakras, they just want to get the stress-reducing benefits of meditation. So for those people, even laying down can work, as long as you are comfortable.
Meditation Hand Poses
The positions and poses for your hands and fingers are called mudras. Explained briefly, hand mudras allow an energy exchange. When the fingers touch in a certain way, a body channel is activated. Each finger and part of the hand is associated with a different element, which in turn is connected to a specific body system.
Here’s a chart showing hand mudras along with the chakras and mantras to use with each one.
Tips For Meditating
If you choose to meditate traditionally, here are a few tips. It’s really a very simple practice so there aren’t many tips necessary, it only requires consistency and patience!
Focus on Breathing. Whenever you realize you are lost in thought, just stop, and bring your awareness back to your breath. It is the only thing that is constant that you can always come back to. (You could also focus on your heartbeat, but the breath has always been connected with calming the mind.)
Location Is Key. Try to meditate in a quiet space (especially if you are a beginner). Also try to make the space calming. Low light is ideal, particularly using a candle. Meditating in nature can work if you aren’t around crowds or loud industrial noises.
Practice Every Day. You don’t have to spend hours on this, even five minutes a day is better than nothing. It is ideal if you can do this at the same time every day, such as right after waking up or right before going to bed.
Alternative Meditation Methods
If you can’t make the traditional method work, there are alternative meditation methods that are much easier, and most of them are pretty fun! There are probably other ways but these are the eight most common alternative meditation methods I am aware of:
Repetitive Music. Get lost in the music and dance to repetitive music such as rhythmic drumming or any song with a repetitive beat. Music that is longer in length (not a typical 3 minute radio song) works best. There is a lot of music made just for meditation for free on YouTube. You can use any song you love, really, but if you listen to something uplifting, longer, and without lyrics, it is easier to slip into the trance-like state of alpha.
Five Senses Awareness. Go through all of the five senses and identify everything in your environment. For example, lets say you were sitting in your backyard. You would go through and name everything you can see. Next, go through everything you can hear, etc. I wrote a full-length article on using the five senses to improve mental health.
Mindfulness. Using mindfulness is something that can be done anytime doing anything. You simply focus your attention on the task you are doing, the object you are looking at, whatever it happens to be. The goal here is to be 100% present, no thinking about the past or the future. As you are washing dishes, really feel what you are doing, absorb yourself in every aspect of it.
Long Driving on a Straight Road. Everyone has experienced being in a trance-like state while driving for long periods. This is especially beneficial if you have the right music on or no music at all. Driving in a light rain is also particularly meditative.
Brainwave Entrainment (Binaural beats). You can look up videos for this on YouTube for free. These videos are usually an hour or longer. They require that you use headphones because certain tones, beats, and frequencies are entering through either side and they are both different. This creates the alpha state in your brain by synchronizing brain activity.
Imagery. This is where you imagine a scene, usually a scene in nature. I like to imagine I am a mountain and my thoughts are the clouds. As they pass, I put my thought into the cloud and let it pass. This is all about your imagination. Just be sure to imagine something that isn’t about a real life situation, for example, this is not the time to be imagining that you are acing a job interview or buying a new house. The object here is to imagine something metaphysical like colors or something natural.
Guided Meditations. There is no shortage of guided meditations on YouTube these days! No instructions are needed, since each video will tell you exactly what to do and what to imagine. These are perfect for the true beginner or anyone who needs to have something to listen to in order to meditate.
Nature. Just being out in nature is meditative. There is a thing called forest bathing that has been scientifically proven to reduce stress and calm the mind. You have probably noticed, if you are having a bad day, just going outside can instantly transform your mood. Going for a quick walk in nature or even just looking out a window can work wonders.
Putting the brain in these altered states is beneficial for mental health, which is why they are so helpful for meditation too!
I just released a Meditation Workbook on my Etsy shop to help people find which meditation method works best for them. There are journal sections, a meditation log, and more in-depth descriptions on each of these methods. Click the image below to check it out!
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