A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation

You’re folding clothes, while watching TV, while checking your phone, while petting the dog — all while wondering what to make for dinner and whether or not you could rock bangs. Sound familiar? With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it can be easy for our minds to get overwhelmed and overburdened.

To combat this stimulation overload, many people turn to meditation. Meditation is an ancient remedy for the stress and anxiety of modern life. It can help us develop strength, clarity and stability in our mind and also help us live in a less distracted, more wakeful, and productive way. All you need is a quiet place, a little determination, and a few meditation tips and pointers to help you find success:

Make time

Make sure you designate a time each day to practice meditation. It doesn’t need to be long—even two minutes of meditation can be beneficial—but you must be consistent. Like any skill, meditation takes repetition and practice to master. The more consistent you are with it; the more benefits you will see.

Find the right location

Ideally you’d meditate atop a mountain surrounded by clouds of incense, yak butter candles, and the sound of tingsha chimes. But this just isn’t realistic for the majority of us. Luckily, all you really need is a place where you won’t be interrupted. If you can, dim the lights and diffuse or directly inhale meditation oils like Clarity, StressAway, and InnerChild. Music can also add to a calming atmosphere. Turn on our Young Living Massage Soundtrack to enjoy 20 minutes of relaxing music or create your own meditation playlist!

Sit properly

The place you choose to sit should be comfortable. Keep your back straight but make sure you’re relaxed and comfortable. Try rolling back your shoulders to help straighten your back. Muscles tight? Mix a few drops of your favorite essential oils with V-6 Enhanced Vegetable Oil Complex and massage the area. The massage motion can help improve blood circulation and help relieve tension.

Turn off your mind

One of the keys to meditation is learning how to allow thoughts to come and go without judgement or emotion. This is also one of the most difficult parts to master. It is completely normal for your mind to start racing as soon as you try to calm it, so don’t try and block out everything that comes into your mind. Instead, let the thought come into your mind, acknowledge it, and let it go. You can get extra help focusing your mind by practicing guided meditation with an oil like Present Time.

Breathe

Breathing is the foundation of meditation. If your mind begins to wander, you can always return to the breath to refocus yourself. Diffuse an essential oil with a calming aroma like Lavender or Frankincense, close your eyes, and breathe in deeply through your nose and allow your chest and stomach to expand as you are filling your body with nice, fresh air. Then exhale fully and slowly through your mouth, letting the air remove all negative energy from your body. Pay attention to the physical sensation of breathing: the cool air entering your nostrils, the expansion of your belly, and the warmness of the air leaving your body.

Stick with it

The changes meditation can make to your life may be subtle at first, but over time can significantly increase your inner wellbeing and happiness. Remember, practice makes perfect and your perfect is not someone else’s perfect. Don’t get discouraged or frustrated if you don’t reach nirvana on your first go. As long as you stay consistent you will start to see progress and the benefits of giving your mind the TLC it needs.

This blog was reprinted with permission from the Young Living website.