How to start meditating – without the stress

By Jo Bassett

I enjoy re-visiting posts from our Living Savvy archives. When I re-visit, I
tend to connect to the information and stories shared in a new way, discovering something different depending on what is going on for me or people in my life.

When I am coaching someone, very often an issue will come up that will
have me searching through the archives for a post best suited to help my client work through the process of Living Savvy, supporting them to ask, do, discover, commit & celebrate.

It’s infuriating isn’t it? We’re told that a regular meditation practice is a way to bring calm and self-awareness into our lives – to be more present in each moment. More and more medical and psychological benefits are being documented each day. Everyone agrees it’s a good thing. But then the actually doing of it is so hard. Finding the time. Getting comfortable in the ‘right’ position and clearing our minds in the ‘right’ way. The effort of pushing aside all those to-do’s jumbling around in our heads. The trying, the thinking that we just might be doing OK this time, and then realising that the very act of thinking is just the same old voice-over still running. Argh! In truth, there are as many different ways to bring the practice of meditation or mindfulness into your life as there are people in the world. These are just a few ideas to begin…

The basic meditation practice

This short guide comes from our yoga expert, Leanne Bowman of Bare Wellness. She says you can begin with just five minutes a day… Correct posture

Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position on the floor, supported by a cushion or upright in a chair.
Rest your hands in your lap, right hand in the left, thumbs meeting together.
Keep a straight back to keep the nervous system and our energy path open.
Relax shoulders, neck, mouth, jaw, throat and face.
Draw the chin in a little to aid head and neck alignment.
Eyes should be either half closed, gazing unfocused on to the floor in front of you, or if easier closed softly
Shoulders level, arms and legs comfortable and relaxed, allowing air and circulation around the body.

Set your Objective For a beginner a good objective could be as follows: By the practice of this meditation I will become more calm and relaxed, More efficient and happier in all that I do, Both for my own sake and for others. Meditation method

The idea is to mentally count each breath out.
Allow your attention to be focused on the tip of your nostrils.
Observe the flow of air as you breathe out for a ten breathe cycle.
Exhale and count one, then on the next breathe out count two and so on …
Keeping your focus on your nostrils at all times, as this can help with distractions.
Don’t be disappointed or agitated if uninvited thoughts arrive and you can’t complete your count to ten.
Just stop, refocus on your breath and nostrils again and commence counting on your exhalations.
At first the practice may not feel calming, but with time and practice the benefits will quickly unfold.

Want to start smaller?

Mahala Mazerov, heart meditation teacher and Bodhisattva in training, offers up the idea of three conscious breaths. “All we need is three conscious breaths. Just three breaths, in and out. Nothing special. Just three breaths where we know that we’re breathing. You can easily put these into your day by choosing a specific time or action when you will take them. Washing dishes, brushing your teeth or just after you finish the meal are three possibilities. Other times might be when you get into a car or when you’re in the grocery checkout line. These are just ordinary breaths. You can do them in public and no one will know the difference. I love these breaths. They have a restorative quality. Quiet mind. A warm, full sense of well-being. Space.”

Or perhaps you’d like to go deeper?

This is a talk, of just over an hour, given in 2007 by the highly esteemed Professor of Medicine and eloquent advocate of mindfulness meditation, Jon Kabat-Zinn. Yes, it’s long, but well worth the time. It also includes a long section where he actually demonstrates how to follow your breath and you can join in. In his book Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Jon says: “It is important to know that meditation has little to do with clock time. Five minutes of formal practice can be as profound or more so than forty-five minutes. The sincerity of your efforts matters far more than elapsed time… If you can only manage five minutes, or even one minute of mindfulness at first, that is truly wonderful.”