Are you a meditation beginner? In this blog, we will cover all the queries that arise in the minds of a beginner.
You will be receiving satisfying answers because we have collected the information from the great enlightened masters. Once your doubts are cleared, you can fully concentrate on doing meditation without any doubts.
In the fast moving world, it has finally been re-discovered that meditation is the only remedy for all the problems. It may be mental stress, it may be emotional disturbance, it may be a health disorder, and it may be negative impulses. The remedy is only one & that is meditation.
Meditation works on the deeper levels, it works directly on the roots, it wipes out the root cause which finally results in a permanent cure for your problem.
More people are attracted towards the miracles of meditation. As a beginner, many questions arise in the mind of the new meditators. Questions naturally arise within the mind, when any new thing is being started.
We will take a look at the commonly used questions related to meditation & deliver answers so that things will be clear for you as a beginner.
Table of Contents
- What type of meditation should a beginner do?
- How long should you meditate for beginners?
- What are the 3 steps for meditating properly?
- What mantra to use for meditation?
- Is it ok to meditate at night?
- How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?
- Conclusion
What type of meditation should a beginner do?
Buddha is one of the greatest masters of all times. After 2500 years still the teachings & meditation of Buddha are found life changing. Gautam Buddha has given the simplest form of meditation that can be done by any one at any time.
There cannot be any better & simple meditation as Vipassana. Vipassana means just watching the breath. Watching the breath in & watching the breath out is the meditation given by Gautam Buddha.
As a beginner, you can begin your meditation journey by Vipassana. Vipassana is the best & simplest meditation ever found.
There are so many meditations available on the internet or in books but none stand in comparison with Vipassana. It has stood in number one position for 2500 years.
This meditation looks very simple & it is in fact simple but it has the potential for awakening. It is the way towards Nirvana, it is the way towards ultimate calmness & it is the way towards benediction.
Beginners can dive into the Vipassana meditation without giving any second thought. There are no complexities in this meditation & it can be done by any person from any place on this globe.
How long should you meditate for beginners?
Starting small is the key to lifelong success in any field.
In the spiritual field, the same rules apply so it is necessary that the beginning is small.
Existence works in a slow & gradual manner. Just like a tree grows slowly & day by day it increases & expands towards the sky.
In a similar manner, Meditation has to be handled with care & day by day it has to be done with consistency.
If we keep the meditation too long at the beginning it may result in your mind giving up within a few days.
Meditation works with the mind & it is the death of mind so the mind will play its tricks for its survival. It will create thoughts of giving up, it will create boredom, and it will find excuses for not doing the meditation.
Starting with 15 to 20 minutes a day is reasonable & achievable. As we do not have the habit to sit in one place without moving our body, 15 to 20 minutes is good for the beginning.
The first goal as a beginner should be consistency & not the time of meditation.
It is vital to do meditation for the first 21 days without any break. It can be done for less time but consistency is important.
Once 21 days are completed then you can increase the time to 30 minutes a day. It is again important to maintain the consistency & continue the meditation for 66 days.
After 66 days, you can increase the meditation from 45 minutes to 1 hour. This can be further continued for more 66 days.
What are the 3 steps for meditating properly?
First step is to align yourself to meditation by following these things :-
- Keep a fixed time for meditation & meditate at the same time every day.
- Enter into the No disturbance zone. Keep all the electronic devices away, keep the mobile on airplane mode, meditate somewhere away from others in another room or select a time where no one will disturb you like early morning time when everyone is sleeping.
- Keep the body still while meditating.
Second step is to retain focus on meditation. While doing meditation, the mind is likely to jump from one thought to another because it is used to it.
Mind is not trained to focus on one thing so initially it will wander very quickly. Bring back your focus again & again to meditation.
Third step is to maintain consistency. For mastering any skill, it requires time & this time gives an experience that cannot be understood or taught with words.
Meditation will improve automatically if it is done for a prolonged period of time. The real challenge is to remain consistent & on path always. There are many reasons of inconsistency that you can avoid like :-
- Laziness & procrastination.
- Thought of doing it tomorrow & skipping for today.
- Thought of getting no results with meditation so quitting it.
- After a few days of meditation, excitement goes away so stop the meditation & wait for excitement to occur again.
- After a few days of meditation, nothing is happening so let’s quit it.
- As meditation is very simple to do, undervaluing the power of meditation.
What mantra to use for meditation?
There are thousands of mantras available & it is obvious that the question arises which one to use & which one is the best. It is essential to select only one mantra & the same has to be used for Mantra meditation.
There are 3 ways to select the Mantra.
First way is receiving the Mantra from an enlightened master. This happens rarely because enlightened people are very few & it needs a soul desire to find the real master.
There is a huge list of unreal masters claiming to be enlightened & this has been increased in the internet world.
In the ancient days, Guru used to give a secret Mantra to his disciple & disciple used to chant it as many times as possible in a day. Guru knows exactly which mantra is best for the disciple, as the Guru has powers to read the mind & soul of the disciple.
Enlightened Gurus are still available & the first way is to receive the Mantra by connecting to a Master. This doesn’t happen intellectually, this is something different. It is said that when the disciple is ready the master arrives.
Second way is to discover the mantra by yourself. You know about yourself better than anyone else. The answer lies within, one has to find it, and your inner soul knows what is best for you.
Question yourself, investigate within yourself, know what you like & if you chase this question, you will find the answer because the answer is there within the deeper mind.
Once you find the right mantra, you will feel a connection with it, you will feel satisfaction with it, and you will enjoy chanting it.
Third way is to choose the universal Om mantra. Om is the first sound & all other sounds are evolved from the Om sound.
Om has a great significance, in the hindu scriptures the mantras of different gods begin with the word Om. Om has been given the first place. Om is the sound of sounds.
You can also choose a Mantra of your favourite god that starts with the word Om.
Is it ok to meditate at night?
Meditation works on the mind. It can be any type of meditation, the primary objective of doing meditation is to calm down the mind.
Mind is full of thoughts, it thinks thoughts all the time. It is always flooded with the non-stop flow of random thoughts. This not only is limited to day, at night also while sleeping the flow continues.
Thoughts flow in the mind like river water. They are like Television with no power off button. The channel keeps on changing frequently. And various kinds of shows keep on playing day & night.
So it can be morning, after noon or night, the thought process is active all time.
The disease of the mind is available all the time, we can choose to take the medicine of meditation at any time.
It is absolutely ok to meditate at night because in meditation we are working on the mind & the mind is active at night also.
In fact doing meditation at night can help more, as everyone gets tired after a daylong work. So the body has already done the effort for the whole day, it naturally is in relaxation mode.
How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?
How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?
There are different reasons for doing Meditation. People assume various things from meditation like supernatural powers, psychic powers, miracles, dream manifestation, money & much more.
After doing meditation, when nothing seems to be happening then we start feeling demotivated. Then a question arises in mind whether I am meditating correctly.
Meditation is more about consistency rather than correctness. The first approach towards meditation should be to do it anyway whether it feels correct or not.
As the experience increases by daily practice of meditation then the consistency brings many insights that cannot be shared in words.
Meditation cannot be measured like weight in numbers. It is a quality rather than quantity. There are some points that can be focused on for increasing the quality of meditation.
You can observe & work on the below mentioned points to determine & heighten the quality of your meditation.
- The frequency of thoughts in mind.
- This can easily be seen by looking within the mind. We can easily identify how our thought process is going on.
- Are the thoughts rapidly moving within the mind? Or are the thoughts lessened & slowly moving like the clouds in the sky? Is there chaos in the mind? Is there confusion or irritation? These questions can point out the quality of your meditation.
- Movement of the body.
- When there is awareness, there is no movement. We can watch our body, how it is behaving? If there is constant & rapid movement of legs, hands or any other part of the body then it is clear that there is lack of awareness.
- Breathing can also be used for determining the quality of awareness. Rapid & shallow breaths are the result of unawareness & sleep of mind. Deep & slow breaths are the result of awareness & awakening.
- Present moment.
- Your reaction to the problems.
- Focus on one thing.
Conclusion
We hope that your questions as a meditation beginner have received satisfying answers. Now you can enter the realm of meditation with faith & enthusiasm.
This journey of meditation is going to take you to a place that you never imagined before. It is something that cannot be written in words. It is bigger than your imagination. It is beyond the mind, it is beyond death, it is beyond time.
Remember to stick to this journey & do the meditation on a daily basis.
There will be times when there will be excitement & there will be times when there will be demotivation. Your job is to remain consistent at all times.
To remain consistent is the only way for success. Quitting, stopping, resting, procrastinating, delaying will only lead to failure.
Follow consistency & you will reach the mountain peak sooner or later. On the mountain peak there is a new life & a new birth that erases all the sorrows of the material world.