How to start meditating?

MEDITATION AND ITS BENEFITS - PART II

Let's continue our chat with Stefania, founder of Yoga Trainer

After taking stock of what meditation is and what the main benefits are let's delve into how we can approach meditation.

We often hear that meditating is difficult, that people can't do it. So we would like to ask, in your opinion, why people think meditating is so difficult?

R: I'm not sure that people consider meditation "difficult"; rather, I think that not knowing it doesn't feel safe approaching it. Fortunately there is a lot of information out there today about it but this abundance, without initial support, can sometimes create understandable confusion.

 

The considerations of those who feel distanced from this practice that I hear most often are:

 

"I'm not made to meditate because you need a calm mind" or "I don't want to become an ascetic" and finally "I'm afraid to really look inside myself."

The truth is that meditation is simple, everyone can practice it and benefit from it.

The meditative state, perfectly focused on a single object, is difficult to achieve. So: since you're not going to the Olympics, you're not even going to the pool to swim?

Always remember that meditating is not a way to get away from life,become apathetic and passive! It helps us to be less restless and dominated by emotions increasing our ability to act wisely and effectively in life for our own good and that of those around us.

And finally, keep in mind that meditation will not eliminate our fears but will teach us to be in the fear; to observe it in order to know it and to welcome it.

So we will realize that observing a fear, such as a pain, will first be clearer and more limpid then it will begin to fade into the background of the awareness that we will have cultivated.

 

What is the best time to do this? How much time should you devote to meditation and how quickly do you learn to meditate?

R: That of consistency in meditative practice is something everyone goes through and goes over.

Following our automatic way of reacting it can happen to "impose" the practice and to feel a sense of guilt and inadequacy when it is not possible for us to do it.

We forget the imposition but we create an inadequate MOTIVATION.

We ask ourselves every time we start our practice: Why am I here? What is the motivation that drives me to practice ?

When we are just starting out, to grow meditation into our daily routine we start with 3 or 5 minutes a day once or more a day, for at least a week.

Then we might increase from 5 to 10 minutes the following weeks, and so on until we reach 20, 30, 60 minutes.

"You choose the time that's right for you!"

It's better to meditate for a short time, but consistently.
We try to set a daily routine or, if right now it's too much, we choose just one or a few days a week, perhaps alternating, to devote to meditation and try to stick to them.

Let's remember, however, that the depth of meditation is more important than the duration.

Do what feels right: meditation is an appointment with yourself and should be enjoyable first and foremost. Put it in your diary and you will see that it will be easier to devote yourself to it, don't live it as a duty, but as a reward!

credits: @yt_yogatrainer

THE AUTHOR 

Stefania (@yt_yogatrainer)

Graduated in Economics and Marketing, after a University Master in Neuroscience, Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in life she teaches yoga and meditation and deals with training, development and enhancement of human resources and business organizations.

 

Thanks to a continuous training in Italy, Indonesia and India she is a certified teacher of Hatha Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and she is a certified Mindfulness Educator and Brain Longevity® Specialist.

To the knowledge of the different complexities that we live daily in the world of work that, today even more, requires at every level to draw on specific soft skills of growth and resilience, she has combined her passion for practices, such as yoga and meditation, aimed at the development of a stable emotional balance and a greater psycho-physical well-being, creating the project Yoga Trainer.

Stefania (@yt_yogatrainer)

 

Related ARTICLES

What is meditation and its benefits - Part I

What is meditation and its styles -Part III