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Every I used to think about meditation I would think about some monk in robes as he hums and levitates in the air.
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It was difficult to take something that I did no understand in a serious manor. The fact of the matter is that mediation has profound effects on your way of thinking. I like to explain it as a sort of "self hypnosis" for healing. Mediation is actually scientifically proven in many cases to change peoples lives in a positive way. Check out this study:
A second study, published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, taught a randomized group of 90 cancer patients mindful meditation (another type of practice). After seven weeks, those who had meditated reported that they were significantly less depressed, anxious, angry and confused than the control group, which hadn't practiced meditation. The meditators also had more energy and fewer heart and gastrointestinal problems than did the other group.
Getting started
Your mind is like a muscle. It is being worked constantly. Even when you sleep your mind is working in its dreams. We never really give our minds a break a think about nothing at all. That is where our first step in meditation comes into play. To think about nothing at all. Freeing our minds of all thoughts. Sounds easy right? Wrong... it actually takes some great patience to do this task. Try it right now for 30 seconds.
......You will often find yourself drifting into thought about what you want to eat .... or what you did that morning....Maybe a good memory.. and BUSTED! You realize that you arent think about "nothing" .... you in fact are thinking about something.... So to make this easier lets put our focus on breathing. Think about filling your lungs entirely with oxygen. As soon as your lungs are full begin immediately to exhale and make this into a cycle. Breathe in ... breathe out... breathe. Breathe out... Now you have shifted your focus to one small task. Each time your mind wants to wander slowly bring it back to your breathing. You will find this to be challenging but with time and practice you will get better at having a single focus and that focus being your breathing.
Everybody has a different journey when it comes to meditation. Our minds are all different from one another so we might need extra care in certain areas that others do not require.
I certainly needed all the help I could get. As far as the ultimate beginner, I went straight for guided mediation. It helps you clear your mind and focus by the use of someone elses voices. They use audio that helps to stimulate the mind in the way mediation would. You just have to listen every night for 6 weeks and you will certainly see life changing effects. This is another simple way to help free yourself of the burdens of stress and anxiety. 30 minutes per night and doing it for 6 weeks is certainly long enough to have a lasting impact. A good meditation to start with is the Kelley Howells universal mind meditations. I find hers to be relaxing and a good place to start when pursuing meditation. Check out here series here:
Keep practicing!
I hope your experiences with mediation have been as profound as mine. I was able to rid myself of anxiety and depression with the use of mediation and mindfulness. These practices are much like body building for the brain. So they take time to work. Have patience and dont expect anything to happen overnight. I hope you ejoyed this guide to learning the basics of meditation.
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