How to meditate: A beginner's guide to practising mindfulness

The earliest record of Meditation or Dhyana comes from a school of Hindu philosophy Vedantism, which believes that its practice puts one on a path to enlightenment and self-realisation. Today, it is often practised as a mindfulness technique to calm the mind, improve concentration, lower stress levels, and connect better with the world.  

Meditation requires you to focus all your attention on the present moment, without any judgement. It requires all your attention, and a little patience to focus on how you breathe in and breathe out, observe when your mind is wandering and bring it back to just concentrate on breathing.

Let’s begin meditation.

Find a quiet place and sit comfortably. Line up your head and back in a straight line, close your beautiful eyes, cross your legs, keep hands on your thighs, and you are good to go. You can do it anywhere, anytime, isn’t that just awesome? Now, you are ready to get rid of the stress, that you have been carrying along for so long, which made your heart and mind so heavy.

Try not to think of anything. I know, it’s easier said than done. Initially, this may seem like an impossible task. For a few days, you won’t be able to get rid of those wandering thoughts in your mind. Meditation is all about forgetting everything for some time so that you can focus on the better tomorrow. For a few minutes of your day, take your mind off all the stress and all those troubling thoughts.

Still not able to concentrate? No worries. Just follow a teeny tiny trick. In the initial days, while meditating, try to organise your thoughts. Focus on what makes your mind wander into those endless spirals. Focus on the problem which is troubling you the most. Now, grab that problem, and put it aside, just for a few minutes, so that your mind can relax. Do it for every other thing that’s not allowing you to concentrate. Sometimes it can be very difficult to silence all those voices in your head, but trust me, it will all be worth it at the end. Now you are ready to ride the horses of imagination and fly past your daily mundane routine, into a world of serenity and peace.

Imagine, floating around the vast expanse of the universe, over the planets, into nothingness, or you can travel beyond the mountain ranges alone, or leave your footprints on the beach. Be creative and find your happy and peaceful place. Hang in there, a little longer, feel at peace with yourself. You are doing great.

Stay there for some time. Take a deep breath slowly and breathe out very slowly. Purge out negative energy from your system, to make room for positive thoughts. Just focus on how you breathe in and breathe out the air. Feel how your chest is expanding when you breathe in and how it contracts when you breathe out. You can feel your whole body in synchronisation as you perform this task involuntarily, which keeps you alive, isn’t that a wonderful feeling? Continue meditating for another 10 mins atleast, or however long you can keep going. You will surely feel much lighter in your head.

It can be a mundane, boring feeling in the beginning, and unbelievable to actually work. But, as you progress in, you can start to feel your body changing, your mind coming at peace with your surroundings. Its daily practice can be magical and work wonders for your mental and physical health. You will find your mind better prepared to face the problems, and your heart kinder to everyone around you. Let’s make the world a better place for everyone, by improving ourselves, because, as they say, charity begins at home.