Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners

Candy Foster dispells the common response of "I can't meditate" with this beginner video. Candy meets you where you are and that begins with your breath. It's not about silencing the mind. It's about quieting it some, recognizing the thoughts and letting them pass.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. I'm Candy Foster and I am honored to be here today for this beginner video for mindfulness meditation. So a little story about me. Over the years, I've had lots of things health-wise, Emotional-wise that have come into my life and when I found meditation, Mindfulness meditation, It was life-changing for me. So the one thing I hear almost weekly is, I can't meditate. I can't shut my brain down. I can't make my mind stop. And that's why we're here today. This is a beginner video to introduce you to mindfulness meditation. The key here is not to shut the mind down. Our mind is never going to stop. We just want to slow those thoughts, Start to recognize those thoughts, And then we let them go. So in this short little video today, And I start short because especially starting out, You're not going to start with an hour of meditation because it's never going to work. It's kind of like a little bit of brain training. So let's do that. We'll make this a short little session and then we'll build from there. All right? So as we sit down to meditate, We want to go to a quiet place. Maybe we have a little background music to keep us from getting a little too stir-crazy in our mind. Maybe we have silence. We just go to a room where no one's around and shut the door and find a little time for peace. There are also many guided meditations. I have tons of them out here on Insight Timer, But it's also a good practice to start with some peace and quiet. So as we settle in, We find a comfortable position with our spine straight. Whether that be sitting up, Lying down, It's going to create a good flow of energy. As we are meditating, Everything we do, Thoughts, All that stuff is energy, Right? So we want to keep a nice straight spine. And then this is the greatest thing about mindfulness meditation is that we start with our breath and we always have our breath with us. So we can use that anytime we want. So let's just settle in, Get comfortable, Find your space, And then with me, Start to breathe in through the nose and then breathe out through the mouth. And this is our true practice right now, Is we're just going to follow the breath in and out. And we're focusing on how that feels. Feel the air going in through your nose, Filling your chest, And then exhaling. We're simply following that rhythm. As we do this, Our thoughts will continue to chatter a bit, Especially in the beginning. We just want to recognize those thoughts. So let's take three deep breaths in and out, And then we'll recognize what's coming through for our thoughts. Okay? Let's breathe in through the nose, Out through the mouth, In through the nose, And out through Breathing in and out, In and out. Have you noticed any thoughts popping up in your mind? Whatever that is, Recognize it. That's what we're doing right now, Is recognizing the thought that has come through. Now, We just simply want to acknowledge it. Okay, I recognize I'm having this thought, Now I'm going to let it pass by. You can do this in many ways. You can visualize it floating on a leaf down a stream, On a cloud across the sky. You can just visualize it dissipating into the air. Whatever works in your mind, Whatever helps you recognize the thought, Acknowledge it and let it go. All right? So now let's do a 10 breath. We'll try to do 10 breaths in and out, And your thoughts may continue in between, But as we do, As you recognize the thoughts, Acknowledge them and let them go. All right? Let's go in for one breath, And out, Three, And out, Four in, And out, Five in, And out. Recognizing any thoughts, Acknowledging, Letting them go. Now, In for six, Out, Seven, Eight in, And out, Nine, Take a moment to notice any thoughts that popped up. Acknowledge the thought, Let it pass by, However that looks for you. Is it down the stream? Is it through the air? Whatever works for you to let that thought go. So this is a really good way to start this. Start it with maybe three breaths. If 10 breaths was too long, Go to five, Then maybe 10, And you start to work up from there. So five minutes of meditation every day is way better than doing a half hour all at once, Right? Because you're going to have more problems trying to stay in that quiet or that focused place, Right? So this is just one tool. This is like introductory, The beginning of mindfulness meditation, And it's really focusing on the breath. As we move forward, We can focus on other things. People will focus on an object of candle flame, The music playing in the background, Anything that really can bring you to that focus. But right now, To start with, We're going to start with our breath, Because we always have our breath with us, And we can use it any time. So I hope you enjoyed this video. I will plan on having more extensive ones as we go forward, And I wish you luck with your mindfulness meditation practice. Namaste.