Meditation For Beginners in 5 Simple Steps
Does the very thought of having to meditate make you go all squirrelly? Do you silently freak out and wish to hell you didn’t have to sit in “peace” and, God forbid, “relax”? Do you even know how to meditate?
In this “meditation for beginners” article, I’m going to share with you 5 easy peasy steps to get started!
I don’t know how to meditate!
I used to be like that. Me? Meditate? Not a chance. I don’t have time for that. It takes waaaaaaaay too long and, besides, who has time to sit for 30 minutes and do nothing but breathe?
Do nothing?? Just breathe??
Good grief. Nope. Not this girl. I’m too busy. I’ll listen to the Spa channel instead. Ya, that should work.
Um. What? The Spa Channel, Iva, seriously?
Uh uh. That ain’t gonna work. It sounds nice and soothing and it’s all Zen-like stuff but it does nothing to relax me. I mean, when I’m writing, it’s great, right? It’s soft and not very distracting so I happen to love it for that. But to think I can use this medium instead of actually meditating, not so.
But the reality of it all is this: I simply didn’t know how to meditate!
How long should beginners meditate for?
I have no idea. Not a friggin clue.
And then I met this lovely girl. She is an Intuitive Healer, amongst other super cool things, and she discussed meditation for beginners with me and I expressed my thoughts on it. Her first reaction? She laughed at me.
Then came the “Iva Iva Iva, listen to me….” Oh dear, I was in for it.
Andrea took the time to show me how to meditate in mini sessions. Mini? I can Zen out in under 5 minutes?? Yesss!! I’m all over that.
It was easy and, yes, it actually is possible to peace out in less than 5 minutes. I’ve taken what she showed me a few years ago and have perfected it in a way that works great for me.
Allow me to share.
We live in a pretty fast-paced, crazy, and stressful world. Go go go, faster, hurry, come on, move already, get outta my way, omg as if my boss just did that……….Yup. it gets pretty frantic at times. So who has time to Zen out? We ALL do with this super-duper easy technique.
Check it out.
Meditation for beginners in 5 steps
1 Find a quiet spot
Go find a quiet place and that may very well be the basement storage room, the attic, or even the bathroom. I don’t care where it is but find one and don’t tell me you don’t have one.
Go sit in your car, in the garage or parking lot if you have to. Behind your house, your apartment building, the laundry room, or even the shed. Oh, the possibilities are endless.
2 Eliminate Distractions
No distractions, no cell phone, no iPod, iPad. Nothing, nudda, zip. Just you and the quiet. This one was super hard for me.
We’re all so distracted with the outside world we forget to tap into the inside world. Our minds, our hearts, and our souls.
3 Start slow deep breathing
Sit down (or if you can’t that’s OK too, just stand or lean against a wall) and close your eyes. Now take a big deep breath in. Make this one big!! Blow it out hard. Do two more breaths like that. Big breath in, and I mean BIG, big breath out. As negative thoughts come into your head, blow them away.
4 Use your imagination
Now for the next 2-3 minutes, breathe in and out gently, but this time, when you breathe in, imagine a soft pink light, like pixie fairy dust kinda light, being sprinkled into your mind, heart, and soul. When you breathe out, imagine your stress at the moment as a dark grey cloud and blow that cloud away.
Pixie dust in, grey cloud, and negative thoughts out. Use your imagination here and picture the positive energy any colour and form you want it to have, and do the same with the negative energy.
5 Positive affirmations
Feel and think peace and love. Say to yourself “I love me, I’m ok, this is done”. Repeat it a few times if you have to and then carry on with your day.
Breathe in soft pink light, blow out dark grey cloud. Mmmmm, buh bye dark grey cloud. As you continue to blow out for the next few minutes, imagine that dark grey cloud getting lighter and lighter each time until it is no longer grey.
Meditation for beginners on YouTube
I’m a YouTube addict. In the last year or so I’ve been listening to sweet soft guided meditations at bedtime, all found on YouTube. I love Insight Timer too but YT seems to be my drug of choice.
Here is one really beautiful channel that I love to listen to. Now mind you, these aren’t 5-minute meditations but I think you’ll really enjoy them. I get that it’s hard to stay focused on a guided meditation but even just letting it play in the background is effective!
Sarah has the most amazing voice ever. She’ll have you hooked in no time!
How often should you meditate?
There’s a great quote by Deepak Chopra that goes something like this:
If you say you don’t have time to meditate once a day then you are the one who needs to do it twice a day
I love that quote.
The point of this quote is this:
You are too busy in your life to quiet your mind for even 5 minutes then your life is too busy, out of control and you need meditation the most. Does that make sense?
So how often should you meditate? I’d say at least once a day. Morning, afternoon, evening, or whenever you are feeling frazzled or frustrated! That’s when you should meditate.
Every time you catch yourself in a chaotic or stressful situation, step back, and take a few minutes to breathe deeply and calm yourself down. And then watch and see how powerful that was. Your whole perspective on your chaotic situation will instantly change.
Now you know how to meditate and why you need it!
See how easy that was? Now you know how to meditate! I hope you enjoyed this meditation for beginners guide and I also hope it helps you!
Next time you’re at work and someone really peeves you off, before you verbally attack them, go lock yourself in the bathroom and do this mini-meditation. You will come out of there a new person and you can carry on your day in a Zen-like state.
You can switch up the method to suit your taste. Maybe you don’t like pink or pixie fairy dust (who doesn’t??). When I breathe in, I imagine God blowing that soft dust on me but you can imagine any other spiritual figure or maybe even a cute little fairy bug.
Use whatever image works for you. At first, it will feel weird and awkward. Stick with it though. Like anything, it takes time to get into a good habit of doing something that is, well, good for you!
Please try this and let me know how it works for you.
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Peace and Love!
Iva ♥
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I love this. There are ALWAYS 2-3 minutes. Even if it has to be combined with a bathroom break. Thanks for this. Oh and who doesn’t love pink fairy dust???
Haha right???? Thanx for your comment Bridgetannie. And yes, 2 minutes is easy to find to go hide somewhere and zen out!!
You’re right, Iva. It’s not as imtimidating or mysterious as people make it out to be. Very simple and straightforward. Don’t stress about doing it “right.” It’s basically just allowing yourself to be. The more you do it, the more natural it feels. And to really reap the benefits, be consistent. Every day. It’ll be the most well spent few minutes of your day. Well….that and your live videos! ?
Awe cute!! I used to have such a hard time with this but now, I go sit or stand outside on the balcony here and take in the trees and mountains and get my mini med in. It’s wonderful <3
Iva xox