How to start a meditation practise

Mar 6

Five ways to start practising meditation for total beginners

Where meditation was once a practise considered to be “New Age” in The West, it’s now common knowledge that its a simple and effective method for supporting good mental health with plenty of science to back up what ancient traditions have taught for thousands of years.

“Practicing meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, calm the amygdala, increase our ability to think creatively and empathetically take other people’s perspective.”
- Harvard Business Review

Still, I often hear people say, “I can’t meditate. It’s not for me. I can’t quieten my mind, it’s too busy”.

The purpose of meditation may not be what you think

It’s a very common misconception that the objective of meditation is to empty the mind during the period when meditating. It categorically, isn’t. The objective of meditation is not to switch off or slow down your thoughts, but simply to begin to observe them. This can feel very challenging at first. The internal monologue can be a barrage of beratement and negativity (especially for those with significant unprocessed trauma). However, a natural byproduct or result of a regular meditation practise, is that it will, over time, reduce and slow down your busy mind and this starts to happen fairly quickly.

This does not mean you will never again experience a busy mind or negative thoughts. It does mean that you will have the ability to master the mind, recognise you have tools to support it and needn’t get wrapped up in the stories the busy mind is telling you. In other words, don’t assess the efficacy of your meditation practise on the meditation, assess it on how you feel in your everyday life between meditations.

Starting your meditation practise - start small

It’s important not to be hard on yourself or rigid with your expectations when setting out to start a new practise like meditation. If you set a goal for a daily practise, twice a day for 20 minutes, you could find that quite challenging. This is what I started with back in 2015 when I learned to meditate, and when I inevitably only managed one session a day (because I had a small child to look after) I’d crack the figurative whip over myself - something to pay attention to!

I recommend starting out with a tiny and very achievable goal of two minutes per day. You can set a timer if you like, or have a clock or watch nearby when you practise because it’ll likely feel a long time at first! Write down your goal and draw yourself some checkboxes so you can tick off each day that you’ve completed what you set out to. Keeping small promises to yourself builds self trust, which is why making the smallest of commitment is important. The focus is building the habit. Celebrate each and every tick with a metaphorical pat on the back or celebration of some sort. Perhaps you could promise yourself a treat at the end of the week when you’ve completed your two minutes per day. You can then slowly build up from there, to either multiple two minute sessions per day (morning, lunch and/or evening) or to a slightly longer stint each day. What feels achievable? For an initial daily stint and a reward at the end of week one? Tune in and take a baby step.

Five meditation techniques to try

Mindfulness technique

Sit still for a few moments, notice one thing you can hear, one thing you can see, one thing you can smell, one thing you can touch, and one thing you can taste.

Body awareness

Sit in a comfortable position for a few moments and close your eyes. Pay attention to where your feet are in contact with the surface below you. Notice the position of your legs and where they meet the surface below you. Feel the heaviness of your pelvis rooting down on the chair or floor. Can you sense any tightness in your body? How do your back and shoulders feel? Where are your hands and how do they feel? Relax your jaw and tongue.

Mantra based meditation

A mantra based meditation is one in which the focus is a word or phrase which you can return to as your mind inevitably wanders (and it will - the practise of noticing this and letting go of the thoughts is meditation). Choose a word or phrase or an intention for how you’d like to feel today (eg, “I am peaceful”, “I am grateful”, “focused”, “calm”). Find a comfortable seated position and bring the word or phrase to mind. Allow all thoughts and feelings, you’re not trying to stop them. When you notice your mind running away with a thought, gently bring the mantra back to mind. Repeat.

Focus on one visual image

Pick a favourite image, place or being (I like to do this with a particular tree I feel very connected to), something with positive connotations. Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Visualise what you’ve chosen. Notice the different aspects to it. How does it make you feel? When you find your mind wandering (and you will, that’s ok!) gently bring the image back to your awareness.

Breath awareness

You can sit or lie down for this, or be standing up with open eyes in a queue at the post office doing this for just a second or two. Start to pay attention to your breath. Don’t try to change it in anyway, just tune in and notice it. Is it deep or shallow? Which part of the body is it going into? The chest and shoulders? The belly? The back? Is it slow or fast? Gentle or forced?

If you enjoyed this breath-focused meditation or want to learn more about breathwork, read What is Breathwork.

Establishing meditation as a habit

As well as setting small, incremental goals with regard to meditation, it can be really helpful to do it in the same place and at the same time each day. This teaches your brain to associate the practise with something you are already familiar with which will effectively embed the habit.

This might look like practising first thing in the morning, on the floor next to your bed, as soon as you wake up. Or last thing at night, after brushing your teeth, in the same place before you go to sleep. Or in the middle of the morning, sitting at your desk before you’d normally stop to make a coffee. This technique is called “habit stacking” where you tag a new habit on to already established habits and rituals.

The great thing about meditation is you can do it (almost) anytime and any place. I used to practise on the bus or tube into work, as it was something I already did twice a day.

What existing habit could you stack two minutes of daily meditation on to?

A note on what counts as meditation

Any activity practised mindfully can be considered meditation and can have the same impact as meditation. Here are some examples of activities I experience as meditative:

hitting a tennis ball against a wall with a racket
baking or prepping pizza dough
listening to an album (or even just one song)
drawing or colouring

What makes these activities meditative is paying attention only to that one thing, being wholly engaged with the sensorial experience and how it makes me feel, without any other distraction.

For you, these specific activities might not be meditative, but there will be other activities that call you and speak to you. Pay attention to them.

It’s also worth noting that some of these experiences only became something I could experience mindfully after significant work to process trauma (a regular meditation practise, journalling, coaching, therapy, breathwork). In the past, I’d have had no patience for hitting a tennis ball, for example, because I had some pretty deeply embedded beliefs which meant I couldn’t cope with not being very good at something without giving up straight away! These activities will also change and shift over time, and that’s ok. It’s all about tuning in and noticing, which is what meditation teaches you to do in the most gentle way.

Meditation comes in many forms, if none of these are hitting right, read Three Ways to Boost Creativity for alternative practises to shift energy and change perspective.

Rebecca Caution