What is Meditation? Think You Can't Meditate? You're Wrong.

A woman learning how to meditate, practice mindfulness and calm breathing

Learning to #meditate is a really rewarding journey and a really useful life skill. When and while learning meditation, we are taking an active role as leaders of our own lives, we are stepping out of automatic pilot, literally rewiring our nervous system and brains, changing our hormones and learning how to reduce stress, improve our sleep, calm our minds, get along better with others and feel happier and more joyful.

A lot of people think they can't meditate, but as you will learn in this article, everyone can meditate - you just need to find the type of meditation style, plus a way of teaching and practicing that is right for you! :)

What is Meditation?

You might actually be surprised by what meditation is, even if you've heard a few things about it, so take a deep breath and let's get to it.

Meditation in the scientific sense is a family of mind training practices that help to train the quality of our minds - meaning how aware, stressed, focus, relaxed, present, compassionate, kind we are etc. Much like movement overall is an umbrella term to describe ways of training our body - anything from running to dancing to lifting weights is a sort of movement training, meditation in a similar way is an umbrella term for practices that help us to train and strengthen certain qualities of mind and being that we may need to live healthier and happier.

At the same time, meditation is a very ancient practice. Meditations have been used for thousands of years by people in different parts of the world to improve their quality of life and health, and assist them in achieving certain goals.

Mindfulness Meditation, foe example, is a practice to calm and center the brain by paying attention. And most often, what we’re paying attention to is our breath.

How Many Meditation Types Are There?

Scientists are still struggling to group all the meditation types and practices around the world but there are hundreds of different meditation techniques around the world. Different scientists, meditation teaching lineages and teachers group them differently.

Some of the most popular meditation types of meditation groupings are: mindfulness meditation, zen meditation, visualization meditation, affirmation meditations, kundalini meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, transcendental meditation, autogenic meditation, movement meditation, loving-kindness and compassion meditations.

Each of these meditation types tends to strengthen different parts of our minds, bodies, hearts and brains, work slightly differently and has it's own learning curve when getting started.

Which Meditation Type is Right for You?

Which meditation type is right or best for you in a certain moment or time of your life will largely depend on who you are as a person, how you engage with the world, how your brain works, what your multiple intelligences and learning styles are. It will also depend on your intention and goals when learning and practicing the meditation.

For example, if you struggle with imagination and visualizing things, visualization meditations will probably not be your favorite and most effective for you if your intention is to calm down quickly and reground (although they can be the best choice, if perhaps your intention to practice is to develop such visualization skills).

Mindfulness and zen tend to work for the widest range of people. It's assumed that it is the case because they are both so rooted in now and present moment awareness, and work for variety of circumstances.

Keep in mind that as you and your life evolve, what works and does not for you will continue to change and update. Some people might have a very negative reaction to the body scan meditation, for example, but at a different stage in their life, it can become their favorite.

Meditation Is a Skill

Learning to meditate is like learning any other skill. Similarly to learning exercises in the gym, dance steps or a musical instrument. It takes consistency and practice to get comfortable and continue growing. And it’s usually easier if you have a teacher and a community to practice with and learn together.

What Can Make Meditation Easier?

• Following guided meditations and joining live classes can make starting much easier.
  

• Having a great teacher, completing challenges and following courses that build your skills in your own time and pace can also be very helpful.

• Start with a friend! That way you can help each other accountable and remind each other to practice. You can get started with our Tiny Meditations Challenge and do it together with your bestie.

• Joining a meditation group or classes. It can be really helpful to practice with others and feel a part of a community.

Can Really Anyone Meditate?

Absolutely! Meditation is very natural for our minds, just like walking and jumping is natural for our bodies. If you tried meditation and it "didn't work", don't get discouraged.

Go to different classes, try different meditation styles, stay consistent and honest with yourself and you will absolutely develop the skills to calm your mind on demand.

If you've never tried, you can start with our Tiny Meditation Program.

Can Meditation Make Things Worse for People With Certain Conditions?

Meditation, especially when done with the guidance of a qualified meditation therapist, and in a trauma-informed way, is generally safe, mostly because your meditation therapist and you can discuss what meditation or mind/body/awareness practices would best work for you, and because the practices are guided in a specific way.

It's hard to give advice for general conditions. However, if you are having psychotic breakdowns, high anxiety, depression, etc, it can be counter productive and triggering for some of us to try to calm down our minds by doing sitting down and formal practices. It could be more helpful to find a non-traditional meditative hobby and something that takes the focus in an object and activity in a safe (maybe even playful) way outside of you - perhaps in cooking or woodcarving, or an art or nature related activity - until you ground yourself enough to bring the attention inwards. One type of meditation is not worse than another.

In fact, by pausing, asking yourself how you are, what you need and taking steps to take care of yourself, you are already practicing mindfulness!

How to Meditate

Here's a simple guide to get you started with meditation in just five easy steps:

Step One. Find Your Comfort Zone: Sit in a position that feels good for you. This could be in a chair with your feet flat on the ground, cross-legged on a cushion, or even lying flat. The key is to be comfortable and relaxed.

Step Two. Close Your Eyes or Relax Your Gaze : Close your eyes to help focus inward. If that feels uncomfortable, gently rest your gaze on a specific point, like a tree outside or an object on your desk.

Step Three. Notice The Breath Movements.. Just Breathe. Let your breath flow naturally. There’s no need to control it. Simply breathe in and out as you normally would and sense where you feel the breath - maybe around the belly, chest or nostrils areas.

Focus on The Breath: Pay attention to how the breath feels. Notice the sensations as you inhale and exhale. Feel the air moving in and out of the body. Perhaps the belly rising on the inhale and lowering on the exhale.

Gently Refocus: Your mind will wander—that’s normal. When you realize you’re lost in thought, gently bring your attention back to your breath. This may happen repeatedly, and that’s perfectly okay. It’s all part of the meditation process.

As one of our most favorite teachers Andy explains, "Meditation is not about becoming a different person, a new person. It's about being who we are right now, switching off reactivity, getting a healthy sense of perspective and understanding ourselves better."

Two people meditating peacefully in nature after work and calmly watching the sunset

#meditation #mindfulness #howtomeditate