Let’s talk about how to get started with meditation.

My Background With Meditation

Meditation is something that’s become really fashionable or really trendy recently. But as someone whose mind usually runs a million miles an hour, I’ve never really been able to get into it.

I’ve always had a very hard time trying to meditate.

I don’t have the patience for it. I really struggled to slow down my thoughts.

And that’s meant that usually when I try to meditate, I get more annoyed because I’m constantly thinking about the things that I’m trying to not think about.

Why Conventional Meditation Has Never Worked For Me

When we think about meditation, we often default to the standard image of sitting cross-legged on the floor, lighting some incense, hands in lotus position on your knees, closing your eyes, focusing on your breath and trying to empty your mind.

That has absolutely never worked for me.

I don’t have much flexibility. So sitting cross-legged on the floor for more than a few minutes, starts to feel very uncomfortable.

And like I already said, my brain struggles to slow down.

But meditation doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t have to be that image.

Alternatives To The Normal Image Of Meditation

What works for me actually is falling flat on a hard floor. So it helps open up my spine, putting on a five-minute meditation track on YouTube, closing my eyes, and then starting to count down from 10,000.

My spine and my back get to relax. That lying flat position gravity naturally starts to pull my shoulders back so it helps open up my chest and helps my breathing. The YouTube track sets the ambience.

And counting down from 10,000 is just something to keep my brain distracted and busy.

And that works for me.

I come out of meditation like that, feeling relaxed, feeling refreshed, feeling energized.

But meditation also doesn’t have to be completely passive or static like that.

Some Active Meditation Options

You can walk, you can move, you can do some physical activity that you find therapeutic.

It may not be conventional and it may not be the dictionary definition of meditation, but if it gets you to that same point, there’s probably nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes when I go for a walk, I’ll focus on counting my steps and use that as a sort of active meditation.

Sometimes I’ll start trying to meditate when I’m getting myself dressed after a shower, I’ll usually put on some ambient music or something and kind of treat that as like a few minutes of self-care, which again, helps me feel relaxed and helps me feel energized.

Ambient music, plus trying to do some tidying up has helped me a lot as well. That’s something that just seems to work for me as well.

How To Get Started With Meditation If You’re New To It

If you’re new, possibly the best thing with how to get started with meditation is to figure out what you want to achieve from the meditation session, and then try a few different methods to help you get to that point.

It might be lighting some incense and folding your legs and sitting on the floor. It might be lying down. It might be walking. It might be doing some other activity. It could be something else entirely.

It doesn’t always have to be that stereotypical image of sitting on the floor, trying to reach a zen-like state and exploring your inner self.