How to Meditate For Beginners

Before you go any further or read any instructions on how to meditate, it is essential that you learn this one critical fact. It’s a fact that will help you to avoid falling victim to one of the most widespread misunderstandings about what meditation is, and how it is practiced.

What is this misunderstanding?

It is the belief that you have to experience total inner silence when you meditate, and that the presence of any thoughts means that you are failing.

It's quite common for meditation beginners to get caught up in this false notion of what meditation is.

Well guess what? You DO NOT have to achieve total mental silence in order to be successful at meditation.

Does this sound a little backwards to you? I mean, the whole point of meditation is to "stop thinking" isn’t it?

Of course the ultimate goal of meditation is to achieve mental silence, but when you are starting out with meditation all you should be aiming for is a reduction in mental activity. You'd be amazed at how much more relaxed and clear you will feel if you can reduce your mental activity by just 20 to 30 percent.

So many meditation beginners feel as though they are failing when they discover that they are unable to silence their minds completely. This can really lead to frustration and disappointment. Some people, after practicing meditation for a few weeks, or even for some months, still find it extremely difficult to stop their mind from wandering off.

Well guess what? This is NORMAL! It does not mean that you are unable to meditate. Your mind is not something that you can just switch off in an instant, and thoughts are a totally natural phenomenon so it's folly to think that you can silence them all right away.

The most important thing to remember during the early stages of your experience with meditation is that meditation is NOT something you can measure in terms of success or failure. Meditation is a journey, and it is something that you accomplish by sitting with the intention of silencing your mind. Your ability to achieve this silence through meditation will certainly improve and deepen over time, but you should never feel as though you are failing just because thoughts arise.

So don’t judge yourself harshly if you find your mind wandering as you meditate. Mental wanderings are quite normal, and even the most experienced meditators get lost in a few mental wanderings from time to time...sometimes more than a few.

So before you read any instructions on how to meditate for beginners, make sure that you understand that you are not expected to achieve perfection when you meditate. This will save you from a huge amount of frustration and will free you to relax and enjoy the ever deepening experience of inner silence at your own natural pace.

Alright, enough said! Time to get into it! How to meditate for beginners, here we come....

This article is copyright protected, however you may republish it online or in print media provided that that you include the following credit, including the active link:

Article source www.The-Guided-Meditation-Site.com.

Helpful Links

Jump to the "How to Meditate" homepage

Click here for a free guided meditation download - a great way to get started

Click here for complete instructions on how to meditate

More great meditation tips for beginners

Want to accelerate and deepen your meditation? Brainwave Entrainment can help!

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