The 5 tips that help your meditation practice

Meditation is training the mind. Getting it to be present and not distracted. This is something we are not really used to anymore. Meditation is as learning a new activity and that is never easy. Just like learning how to ride a bike, walk, read, write and speak a foreign language aren’t easy at first. The time and energy needed to learn how to meditate will repay themselves quickly though because results as more energy, peace of mind and stability are already noticeable after a few sessions.

To make the taming of the mind a bit easier, here are five tips that will help you to enhance your practice..

1) Posture

The bodily posture supports the mental exercise. You don’t have to sit in a fully erect lotus posture though to meditate. When you find a more or less comfortable (sitting)position that you can maintain for a while, that is enough. Make sure your back is straight because an aware mind needs an aware posture to support it. That´s also why I wouldn’t advise to meditate lying down, because the body associates this posture quickly with sleeping. And a snoring meditation probably isn’t what we are looking for. For a good straight posture you can start to sit as extended as possible and then let go for about 10%. See if you can remain seated like this so your posture supports you mental awareness.

2) Surroundings

Find, where possible, a fairly quiet place to meditate. Just like a flame is unsteady in the wind, so is the mind when it is surrounded by outside stimuli. Normally most distractions from the outside comes from sounds. If it´s noisy where you live you can maybe try to meditate a bit earlier or later on the day when the activity is less. It is not necessary to have complete silence though. You even train your mind a bit more when you practise to stay calm and focused surrounded by stimuli.

3) When

Take a set time a day so meditation more easily becomes a habit. What time a day you choose for that is not very important. Take a time that is easy to plan for you. And believe me, it is more a question of priority than time. Take 15 minutes off of your TV or Facebook time for example. And what do you do the last hour before you go to sleep that is more important than doing something by which you invest in yourself?

4) How long

You don’t have to meditate for hours to achieve results. The first five minutes normally are the most difficult and often you need them to get into it a bit. If you choose to meditate for five minutes a time, that means you always do the hardest part. I recommend 10-15 minutes to start with and if you want, gradually make it longer.

5) How often

Daily! This way it most quickly becomes a habit and a regular part of your day. Just like showering and brushing your teeth. Meditation is your mental hygiëne. Gradually it will even become your daily mini holiday. Like with every form of training, regular practice is the key to success. Doing sport once a month or skipping one meal to loose weight, doesn’t bring results either. Give yourself the present of optimalising your mental as well as physical health by taking ten minutes every day to meditate.

Integrating of these tips will benefit your practice and with regular practice, the activity will become more easy. There is no such thing as a bad meditation by the way, every training session helps you forward. If you consciously try to be present and try to come back from every distraction as much as possible, you will improve your peace of mind, your energy level, health, productivity, creativity an more. Meditation simply makes your life a lot easier!

Do you want to learn quickly and effectively how to meditate? We would love to help you. Follow one of our meditation programs or follow the easy step-by-step plan in my book: Meditation, your daily mini-break (unfortunately only available in Dutch). It’s very easy and won’t take much time. Try for yourself and experience what meditation can do for you. You can click here for a free meditation audio. Enjoy!

I hope this blog helped you get a better understanding of the what meditation is all about. Do you have a different question regarding meditation? Send it to me and who knows, it might the subject for my next blogpost!