First of all let me begin by stating that this is not a complete, or even semi-complete guide to meditation.  There are literally thousands of websites and books devoted to every possible aspect and type of meditation and they are all available with a quick trip to Google.  What you are reading currently is an easy to read and understand beginners guide to meditation.  I won’t attempt to cover all of the technical or even all all of the spiritual aspects of meditation.  What I will do is explain briefly what it is, why you should do it, and some tips to getting started.  If you find that meditation is something that you enjoy and would like to learn more about then let your curiosity (and Google!) be your guide.

Meditation is the art, science and practice of controlling your thoughts.  Although there are a billion words written on the subject, that is what it boils down to.  You practice meditation to control your thoughts and calm your mind and your body. Thereby achieving not only a measure of peace and tranquility, but the ability to find focus and clarity in stressful situations even when you are not meditating.  That aspect of meditation, the ever growing ability to control racing thoughts in times of indecision, stress and emergency is one of the main reasons that I practice meditation.  I have A.D.D. and because of it I continually have a tornado of thoughts in my head.  Often there are so many thoughts on various topics racing around in my mind that I find it very difficult to concentrate on any one of them and get anything done.  Meditation helps with this quite a bit.

Calmly meditating also has the wonderful benefit of lowering your heart rate, respiration and your blood pressure.  So as you can see, the benefits are immediate, good for your body and your mind as well.  You do not have to have a special pillow, clothes, various accessories or even a special room to get started.  I will cover meditation with incense in a later post, but for now all you need to get started is a place where you won’t be disturbed for a little while and a way to make yourself comfortable for that length of time.  It really is that easy and everyone can afford it!

Contrary to some advice you may have received, you do not have to sit in the lotus position or any other specific pose in order to meditate successfully.  All that is required is that you keep your back straight and that you comfortable.  It is a real concentration breaker when you develop a cramp or your butt begins to ache from sitting on a hard floor!  So a pillow, a folded up blanket or even borrowing a cushion from the couch or chair will suffice for something to sit on.  You can even sit in a chair if you prefer.  Just sit however makes you comfortable, but remember that it is very important you keep your back straight.  It is important because of the breathing aspect of meditation.  If your back is not straight it is more difficult to breathe deeply and cleanly.  Breathing “right” plays a tremendous role in meditation and especially for those beginning to meditate.  If you learn a bad habit now, it is much harder to break that habit later when it becomes even more important to do it right.

As for what you should wear, wear anything that does not bind you or restrict your movement.  Comfy sweatpants, very loose shorts, your P.J.’s or even no clothes at all will work just fine.  Nude meditation will be the subject of another post.  It is actually more difficult in many respects than meditating in comfortable, loose fitting clothes.  Your goal should be to not feel pinched, or bound or restricted.  You might think you are completely comfortable, but once you sit still and concentrate on your breathing your mind will find all manner of things to attempt to distract you with.  This is the hardest part of beginning meditation by far!

Now, if you are comfortably attired and sitting in a comfortable position, you can begin.  With your back straight breathe in and out slowly and carefully.  Not slow enough to make you feel like you need more air and not deeply enough that you hyperventilate.  Just slowly, deeper than you would normally breathe and steadily.  Once you have a comfortable breathing pattern, focus entirely on your breathing.  Concentrate solely in the breath entering your lungs, filling them and then exiting your lungs.  Concentrate on all aspects of your breathing to the exclusion of everything else.  This is where it becomes difficult.  No mind likes to be bored and after a few minutes of this your attention will naturally want to wander to what you are going to make for dinner, what is that weird bump under my butt, is the cat inside or outside and a variety of other things. This is the part where you learn to exercise control over those stray and worrying thoughts by simply shutting them out and concentrating on your breathing.

No one can actually “teach” you how to meditate.  It is a self-discipline that you alone are responsible for mastering.  You can seek advice from myriad sources, but in the end it is up to you to focus yourself and learn to exclude any thoughts except for slow, steady, relaxing breathing.  If you are completely new to meditating then fifteen minutes is a great start.  Fifteen minutes does not sound like much when you read it here, but it is another thing entirely when you are trying to corral stray thoughts and focus entirely on one thing.

That is pretty much all you need to know about meditating to get started.  After you are able to calm and quiet your mind and focus more clearly you can practice meditating on a dilemma or aspect of life.  The variety of things you can meditate on is enormous but always the purpose is to find clarity and calm in your mind as well as your body while you concentrate on one thing at a time.

I hope this post helps you get started with meditation and all of the wonderful benefits you can derive from it.  Good luck and may you find Peace, Love and Happiness everywhere you look.