I Want to Meditate. Now What?

“Meditation is easier than you think,” Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche says, “You can meditate anywhere any time under any circumstances. It is just awareness, [which is] the essence of meditation. Know what you are thinking, you are feeling, you are doing. That is awareness.”

Meditation is the most misunderstood practice of any that I recommend to clients.

Immediately, people say, “I can’t meditate” or “I’m bad at meditation.” They are concerned they are not doing it right. Misconceptions of meditation include that we must “empty” the mind or “control” our thoughts. Most people are not empty in the mind all day, not even those who meditate. Others say that they don’t have time to meditate because it takes “too long” for them to “get into the right head space” to sit and meditate. They are worried that they have to be calm first. All of these ideas about meditation further illustrate the reasons to meditate. For peace, calm, flow. To be in alignment with ourselves and the world around us. To simply be in a space where we don't have to do or say anything. We can be free.

All we need to do in order to be in a state of meditation is to listen. You are listening to the moment. You are aware of yourself, others, the environment. There is a commitment not to judge but to hold a listening mentality. What is here? What am I noticing? You can engage your curiosity and then listen some more.

Sometimes I listen to the birds or the sound of traffic outside of my window. I don’t have to do anything. I just listen. You may get lost in your thoughts and that is normal. You can listen to your thoughts, get lost in them, and then remember that you want to listen to the moment instead of only your thoughts. Then you return to listening to the fullness of the moment and what is present again. We listen, we get lost, we listen, and that is fine. That is meditation.

Types of Meditation Practices:

1. Sitting or lying on the ground meditation in which we listen. You may like to sit by a tree or some water and listen.
   

2. Walking meditation in which we walk and listen. You can practice this while walking a dog or walking in a hallway. You can consider your body and feel your feet on the ground and listen.
   

3. Mindfulness meditation, or listening to the awareness of feelings, thoughts, actions colors, textures, sounds and other people without judging while going about our daily life. Staying curious and aware helps us to respond with a calm presence.
   

4. Visualization in which we go somewhere in our minds and listen. You can go anywhere. You can picture a forest, a meadow or a beach and listen to rustling leaves, the wind or the waves.
   

5. Guided imagery in which we listen to some one else and a story. You may choose to find YouTube videos on guided meditations for anxiety, stress relief, letting go of worries, relaxation and more.
   

6. Qigong or yoga in which we listen to and move our bodies. There are great beginner videos on YouTube.
   

7. Sound meditation in which we play specific music and listen. You can attend a healing event, listen to or play with singing bowls. YouTube has healing music and singing bowls if you do not have access to them.
   

8. Mantra meditation in which we say or sing a mantra out loud and then listen. Mantras are helpful to give us something to limit our thoughts if we are having an over abundance of them.
   

9. Body scanning, in which we listen to different parts of our bodies as we move from our head down to our toes. We can also tense and release these parts of our bodies as we make our way down and that is called progressive muscle relaxation, which is helpful to relieve stress and anxiety. We listen as we tense and release.
   

10. Focused meditation in which we focus on an object like a picture or body part like our hands or our hearts and listen. If you are feeling sad you could place your hands on your heart and listen.
    

There are many more types of meditation but these forms are simple. You may recognize that you are already practicing one of them and see that it is not difficult to incorporate other forms of meditation as it is about listening. I invite you to sit and listen for 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening and observe what shifts for you.

I hope this helps. Sending you quiet calm.