Meditation for Beginners (Week 1) – Introduction

This is the first post in a series of posts about meditation for beginners. Here are the other posts I’ll write:

• Meditation for Beginners (Week 2) - Focused Meditation
• Meditation for Beginners (Week 3) - Insight Meditation
• Meditation for Beginners (Week 4) - Loving-Kindness Meditation
• Meditation for Beginners (Week 5) - Walking Meditation
• Meditation for Beginners (Week 6) – Next Steps

A Google search on “meditation tutorial” returns a large number (621,000) of results. So why am I writing yet another meditation tutorial when so many are already available? I’ve been studying and practicing daily meditation for about nine months, so I’m only an advanced beginner. But for this brief point in time, I vividly remember my initial problems and I know how to solve those problems. I can help guide you through your initial problems as well. Sometimes an advanced beginner is better at teaching a beginner than an expert because the expert has forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner.

There are, however, some excellent online resources already available that I’ll use when it makes sense. I don’t see any reason to reinvent the wheel.

Assuming they have time, two of my favorite bloggers will be joining me in this tutorial. Jay from Porsidan will write some of his own posts that describe his experiences while applying this meditation tutorial. Nadia from Happy Lotus will either leave comments here or write some of her own posts. I’ll be certain to link to any of their posts so you can learn from their first hand experiences. I hope you’ll decide to participate and provide comments or write your own posts (which I’ll be happy to link to).

Another of my favorite bloggers, David from Raptitude, conducted a 30 day meditation experiment that you may want to read. He learned some interesting lessons.

Like some of you, I’ve tried and failed several times to start a meditation practice. The first time was when I was in high school and I read an early edition of The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D. The second time I failed was when I was in college and studied hypnosis and meditation. Each time I was only able to meditate for a few days or a week. Buddhist meditation is the first meditation that’s worked for me. I’ve also been studying Buddhism, but you don’t need to be a Buddhist to use Buddhist meditation techniques. They can work for anybody regardless of your religious beliefs.

Brief History

Most scholars agree meditation began some 5,000 years ago when ancient men stared into the flickering flames of fire. Scholars have found proof found of meditation in ancient “Tantra” Indian artifacts.  These artifacts include statues and pictures that show people in seated yogic (meditation) poses.

There are numerous types of mediation and it’s practiced by many religions including Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Jainism, and Buddhism. In Buddhism, Siddhartha Gotama, the founder of Buddhism, experimented with meditation techniques 2,500 years ago. He used meditation to transform his mind and then use his transformed mind to explore itself and other phenomena. He found that by meditating he could create a calm abiding mind and a clear understanding of the nature of reality.

Buddhist meditation came to the West during the 20th century. In the United States, it arrived in the 1960s when several eastern Buddhist leaders came to America and Americans who had studied Buddhism in the East returned.

Benefits

There are many proven benefits of meditation. Here’re a few documented by scientific research:

1. Meditation makes you happier: A study by the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that meditators became calmer and happier after eight weeks of meditation compared to the control group.
2. Meditation makes you more focused: A study found that experienced meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than novices, according to brain imaging.
3. Meditation makes you more empathetic: A study found that compassion meditation — which I will teach — increases a person’s ability to feel empathy and benevolence for others.
4. Meditation reduces your stress and stress-related illness: A study at Harvard Medical School found that meditation altered the autonomic nervous system which effects stress and stress-related conditions such as heart disease, digestive problems, and infertility.
5. Meditation reduces your depression: A study at Oxford University found that meditation reduced depression compared to ordinary depression treatment.
6. Meditation reduces aging: A study at Harvard University found that meditation increases the thickness of the pre-fontal cortex compared to non-meditators. The pre-frontal cortex normally shrinks with age. The author of the study said that “The effects of meditation can counter the effects of age.”
7. Meditation improves your immune system: A study at the University of Wisconsin found that meditation produces lasting beneficial changes to the immune system and brain electrical activity.
8. Meditation relieves pain: A study at the University of Montreal found that meditation may reduce pain. Jon Kabat-Zinn has helped establish programs in American hospitals that use meditation to change the perception and psychological impact of chronic pain.
9. Meditation lowers blood pressure: A study at the University of Kentucky found that meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure.
10. Meditation improves your memory: A study at George Mason University found that meditation boosts short-term visual memory.

These are just some of the many benefits. If you’d like to learn more, see The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation – A Review of Contemporary Research.

Since I started meditating, I’ve experienced several benefits:

1. I’m happier: I’m happier more often than I used to be. Also, I’m less bothered by being unhappy.
2. I’m calmer: I feel the full range of emotions, but with less intensity than I used to feel.
3. I’m more aware of my own thoughts: I can often “see” my own thoughts and decide how to react to my thoughts before I automatically react.
4. I’m less attached to “things”: I’m less materialistic than I used to be and I’m more grateful for what I have.
5. I’m more mindful: I live in the present moment more often and for longer periods of time.

I love meditation and I think you would to, if you tried it for a few weeks. Many people tell me they just don’t have time to meditate. But with all these superb benefits, how can you afford not to meditate?

Expectations

People have all kinds of preconceived expectations about meditation, but meditation is really just a form of mind-training. Don’t expect some sort of enlightening, new-age, experience. It doesn’t work that way. The changes are slow and subtle, but inevitable. Sometimes meditation is exciting, boring, disturbing, insightful, or pleasant. It’s best if you forget any preconceptions you have.

Once you start meditating, it’s important to do it every day. The benefits come from the cumulative impact of consistent meditation. Besides, you probably need meditation the most when you don’t feel like meditating.

Preparation

There are two simple assignments you have for this first week:

1. Identify a place and time to meditate: You need to find a place to meditate where you won’t be disturbed. The place you choose should be quiet and not have any negative or stressful connotations. For instance, your home office may not be ideal if you normally feel stressed there. You also must choose a time to meditate. I recommend you meditate first thing in the morning.
2. Select a posture and practice it: You need to select a posture. To learn about postures, please read this and all of the related subsections. The important thing to remember about posture is that you’re trying to find the right balance between comfort and wakefulness. There is no one right posture and I use different postures depending on the circumstances. Also, you may experience a little pain while you’re in the posture. That’s OK as long as the pain is not overwhelming. It will take time for you to adjust to any posture and you’ll make minor adjustments through trial and error. After you select your posture, practice it a few times for 5 or more minutes. Also, feel free to experiment with different postures to find the one you like best.

Do you want to learn to meditate? Are you going to follow this tutorial? Have you tried meditation before? If so, what happened?

Related posts:

1. Meditation for Beginners (Week 3) – Insight Meditation
2. Meditation for Beginners (Week 2) – Focused Meditation
3. Meditation for Beginners (Week 6) – Next Steps
4. Meditation for Beginners (Week 4) - Loving-Kindness Meditation
5. Meditation for Beginners (Week 5) – Walking Meditation

Tags: Habits, Meditation