10 Tips For Meditation Rookies

I bet that you have meditated before. Maybe not in the traditional, cross your legs, thumb and pointer fingers touching, say “om” kind of way, but in a more simple sense.

Do you ever catch yourself getting lost in the beauty of a bouquet of flowers? Have you laid in the grass and looked up at the passing clouds {oh look! A giraffe!}? Or, do you pray or send good thoughts to yourself and others before bed? All those things are forms of meditation. You’re reflecting, calmly contemplating, creating a soft mind, and open heart.

I mentioned in my Little Bliss List from last week, that I tried—for the first time—active meditation. {I call it active meditation, because I was consciously choosing to meditate}.

For any type of meditation, you will get out of it what you put in. So here are some tips I discovered that after I had my first conscious meditation experience {and read my rookie story after the list!}.

Everyone meditates differently. There is no right or wrong way, the only way that is best for you is one that makes you feel a shift.

This is a big one for me. In the beginning of my meditating journey, when I would open my eyes (they started watering uncontrollably, so I’d want to wipe them), I would lose a bit of my focus. The more you keep your peepers shut, the quieter your mind and the less distractions.

I’m going to get real for a sec: I am sometimes scared of my intuition and the voice that I hear inside me. If I’m feeling unsure, I will block it. Allow yourself to be in full bloom—whatever comes up during your meditation is meant to be there. Bask in your heart space, not your head space.

Depending on what kind of meditation you’re practicing, if you’re chanting or using tones—go full out. Again, with that power thing—just go for it!

Most people hold their breath and don’t realize it. {Did you just take a nice deep breath as you read this? That always happens to me!} If you’re opening your chakras while meditating, imagine breathing through each chakra when you’re working on them. Otherwise, breathing is always an important part of your practice, and life!

Yes, folks, it’s true. Just allow it to happen, acknowledge the distraction, and re-focus.

I think that meditation is for everyone. If at first you don’t “succeed,” try again. Don’t think you have to meditate for hours on end to achieve the results you want—if you like, start smal, and listen to yourself if you need more.

Meditating will get better if you practice it. Think of it as a sport, the more you “train” the more you improve. Clarity will come, your mind and heart will open, and the deeper you’ll get.

If you’re meditating solo, don’t judge yourself if you need to stop, or skip a day. If you’re meditating with a group, leave the surface mentality at the door. Don’t judge others on how they look, act, or sound—like I said, everyone meditates in their own way. Practice acceptance for all things internal and external.

Not only are you doing something impossibly special for your soul, but you are also vibrating happy thoughts through you to everyone else! One joyful, open heart can change the world.

What is your favorite form of meditation? Please share—I’m always looking for more ways to reconnect, and I’m sure others are too!

Here’s a lil’ diddy about my experience….

There are many different types of meditation, for many different types of people, so it may take time to find your sweet spot. I feel lucky that I found one that worked so well for me right off the bat. At a great local cafe, market, and energy center in Minnetonka, Minnesota called Living Waters, I tried sacred sound toning meditation.

Sacred sound toning is a guided meditation and is assisted with the use of our voices. Tone master, David Chim, was our guide throughout the experience. He says that is the easiest way to attract what you want out of life is to just be excited and good things will come to you! So true.

David led us through the meditation with grounding exercises, chakra opening exercises, and finally, a beacon of light heart-opening exercise. By using our voices, as loud as we could, saying tones like, “om,” “ee,” “oo,” and “ah,” etc., we were able to broaden our consciousness to see further into the inner most depths of our beings and uniquely grow our spirits. Or, as I like to say, feel really, really good about yourself! The sacred sounds used are ancient, and correspond with our chakras—tones that people have been using for centuries to expand their awareness. To further assist in this, David uses an “architron” (it looks like an atom), that spins in the center of the room and reflects, bends, and beams our sounds throughout it and the room itself. The energy is contagious.

A group of about 30 people and I meditated for two hours {!} and even though that’s a long time to be still, it flew by. Truly being in my power and using my voice as loud as I could was so refreshing. For the first time in a long while, I felt grounded and open. I knew I was really getting somewhere when my hands started vibrating and my heart would have twinges of excitement {like feelings of butterflies in your stomach}. It was way cool!