5 Tips on How to Meditate for Beginners

There are a lot of myths about meditation, and it can be intimidating to try it for the first time. We welcome beginners here! Here are 5 tips about meditation for beginners to help you get started with ease.

5 Tips on How to Meditate for Beginners:

1) When you first meditate, it can be incredible to discover how loud your mind is. This is normal.

One of the main myths of meditation is that it quiets the mind, and this leads to many people (even some instructors!) to believe that if we are thinking, we are not meditating. This is not true.

Over time, a meditation practice can lead to a more peaceful relationship with our thoughts. This happens because as we learn to be the observer of the thoughts, we begin to have the space to chose how we relate to them. Mindfulness meditation (the most common kind practiced in the west these days) is about noticing what’s going on without judgment; it is not about controlling or eliminating our thoughts.

People new to meditation can be surprised to notice just how loud their minds are. (This isn’t a personal thing; it’s true for all of us.) So, sometimes we might meditate to try to find some quiet, and but instead we wind up noticing how loud our minds are. This is normal; it happens! (This running commentary in our heads is called “monkey mind” in many meditation circles.)

But by sticking with it (rather than giving up) we can learn a lot about ourselves: our thought patterns, our stories, our emotions, our inner lives. And, we can move towards that place of more peace, as we come to befriend and understand our minds, rather than try to change them.

2) You can’t meditate “wrong” or be bad at it. It’s a practice.

Meditation is about choosing where to place our focus.

In classic mindfulness meditation, we focus on the physical sensation of our breath as an “anchor,” or a place we chose to return to. We notice our breath, and then when our mind wanders, we notice that and chose to refocus on the breath. Meditation is doing that, over and over again.

Many first time meditators will say to me, “I don’t think I meditated! I couldn’t stop thinking.” But when I ask if they had the thought “I am supposed to be meditating but I keep thinking!” they say yes. And the beautiful thing is, this is the mediation practice itself; this is the mindfulness. Noticing “I am thinking” takes us from identifying with the thoughts to observing them. That’s the practice!

Something else to note is that for long-time practitioners and meditation teachers alike, each session is different. Some feel quiet and easy, and some feel like a struggle. This dance never changes. We just keep practicing.

3) Sticking with it daily (10-20 minutes) can create incredible change.

When we do the “keep practicing” part; when we make it part of our regular life–this is how big changes start to happen. As we become more and more used to observing our thoughts, and more comfortable sitting with, trusting, and loving ourselves, our lives start to shift.

Meditating for even one minute is wonderful. Meditating longer and more regularly is even better.

4) Try different stuff until you find what works.

There are a ton of different kinds of meditation: classic mindfulness-awareness practice (focusing in), metta or loving awareness practices (focusing out), guided meditations (through YouTube or apps), transcendental and mantra meditations, visualizations, name-brand academic exercises, religiously based practices, and tons more. If you are interested in meditation but try it and don’t like it, I encourage you to try some other versions.

My own practice has changed and shifted over the 15 or so years that I have been on my own journey. There is a lot of benefit to be received from going deep into a practice style, but don’t be afraid to try many things to see what path, philosophy, or practices resonate most deeply for you.

5) The most important thing—always!—is to be gentle with yourself. ♥️

While meditation can be a path to finding more inner peace and calm in your life, just like any other tool, it can also be misused. Sometimes, meditation can become a tool for beating ourselves up–especially if we feel like we are doing it “wrong” in some way. Please remember: you can’t do it wrong; meditation is a practice, not a perfect! :) Go gently with yourself.

And make sure that any teacher or instructor you work with is treating you with gentleness and kindness, too. There are, unfortunately, a lot of under-trained meditation teachers and guides out there. While there is discomfort to be expected in meditation (we do have to get used to doing new things) the right teacher or practice for us is one that makes us feel safe, whole, and perfect just the way we are.

If it resonates with you we have many meditation scripts that might help support you on your path. This is a journey that begins in wholeness; we are complete, just not finished.

May you be well,