Complete Beginner's Guide Lesson on Meditation + Best Meditation Apps

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Meditation is a practice that's been around for thousands and thousands of years, yet there is still a huge misconception about what it really is.


Most people like to associate meditation with a monk sitting on top of a mountain cross leg staring into the horizon but in reality, it is actually something that everyone can do and everyone can benefit from. There's even been hundreds of studies that prove this. Here's some of the benefits:

INCREASES:
  • POSITIVE EMOTIONS
  • COMPASSION
  • IMMUNE FUNCTION
  • CONTROL OVER EMOTIONS
  • ABILITY TO FOCUS

DECREASES:
  • ANXIETY
  • STRESS
  • PAIN
  • FEELING OF LONELINESS
  • DEPRESSION

To understand what meditation really is we have to look at our own lives first. There's something that we're doing every single day for the majority of the day, we're thinking, we're always thinking. Best-selling author Eckhart Tolle even goes as far to say that humans are addicted to thinking. He quotes,"Thinking is compulsive: you can't stop, or so it seems. It is also addictive: you don't even want to stop, at least not until the suffering generated by the continuous mental noise becomes unbearable."Try to stop thinking right now for just 10 seconds……….

Chances are unless you've been practicing meditation for a while, you had at least a couple of thoughts pop into your mind during this brief period of time. You might say well thinking isn't a bad thing, it's good we need to think in order to survive, Don't we? Well that's true but only to some extent. If you really sit down and take a look at it, the large majority of your thinking isn't as useful as you think it is. A lot of it is actually quite negative. just to prove a point, I took the privilege and sat down with a pen and paper for five minutes and recorded as many of my thoughts that I could. I had a total of a whopping two thoughts that I were considered to be either positive or constructive while on the other hand I had a total of eleven thoughts that I would consider to be negative and not constructive at all. They also have a direct correlation with how you feel.

For example, let's say that you're at a party and the following dot pops into your mind. What am I doing for my hands? I should be talking to people. Am I being awkward and all of a sudden, you're feeling anxious? Another example let's say that you're on the train and somebody steps on your shoe by accident. You start thinking he didn't say sorry. How dare he? what an asshole and all of a sudden, you're feeling angry. So, we know that we think a lot and we also know that most of our thoughts are either negative or not constructive and finally we know that our dots can affect how we feel. So, you can see how we came to the conclusion that thinking too much might just make you feel crappy sometimes. Now what does thinking have to do with meditation?

Well there's hundreds of different ways that you can meditate, there is breathing meditation, there is mantra meditation, there's guided meditation just to name a few but all of them do one thing in common, they teach us how to slow down the amount of thoughts entering our mind as well as the speed over which thoughts enter our mind and with practice you can even reach points where you have no thoughts for short periods of time and this is why meditation has so many benefit. When you think less you become more in control of your emotions, when you practice meditation you're basically teaching your mind how to turn off your dots like a switch so the next time somebody steps on your shoe and you start thinking how rude, you can just turn it off. You can control whether or not you want to get mad, on top of that when you think less you start spending less time in your head and more time outside and you start noticing things; trees are brighter, the birds are beautiful, you'll notice flowers on the floor, you'll become less involved with your thoughts and more involved with the real world and that is the beauty of meditation.

All of the information, I'm giving you today is taken from a book that is recommended by just about every meditation forum on the internet - mindfulness in plain
English.

Where should I meditate?


Technically, you can meditate anywhere you'd like because it is an exercise for the mind. you can meditate sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor and even lying in bed however there is an optimal way to meditate. It's best to avoid meditating in bed because you tend to fall asleep. meditating on the floor with your back straight up is actually considered to be the most formal and beneficial way to meditate and this is because it keeps you wide awake and allows you to sit for long periods of time.

What do I do with my body?


The first thing you want to keep in mind while meditating is your feet. A lot of well-seasoned mediators will preach about how your feet needs to be on top of each other. however, for the majority of people who are beginners, is perfectly fine to have them crisscrossed on top of each other like a pretzel. your arms are resting on your dies, your hands rest on top of each other and form a cup shape, your dumb can touch It's up to you. what's important is that your arms feel relaxed. Your back is straight and your head is completely level. Your head is not tilted upwards or downwards, just forward. In terms of what to do with your eyes, you have an option of meditating with your eyes open or with your eyes closed. However, for most beginners it is recommend to meditate with your eyes closed as it's easier to focus. If you do choose to meditate with your eyes open do not focus your eyes on an object in front of you, instead look into the distance.

How long should I meditate for?


Now, before you start your meditation session, you'll want to set an alarm this is because time tends to feel a lot slower, When you first start meditating so setting an alarm helps prevent a constant need to wonder about how much time is left in the session. for first-time meditators, I'd recommend you start with just 5 minutes on the clock, as you make meditation into a daily practice and get more used to sitting in the meditative position for long periods
of time, you can increase the time. most people recommend meditate between 10 to 20 minutes.

What to do during meditation?


Here's where it gets tricky now, there are many different forms of meditation. Some focus on the things around you, some involve reciting words in your mind. The one you'll be learning today is one of the most commonly taught forms of meditation and it's called mindfulness breathing meditation. It's very easy to learn and it's considered to be just as powerful and insightful, as any other form of meditation. the focus of breathing meditation is on your breath. First you want to make sure that you're breathing through your nose then all you have to do is focus all of your attention on your breath, observe the way the air feels as it flows through your nostrils. Observe the way your breath transitions from inhale to exhale, observe that little pause between those two actions, observe every single aspect about the way it feels. do not judge it, do not criticize it, simply observe. what you'll quickly notice is that thoughts will start appearing in your mind and will distract you from this simple task. What should I cook for dinner, hmm maybe I should order takeout instead weights trying to lose weight so I shouldn't or should I. When you notice your mind wandering like this simply pull the focus back to the breath. this is how you train your mindfulness muscle. Now most people who meditate for the first time will find it extremely hard to focus on Just the breath for even a couple of seconds. they'll find themselves lost and dart quite often. This is totally normal so don't criticize yourself if it happens, which it probably will. all you have to do is simply bring your attention back to your breathing. A good trick that I personally use to quickly bring my focus back is to focus all of my attention on the little bridge between inhale and exhale. That little pause where your body transitions during its act of breathing. While meditating try as hard as possible to avoid moving itches and urges the fidget will arise throughout your meditation session. This is normal, this is to be expected, simply bring your focus back to your breath and the feeling will eventually go away and that's all there is to It is a very simple exercise what's important to note is how often you work on it and how much time you put into it by making it a habit. you notice that you'll be able to have your entire focus on your breath for longer and longer periods of time. think of this as your mindfulness muscle getting stronger and stronger.

How often should I meditate?

In order to really start seeing the benefits of meditation, you should meditate on a daily basis. My routine is ten minutes a day every single day when I wake up. some people like to do it twice a day like Arnold Schwarzenegger who does it 20 minutes a day when he wakes up and 20 minutes right before he goes to bed. as long as you make it into a daily habit that is the most important factor.

When will I start seeing the benefits?

well first of all you have to be doing it on a daily basis. the length of each session also plays a part on how fast you see the benefits but ultimately, it's hard to say because it really does differ from person to person. certain people are less mindful in general, due to the way they were brought up so it'll take them a little bit longer to start seeing the benefits and my personal experience it took me about a month of meditating every single day before I noticed any benefit myself. I found myself in a better mood overall and was less likely to get consumed by certain negative emotions as I continued the practice I noticed more and more benefits along the line and that's it guys meditation is very simple it's just the act of making it into a daily habit that is hard.

BEST 5 MEDITATION APPS

Here are the best meditation apps with some great features that I found five best meditation apps.

5. SATTVA


Sattva brings ancient indian meditations based on vedic principles. sattva has 100 plus guided meditations sacred sounds and music tracks to meditate. the app lets you set goals and achieve them.

It aims to bring calm clarity and kindness in your life. this is an excellent meditation app to reduce stress and anxiety. you can use the app for guided meditations.

3. THE MINDFULNESS APP

The Mindfulness is one of the best meditation apps that comes with professional guided meditations. you can use this app to learn and practice meditation. there are guided and silent meditations from 3 to 30 minutes.
Headspace is also a good meditation app to help focus more stress less and get better sleep the app teaches you how to perform meditation. the team behind the app claims that the app is basically a gym membership for the mind.

1. CALM


Calm come as one of the best meditation apps you can try to keep your mind calm, relieve your stress and get better sleep. this app includes several programs for meditation. it has meditation sessions from three minutes to 25 minutes.


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