Practising meditation has become more mainstream in recent years and many people are picking up on its major mental and physical health benefits. Meditation can improve your focus for the rest of the day, improve your mood, and lower your stress levels. However, it’s not as easy as just sitting down and closing your eyes for ten minutes. Meditation, like any other exercise, is improved and made easier with practice. We’ve put together some tips on how to make practising meditation easier so that you can get the best possible outcome from it and incorporate it into your health and fitness routine.
One of the key elements of mediation is the focus, whether that be focusing on your breathing or focusing on an intention you’d like to set for the day. The core focus element of meditation is why so many people report feeling more alert for the rest of the day after a session. It is also one of the big things people struggle with when they are starting out. An easy way to make focusing easier is to eliminate distractions around you. If you’re easily distracted by clutter or mess, then make sure where you’re meditating is clear of these things. Some quick fixes for this may be to start meditation outside in your yard or even in your car.
Similarly, if you find it difficult to concentrate when there’s noise around you may want to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones, listen to a guided meditation with calming background music, or start waking up earlier to meditate, before other people are awake for the day.
It’s important to plan set times to practice meditation, this will make it easier to get into the routine of it, and your body and mind will become accustomed to this quiet time every morning (or whenever you choose to meditate). By committing to this as a daily part of your routine, you’re ‘meditating’ muscle will become stronger and you’ll find your focus greatly improves. Like any other exercise- practice makes perfect, so once you start practising daily you’ll be able to incorporate more challenging forms of meditation into your daily routine.
Remember that no one is a master of meditation when they first start out. The human brain is naturally very distractable. Rather than becoming frustrated if your mind starts to wander, let it wander and observe where it wanders to. This gentle approach to meditation will allow you to stay relaxed and more in tune with your thoughts during that moment. Acknowledge that your mind is wondering and slowly bring it back to your key focus, whether that be your breath or the sound of your guided meditation.
One last tip, keep it simple! There’s no need to go all out with fancy meditation and breathing techniques to begin with. The beauty of meditation is that it can be done pretty much anywhere if you have the focus. FIgure out what works for you and what doesn’t, there’s no set structure when it comes to practising meditation, and as you continue to learn and grow with it you’ll come to notice how your individual brain works and what serves you.