The Quickest Way to Build a Successful Meditation Practice
Learning to meditate for the first time can be extremely boring and if not done right, can potentially turn you off from continuing to pursue this powerful tool any further. For one thing, meditation is based on the premise of clearing your head, usually by focusing on your breath. While this sounds simple on the surface, it can quickly become extremely unappealing as there appears to be no real goal and there is no real guidance on how to do it properly. Furthermore, many people new to meditation aren’t quite sure what they are setting out to achieve, and seeing a lack of any quick gratification, will quickly dismiss the efficacy of meditation altogether. And let’s face it; meditation can be extremely boring in the initial stages of beginning a meditation practice.
Personally, I’ve tried to start my meditation practice many times but ended up becoming flustered each time. While I had done the research on the benefits of meditation, I had no idea how to properly incorporate it into my life. I tried many different approaches to meditation and many different guided meditations. After a lot of trial and error, I discovered an approach which worked really well for me and helped get my meditation practice started properly.
Creating an Initial Purpose Rather Than Simply Clearing Your Mind
What really helped me get my meditation practice started properly was using the following Brain Sync guided meditation by Kelly Howell as a launching ground. Here are some key benefits of using this guided meditation:
One of the biggest obstacles to meditating is that it is really really hard to just clear your mind and think about nothing, especially when you are just starting out. Having someone guide you through the process and tell you what to do is much easier than trying to do it yourself.
Using this guided meditation was also extremely helpful because it is very short and concise, lasting only about 8 minutes. Much like anything else, meditation is a practice that you must build upon. Sitting still for an hour is something that takes a lot of time to learn. Regardless of how restless you might be in the initial stages however, almost everyone can sit still for 8 minutes.
There is a goal and purpose to this meditation, which helps the initial transition of having thoughts constantly racing in your mind to pure emptiness of your mind. As people, we are always seeking out a purpose to something, and simply emptying the mind with no purpose can be a real challenge for most of us. Rather than looking at it as a meditation, look at it as a relaxation tool. This meditation tones down the mind chatter and sets the stage for the eventual clearing of your mind.
The goal of this guided meditation is to relax you and make you feel good right away, rather than have you go into a full meditation. The theta waves, voice, sounds, and commands are all designed to get you in a blissful state relatively quickly. It is quite relaxing and I actually look forward to listening to this guided meditation and going to my very own sanctuary.
How to Build Your Meditation Practice
The first step is to simply listen to the Brain Sync 8 minute guided meditation by Kelly Howell. Don’t even think of it as a meditation. Just think of it as your personal time to relax and just feel good.
Listen to it once a day and each time you listen to it, try to immerse yourself in it more and more. Try to listen to it at the same time every day, or as part of a certain routine (ie. Right when you wake up, before dinner, or anything else you do on a daily basis). Eventually, you will look forward to listening to it and getting to your personal place.
Here is the link to the guided meditation:
Listen to it once a day for about a week or two, until you can reach that blissful state just by hearing the beginning of the guided meditation. Once you get to this point, continue listening to the guided meditation until it is over. Rather than ending the meditation and opening your eyes however, try to remain in the same state for an additional 5 minutes (setting a timer beforehand should help).
Throughout this time, try not to think about anything and just focus on feeling good in the blissful state and observe your breath without judgement flowing in and out with each inhalation and exhalation.
A tip to help you do certain things while meditating is to give yourself a mental command for whatever it is you want to do. For example, rather than just sitting there for an additional 5 minutes after the guided meditation, give yourself the mental command of, “Now sit here for an additional 5 minutes and just enjoy this feeling you have created for yourself.” Much like listening to a guided meditation, giving yourself a command rather than just thinking that you should do it makes it more likely for you to follow through. You can give yourself other commands such as, “Breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth” 3 times before mentally thinking the command, “Now clear your mind.” Action commands are the most effective.
Once you are able to complete the additional 5 minutes with relative ease, add another 5 minutes until you are comfortable doing with that and keep adding to your practice until you can get to 30 minutes. You should find that using the initial guided meditation really helps set the tone for a pleasant meditative experience.
In addition, you should begin to notice some of the benefits of meditating more and more as you increase your endurance more and more. You might notice more clarity in your thinking, less brain chatter, a higher awareness of things, and increased focus.
Once you get to the 30 minute mark, try to expand upon it, and see if you can enter the blissful meditative state without even listening to the guided meditation anymore. You should find that by having first trained yourself by listening to the guided meditation, you are able to enter this state just by thinking about it. If this is the case, try to conduct your meditations without using the guided meditation as an opener. With more and more practice, you should find that you can enter this state at any time with only your thoughts.
From this point on, you can really start to explore and build upon your meditation practice in any way that you want. You can try to extend your meditations to an hour, or you can try to introduce other aspects of meditation into your practice. There is an endless variety of things you can do with your meditation practice. This includes specific breathing techniques and patterns, and introducing different goals in mind when meditating. For a more spiritual experience, this can include meditating on a question, or introducing principles such as the “I am” meditations. There are many guided meditations you can find on Youtube that can help you expand your practice an infinite number of ways.
The Takeaway
The biggest take away from this is to start your meditation practice slowly and shortly, and build upon it as you progress. There will undoubtedly be people who may not like this specific guided meditation and that’s okay. If that is the case, simply find another one that is more suitable for you and use that as a starting point. The point is to find something short and concise so that you don’t get bored in the beginning. Another takeaway is to find one that gives you a purpose to start with, while bringing you to a place where meditation starts off as feeling good, rather than simply focusing on your breath.
No two people’s meditation experience is ever going to be the same, so don’t be afraid to tinker with it until you find something that works for you. This process is something that worked really well for me and a few others, so I hope that it is something that will help you reap the wonderful benefits that meditation has to offer.
As always, I wish you the very best!
