Meditation Guide for Beginners: 6 Tips to Quiet Your Mind

Are you craving for inner peace and stress free life? Or are there times when you wish to ask your mind to ‘Shut Up’ or ease up so that you can enjoy the present moment. Then meditation could exactly provide what you want. Meditation is the art of focusing and this art comes with practice. But sadly not all are able to do it as beginners find it difficult to get the thoughts out of mind. The drone of recurring thoughts and endless planning get in the way of meditating.

If you are also not able to focus your attention, here are some techniques that you can use to calm the chattering mind.

1.  Practice Makes Perfect: When you decide to practice meditation, don’t give it up. Don’t take it lightly just as another New Year resolution. With time and practice it will become easier for you to quiet the mind and enter into the state of relaxation. Start for five minutes a day and this will assure you stay on the right track.

2.  Focus On The Breath: Close your eyes and feel the breathing going in and out of the nostrils or feel your belly or chest raising and falling. Place your hand on the belly and focus and once you feel that you can feel the breath, remove your hands from the body. Just let your breath flow naturally and with time it will deepen or slow down. This in turn reduces the heart rate and relaxes the muscles.

3.  Choose a Comfortable Posture: The sitting posture also makes a difference while meditating. Ensure that you are comfortable, relaxed and steady so that your mind doesn't wander. It is best to sit straight with the spine erect and keep the neck and shoulders relaxed. It is important to keep the eyes closed throughout the meditation process.

4.  Know Your Purpose: Beginners need to understand that meditation is an Active process and is an art to focus on a single point to ensure that you are purposefully engaged. This is because not everyone has the same reason to meditate. You might meditate to visualize the goals, to improve creativity, to quiet the mind, to reach the real self or get rid of negative approaches. Having the clearer goals helps you engage purposefully.

5.  A Cozy Meditation Space: It is very important to have a quiet and peaceful place when you begin to meditate. Make the area pleasant by adding a scented candle, flowers or incense sticks, put you at ease instantly. Also, try and meditate in a dim lit room as it is easy to quiet the mind in dim light.

6.  No Disturbances: Most beginners ignore the fact that it is important to create a perfect peaceful condition. If you have it in the back of your mind that phone might ring, baby will get up or pressure cooker might whistle then you will not be able to enter the state of deep relaxation. So, ensure that the phone is on silent mode and there is no urgent task to handle. The best time is to meditate early morning when the mind is not cluttered with the usual stuff and the chances of being disturbed are also less.

Beginners must remember that focusing initially is very hard so don’t berate yourself. All beginners experience the inner chatter. But with the above practices you will slowly be able to focus.