Meditation Made Easy: Instruction & Meditation

Meditation instruction especially beneficial for beginners. I overview different types of meditation while offering tips and techniques. Then we meditate.

Transcript

Meditation Made Easy.

There are many different types of meditation and I'm not going to focus on any one specific type or form of meditation.

My intention is to give you some tools and tips and techniques that you can apply no matter what form of meditation you might end up doing.

So I'm going to talk for a little bit and then we'll have a chance to do a meditation together towards the end.

And when I facilitate the meditation I'll spend a few minutes guiding us and then I'm also going to remain silent for a few minutes so that you can experience both a guided meditation and an unguided meditation where you're on your own.

Even though there's many different types of meditation the one thing all meditation has in common is that it's always about working with your mind.

What is going on in your mind?

And for most of us that means lots of thoughts and for most of us we tend to be pretty attached to our thoughts.

And if we're attached to our thoughts that means if we get worried or stressed out then we're going to be extremely affected by those thoughts.

But you are not your thoughts so if you can detach or separate a little bit from your thoughts to the extent that you're just watching them just witnessing or observing your thoughts then your thoughts can do whatever they want and you remain grounded and centered and calm and you can say oh that's just a thought because most of the thoughts that we stress ourselves out with aren't even true.

We have a habit of making up stories inside our heads and scaring ourselves.

I'm not quite sure why we do that but it seems to be a pretty common human quality.

There are some guidelines that can be very helpful if you're a beginner meditator or if you're just establishing a meditation practice.

Guideline number one is don't tell your mind that it cannot think.

It's a kind of trap we can fall into because we might say well I'm gonna sit and meditate and that means I'm not supposed to have any thoughts.

And as soon as your mind hears that it gets threatened.

It goes into rebellion mode and you'll find you'll have like a million thoughts that you might not have ordinarily had.

So it's perfectly okay to have thoughts when you're meditating.

And then the question arises well if it's okay to have thoughts when I'm meditating then how is meditation any different than my normal waking consciousness?

And that leads to a second guideline that I like to talk about in terms of a metaphor.

Let's say you're out in the countryside.

It's a beautiful day.

It's all quiet and peaceful and lovely and you're really enjoying that peace and quiet.

And then suddenly this bus goes by.

The bus is crowded and noisy and it has all these people on it and you don't even know where the bus is going.

Are you gonna want to get on that bus?

Probably not.

The bus is a metaphor for our thoughts because oftentimes our thoughts can be crowded and noisy and they take us off on these thought journeys.

It's not always a pleasant trip and we don't always know where we're gonna end up.

So guideline number two is don't get on the bus.

And what that means is when you're meditating thoughts will enter your mind but don't interact with your thoughts.

Don't engage with your thoughts.

A huge part of learning how to meditate is learning how to ignore your own thoughts.

And most of us are not very good at that.

Any thought that pops into our head is fair game.

We board the bus,

Take a seat,

We go on a long thought trip and we don't even realize that that's what we're doing.

So in meditation we want to slow down that whole process.

We want to become aware of when we're first stepping onto the thought bus and then you just get off the bus and get off the bus and get off the bus.

And at first it might seem like that's just about all you're doing.

But if you do that enough there will be these gaps in between your thoughts,

These spaces where you're not thinking.

And if you're not thinking you're probably meditating unless you're sleeping.

And meditation is not about sleeping.

It is about waking up.

There's a third guideline that can be really helpful and it's based on what we know about how our mind works.

Because even though our mind is really complex and sophisticated,

We can still only think pretty much one thought at a time.

And you can test that by doing something very basic and that is just close your eyes for a moment and try thinking yes and no at the same time.

And it doesn't take long to realize that we really can't.

I mean we can think yes and no really really fast but it's always one or the other if we want to improve the integrity of the thought.

Because if we combine them then it becomes something like snowy.

So in order to preserve the integrity of the thought it has to be one or the other.

And that's because our brain is basically a single thought processor.

It processes really rapidly but it's pretty much one thought at a time.

So we can use that in meditation to help us.

Because if you give your mind a thought or something to focus on then other thoughts are going to try to come in but it's much less likely that they're going to take hold because your mind is already engaged.

It's already focused on something.

And for that reason I do recommend doing a more focused type of meditation instead of doing a more open or expansive form of meditation.

And then the question arises,

Well what do I focus my mind on?

And of course you can focus on whatever you'd like but it can be very helpful to focus your mind on something that is in alignment with how your mind likes to think.

And even though there's many ways a mind can think,

In general there are three major thinking modes.

One of those is people who tend to think in words or sounds.

They tend to have voices inside their head talking to each other.

Sometimes it might seem more like a committee meeting or the United Nations but it happens in words.

And if that sounds kind of familiar then you're probably an auditory thinker.

And for auditory thinkers it can be very helpful to use a word or a sound to focus your mind on in meditation.

And there happens to be a very long history of doing just that.

One form is a chant meditation where the entire meditation is done chanting,

Out loud.

Another option is a mantra meditation and unlike chanting,

Mantras are typically not said out loud.

A mantra is a word that is repeated over and over again silently to yourself and it acts as an anchor for your awareness.

But a mantra isn't just any old word.

For starters it's typically a Sanskrit word,

Sanskrit being the ancient language of India.

And I don't speak Sanskrit but I do remember my mantra from about,

Well,

Over 30 years ago.

Even though I haven't used it in about 25 years,

It has amazing staying power.

Mantras are also typically words that have some kind of exalted meaning,

Like a spiritual virtue or something that you're aspiring for.

And again the idea is that the word just gets repeated silently to yourself over and over again,

Anchoring your attention.

Sometimes I recommend using the word aloha because I happen to live in Hawaii and aloha is a word that has a very beautiful meaning.

It's also kind of fun to say,

Has a nice rhythm,

A nice sound to it.

But you could pick any word you want or even a short phrase but it's better if it's something that's not too long or complicated.

So that's a little bit about auditory thinking.

Another mode of thinking is people who tend to think in pictures or visual images.

They might have movies playing inside their head or maybe even multiple movies playing simultaneously.

If you're a visual thinker it can be very helpful to use something visual to focus your mind on in meditation.

And there's a couple different ways you can do that.

One is you can just imagine or visualize something in your mind's eye.

And another option is to actually use a physical object and do the meditation with your eyes open.

In an open-eye meditation one of the common objects that's used is a candle flame.

Because even though the candle is stationary the flame is dynamic,

Moving,

Visually compelling.

Another visual prop that's sometimes used in meditation is called a mandala.

And mandalas are usually visually complex and they're usually symmetrical images that draw you in.

Oftentimes mandalas have a kind of three-dimensional quality to them even though they occupy two-dimensional space.

If you want to use an object in your meditation there's a couple of different ways you can do that.

One is you can just keep the object nearby and do the meditation with your eyes open as you're gazing into the object,

Just allowing yourself to be drawn into it using a kind of soft focus with your eyes.

Another option particularly with a mandala is to look at the image and then close your eyes and replicate the image in your mind's eye in as much detail and as intact as possible and then hold it for as long as you can.

And if the image begins to fade or distort you just open your eyes glance down look at the image again and then recreate the image in your mind's eye.

And your entire meditation consists of that.

If you are a visual thinker the idea of taking an image like a mandala which is kind of kaleidoscopic,

Taking an image like that and recreating it in your mind will be kind of juicy and compelling.

If you're not a visual thinker the idea of doing something like that could be rather terrifying.

So that can be another hint or clue about your thinking style.

A third mode of thinking is called kinesthetic.

Sometimes it's also called tactile or sensate and these are people who tend to think with their whole body.

If you're a kinesthetic thinker and you're trying to learn about something it's not going to work for you to sit and listen to a lecture.

You're going to be the one who's kind of squirming around in your chair because kinesthetics have a very hard time sitting still.

They like to move.

They're movement oriented usually very active people.

They can be touchy-feely kind of people.

Also if you're a kinesthetic thinker it's not going to work for you to even watch a video or a demonstration which is audio-visual.

Kinesthetics need to get their body involved somehow in the process.

A kinesthetic thinker might say something like,

I don't want to hear about it let's just do it,

Or I don't want to read about it let's just do it.

And if they can't just do it they're going to want to touch the thing and feel it and turn the knobs and take it apart and and put it back together again somehow getting their hands into it.

When it comes to meditation we now have walking meditations and moving meditations but in its pure form meditation was meant to be a sedentary activity.

In fact all of the yogas that are so popular now were created in order to prepare the body for meditation.

The idea being that if your body is flexible enough and strong enough you'll be able to sit in the full Lotus position on the ground for hours and hours and hours and sometimes even days in meditation without becoming uncomfortable.

But if you're a beginning meditator don't test that theory.

Use a chair with back support and it is better if you are in a seated position instead of lying down.

Unless you want to use your meditation to help you fall asleep at night in that case it's better to do it lying down.

Meditation has many applications it can be helpful for many different things but again if you want to learn it in more of its original form it's better to do the meditation in a seated position where your spine is erect and it has to do with the alignment of the chakras of those energy centers.

In meditation one of the ways the body is brought into meditation is by focusing on your breathing.

Focusing on the movement and activity that's happening inside your body every time you breathe.

When I guide us in our meditation I'm going to pick something from each of these three categories so that you can kind of try it on and see how you like it.

But I do recommend that you pick a focus in advance because otherwise it's too easy to spend the whole meditation trying to figure that out.

You might consider also combining these modes.

You could combine something visual with a word or sound or you could combine a word or sound with your breathing or even combine all three and that can help make your focus more compelling and engaging.

You could also be open to having a backup plan a plan B.

Maybe you've chosen a focus but then when we're in the meditation you keep getting distracted by something,

Getting distracted by the same thing.

Maybe you've chosen something visual and you keep getting distracted by a sound.

Well that sound could become your backup plan.

It could become your plan B because that's where your mind wants to go.

So you want to work with your mind instead of working against it but you can't let your mind do whatever it wants because then you're not meditating.

So it's kind of a fine line between disciplining your mind but not being too rigid.

I'm told it's a lot like parenting.

So having a plan A and a plan B good idea.

I don't recommend having a plan C,

D,

E,

F,

G through Z and in some respects that's not too far-fetched because it kind of resembles a form of meditation that's very popular in the US and that's called mindfulness meditation.

In mindfulness meditation you don't focus on any one specific thing.

You're simply being mindful of your thoughts.

You're watching or witnessing the contents of your mind.

You're becoming aware of your thoughts without changing them,

Without judging them,

Without altering them in any way.

You're just aware of what you're thinking.

So it's kind of like following your mind around.

You might be saying well right now I'm thinking about my next meal and now I'm thinking about going out tonight.

So you're just aware of what your mind is doing.

And even though mindfulness is really popular in the US,

I find that for beginners it can be rather challenging because in mindfulness meditation it's very easy to board the bus,

Take a seat,

Go on a really long thought trip without even realizing that that's what you're doing.

Whereas in a focused meditation the feedback is immediate.

You're either on focus or you're not.

So you can catch yourself right away and bring yourself back to focus.

And in that respect it's much easier to give your mind a meditative experience.

But having said all of this,

Ultimately meditation is a very personal private experience.

And so of course you could do whatever you like.

I'm just tossing out some hopefully helpful hints.

So if you'd like to do a more focused meditation,

Now is the time to choose your focus because we are about to begin.

With regard to your physical body,

You just want to be as comfortable as you can in a seated position.

Usually that means feet on the floor and have your elbows bent so that your shoulders are relaxed,

Which helps relax your head and neck.

Then please close your eyes and as you close your eyes consciously shift your awareness away from an external focus to an internal focus so that you're gently closing your outer senses a little bit and you're opening up your internal senses.

It's helpful at the beginning to take several long slow deep breaths,

Really exaggerated breathing,

Noisy breathing like you're yawning or sighing,

Breathing all the way down to your toes.

And when you've had a chance to repeat several of these noisy exaggerated breaths,

You can allow your breathing to return to a more natural rhythm where you're breathing in through your nose and out through your nose.

Then if you would allow your awareness to be at the rim of your nostrils and with your awareness there at the rim of your nostrils,

Notice the sensation as you breathe.

Notice the movement of the air and notice the difference in sensation between the inhale and the exhale.

You may also notice how the air comes into your nostrils kind of cool on the outside and then immediately warms as it enters your nostrils.

And the next time you inhale,

Track and trace and follow that air as it travels through your sinuses down the trachea,

The windpipe,

Into the lungs feeling the expansion of your lungs on the inhalation,

Feeling the expansion of your rib cage and then just allowing the breath to release and noticing the contraction of your lungs and your ribs.

And just allow yourself to notice what's going on inside your body every time you breathe.

Is there movement in your upper chest as you breathe?

And if so,

How much movement can you feel in your upper chest?

And what about your abdomen?

Is there movement happening in the belly area as you breathe?

And if so,

How much movement can you feel in that part of your body?

Can you feel the air as it passes along the back of your throat?

And if so,

Notice the difference in sensation at the back of your throat between the inhale and the exhale.

And if you notice any places of tightness or tension in your body,

You can direct your breathing into those places from the inside out and it can help to break up some of that coagulated energy.

And then we'll take a moment to visualize the Sun radiant and bright in a crystal clear blue brilliant sky.

And the Sun is beaming down its golden rays of light.

And you are bathing in that light.

You can feel the warmth on your face and the top of your head and it feels so good.

And the next time you inhale,

Breathe in this golden light,

Breathing it into your system so that you're filling yourself with light.

And you can see it.

You can see the golden light so that the inside of your eyelids are shimmering golden light and you can sense it and feel it and it feels so good.

This golden light has been associated with the quality called grace.

So we're bathing in the golden light of grace inside and out.

And you can hear the music.

You might even be able to hear the sound of your own breathing.

And whenever you feel ready,

Allow your mind to focus on whatever it is you'd like to focus your mind on.

It could be something from this guided part.

It could be something you picked in advance.

Just say mind.

We're just gonna focus on this one thing for a while.

I promise I'll come back to those other thoughts later and don't worry they'll still be there.

We're not gonna miss anything but for right now let's just focus on this one thing.

It's kind of like a game to see how long we can focus on this.

And if your mind starts to wander,

Just gently bring it back to your chosen focus.

I'm going to remain mostly silent for the rest of the meditation.

I might just check in every once in a while and remind us to hold the focus.

You you you and if your mind begins to wander just gently bring it back you you you and if your mind starts to wander just gently bring it back you you you you you And if your mind starts to wander just gently bring it back you you you you you you And whenever you feel ready slowly gently Taking your time Begin to breathe yourself back into your body you And into the room Feeling your feet on the floor The chair beneath you you slowly beginning to wiggle your fingers and your toes you gently awakening your outer senses And whenever you feel ready You can gently open your eyes you Take a moment to reflect on how that experience was for you Was it challenging was it easy any long bus rides?

Motorcycle trips Were you able to catch yourself and bring yourself back to focus?

Another question I have for you is How long did the meditation feel?

Now I'm not asking you to guess how long you think it was or to look and see how long you think it was I'm asking how long did it feel?

Did it feel like oh,

This is dragging on for hours.

Is it ever gonna end?

Or did it feel like the meditation went pretty quickly?

And if it felt like it went pretty quick Just for fun put a number on it like how many minutes quick did it feel Did it feel like you know five minutes 10 15 20 25 30 just just put a number on it That was a 20-minute meditation If it felt shorter to you which oftentimes it does Then you know,

You're in the zone,

You know,

You're doing it,

Right?

Because what happens is when we relieve our mind of all the mental chatter the mental busyness our mind Automatically goes into higher states of consciousness.

It does that all by itself and in those higher states of consciousness,

It's just open and Expansive and spacious and timeless And timeless and you can hang out there for a really long time and it doesn't feel like time is passing So if you experienced that time warp thing where it felt like it was much shorter than it was Then you know,

You're in the zone.

You're doing it,

Right?

Thank you for joining me for meditation made easy I have also posted a recording of this recording of this That's just the meditation So if you don't want to listen to the whole instructional part again,

But you want to do that meditation again It is available Thank you

Reviews

I loved the information about different types of meditations. I only knew mindfulness meditation, but its seems like I'm more of an auditory person when it comes to meditating. So I'll be repeating a word, and have a backup plan from now on. This was very enlightening!

Wonderful explanation, beautiful calming voice. Thank you !!!

Thorough and well explained. Great for introducing meditation but not just for beginners. Also useful for experienced meditators interested in reassessing their practice or expanding their techniques. Thank you.

Thank you. It's the best experience of meditation that I ever had, inspire of few bus rides..🙏

I'm a beginner and this helped me so much. I understand it better now. I thought the meditation was like ten minutes but you said I was twenty so I feel good that I'm on the right track in doing it correctly. I will listen to this again. Thank you!!

Very nice! Loads of good information and tips. Great for beginners! 🕉

Great introduction to meditation with good instructions and tips!

Very well done. I wasn't in the zone long. Will try again later. Thank you 😊.