As a yoga teacher, I often hear from people that they need to meditate because their minds are restless when in fact, this is actually quite difficult to achieve. Only truly practiced person can drop into a meditative state on demand. For the rest of us, there is a certain set of steps we must take before we are even ready for meditation.
It is important to note that a practice can be meditative, though not all practices are meditation.
According to a classic Hatha Yoga text book, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are seven stages to our practice. The first and foremost noticeable point that Patanjali makes is that we must stabilize our mind before we can even begin. Once the mind is stabilized, then meditative, blissful state is possible.
Yoga practice is consisted of many different methods for this specific reason. Because it is difficult to prepare our minds for meditation, the ancient yogis have shared remedies from multiple directions. Vāstu is one such teaching where we care for directions in which we practice. This includes the place of your sleep, which direction to pray, where to place a mirror, where to place your deities, etc. Then we have ṣaṭkarma, purification processes that include from netī, nasal wash to naulī, abdominal massage. Then we are finally ready for studying philosophies, āsana (postures). A modern dance-like movement of vinyasa practice tends to fall under strengthening and purification stages of yoga (which is why any style of yoga can be a starting point but that is a story for another time).
Once we cleanse, then organize our external environment, we are finally ready to move our body in a very mindful and specific way as we breathe in a specific way. This allows our body and mind to finally prepare for meditation.
All of this is based on the fact that we must have a tidy, considerate environment, a strong and healthy body and concentrated mind to begin to practice meditation.
I am not saying you must be able to do all of this preparation before you can start meditation. I am saying that all of this is offered by the ancient yogis’ methods to easily enter into meditation practice as tools.
Once you start your meditation practice regularly, there are still many methods you can try. One of the schools I was trained in is Tibetan Buddhism. And in Tibetan Buddhism, the first method you learn is called basic Shamatha meditation. In this method of meditation practice, you simply sit down in a comfortable seated position and breathe naturally as you keep your inner attention on your breath. Simple yet hard enough for most of us. Even now, I often go back to this method to clear my mind so that I may eventually sort out truly useful thoughts and useless chatters. In another school I was trained in is that of Tantra tradition. In this tradition, we start by guided meditation for specific instructions on using your visualizing abilities. The idea is that since the mind already has a tendency to be imaginative, we use this imaginative abilities to direct the mind to focus on something else other than chattering monkey mind.
With my private students, I choose different methods for different students depending on their tendencies, what they are working on now, their environments and experiences. It is important to note that often, what my specific student finds hard in a certain method is what they actually need. When I hear my students say “oh I feel so relaxed and pleasant when I mediate”, it is usually a red flag for me to notice. Meditation practice is not relaxation or a mindfulness practice. There are other practices for that such as yoga nidrā.
So here are my tips for starting a formal meditation practice:
- Find a meditation teacher.
- Set up a particular meditation space. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated room. If there is a space to put a cushion, it is a good space. I used to just simply place it in my baby’s room. Make it as accessible as possible. It doesn’t have to be pretty.
- Start short and easy but stick to it. 3-5 minutes is a great start. But stick to it for everyday for at least a month. Even if you feel like you could go longer, stick to a short amount of time for a longer period of time and gradually (I mean every month or so) change the meditation time.
- Use the timer. If you keep looking at a clock, it will be a distraction.
- Commit to a formal meditation practice (this is tricky). No more distractions. That means no guided audio, or music. Practice simplicity no matter how hard it might be to sit with your own thoughts.
Try and see what happens. Let me know any questions you may have. Send me a message. I am always ready to support you for your continuing meditation practice.