Advice that differs from the general instruction to "clear your mind" that's often given to beginners.
The Most Important Things to Do While Meditating
Without meditation, there is no yoga. In the West, what most people know about yoga consists only of yoga asana, the poses, and they typically think of it as a workout method. What “asana” actually means is “seat,” referring to the seat of meditation. The first and only yoga pose for a long time was a seated pose that one took to meditate. Even after more poses were developed, they were practiced with the intention of stretching/strengthening your body in order to make your seat of meditation more comfortable.
Yoga, as a whole, is a path to self-realization. In ancient Sanskrit literature, Raja yoga, or the yoga of meditation, is stated as the goal of yoga and the method of achieving it. Raja yoga encompasses the ultimate purpose of all aspects of yoga: to study the mind to learn your true nature. As you can tell, meditation is an integral part of a yoga practice. But many new meditators find it difficult to break into the practice—what you should do, not do, focus on, or not focus on while meditating?
How to Meditate: Tips to Deepen Your Practice (Or Begin One)
This is the part where a lot of people would direct you to a “must-do” guided meditation podcast or app, or give you very general instructions to “sit in silence and clear your mind.” I’m not going to do either of those things because neither ever helped me develop or deepen my meditation practice. Instead, I’m going to tell you very simple things I learned or realized that led to that, “Aha! This is what they’re talking about,” feeling.
1. You Can (And Should!) Make Yourself Comfortable
I cannot emphasize this enough: Sit on a yoga block. Or a stack of books, a folded up towel/blanket, a pillow, or even your stacked flip flops if you find yourself on the beach having forgotten your block (speaking from experience). Anything to elevate your hips! This one meditation tip has made a huge difference in my practice. I remember being a teenager and reading something on Pinterest back in the day about how yogis must persevere through screaming back or hip pain during meditation, and for some reason it stuck in my head that meditation was supposed to be physically uncomfortable—that meant I was doing it right.
And while there is importance in breathing through emotional and even sometimes physical discomfort during meditation, you’re allowed to make an adjustment that will make you more comfortable. In fact, in Yoga Sutra 2.46, Patanjali says, “sthira sukham asanam,” which translates into English as, “The seat should be steady, stable, and comfortable.”
So make yourself comfortable! If elevating your hips doesn’t do it for you, you can also try sitting cross-legged with a block or pillow under each knee for support, sitting in a kneeling position on a rolled up blanket placed between your knees, or even sitting in a chair or against a wall—whatever you choose, just make sure you can sit up with your spine in a straight line. Finding your most steady, stable, and comfortable seat will allow you to better focus the mind on the object of your meditation. Also, it will make you less likely to end early due to discomfort. Also, it will make you hate it less.
2. Don’t Try to “Clear Your Mind” or “Think About Nothing”
Doesn’t it feel like these are the most popular meditation instructions given to beginners? While it may sound appealing to those of us with busy minds, the instruction to “think about nothing” could be setting us up to feel like failures. The first time you meditate and can’t clear your mind, or think about things the entire time, you may end up believing meditation is just another thing you’re bad at because you couldn’t even follow the two most basic “simple” instructions.
Rather than “clear your mind,” the goal of meditation is to pay attention to when your mind wanders and where it goes—because it will, inevitably, wander. By noticing when you're thinking and what you’re thinking about, you can gain a better understanding of your mind’s patterns and tendencies. Once you understand them better, you can learn to interrupt those patterns in their tracks, to let the thought go, and to bring your focus back to your breath. This helps us see things as they are, in the reality of the here and now, rather than as they are through the filter of our emotions and perceptions of how things should be. Removing that filter is uncomfortable, but it allows us to see the truth about what is and the truth about ourselves.
Sit down with the intention of paying attention to your thoughts rather than getting rid of them. When you notice that you are thinking, label that thought “thinking,” and bring your attention back to your breath. Repeat this process for the entire length of your meditation. (Spoiler alert: Your mind won’t ever “clear” for good. With practice, you’ll experience moments of clarity in between the thoughts. This process is the practice.)
3. Get Philosophical: Learn About the How and Why
It seems that everyone nowadays—doctors, therapists, and influencers—tell you to meditate to reduce stress and anxiety. But that’s usually where the advice ends. They don’t tell you how or why meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety, they don’t give you any background on the different approaches to and techniques of meditation, and they don’t tell you how to get started (granted, it’s not their job to). Most people I know who are interested in starting turn to guided meditations on Spotify or YouTube.
A 10-minute guided meditation here and there may have helped me feel slightly more calm during those 10 minutes and for a few moments after, but in my experience, the anxiety I was struggling with always returned to the same degree shortly after. Actually, if I practiced during a time of intense anxiety or building panic, sometimes meditating even made it worse (because it brought more attention to the sensations I was feeling). I even started to believe that I had too much anxiety for meditation to help with.
When I started to read about yoga philosophy, I learned about the purpose of meditation and the path of yoga, explained in brief above. Learning about why meditation could reduce my anxiety (by connecting me to my true self at my core) and how (by undoing thought patterns I’d developed from past experiences and social conditioning) was what made this practice click for me. And I started to notice, and feel, shifts when I practiced what I had learned.
Before jumping into a random guided meditation for calm or clarity or whatever else on Spotify, read the story of the Golden Buddha. It’s a simple story that is helpful in understanding the concept of “self-realization,” “discovering your true nature,” or whatever other potentially obscure philosophy-speak that can be used to describe the goal of meditation.
Get Sitting!
Meditation can be practiced by anyone, and it can benefit everyone when done so with intention. It’s beneficial to have a teacher when starting out to help you learn more about this practice and the ways to approach it. This doesn’t have to mean a physical teacher; you can read books on how to meditate, do research on specific techniques and choose one that appeals to you, etc.
And don’t get me wrong, once you understand why and how you are meditating, guided meditations can be a great, easily accessible resource. Even if you’ve been practicing on your own for a while, switching it up and going to a group meditation or trying a new technique can bring about a different valuable experience while sitting—something as simple as meditating with your eyes open when you usually have them closed can shift your perspective (literally!).
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