The Beginners Guide to Meditation
It’s NOT about turning your brain off.
I hope HSPs everywhere will be relieved in knowing that the purpose of meditation is not about “trying” to get to a place of calm in your mind. In fact, the practice of meditation is the exact opposite of “trying.” It is all about allowing and witnessing. There are countless meditation approaches based on religious traditions, psychology related treatment modalities and everything in between.
You may ask yourself, “Where do I begin?” Well, I would recommend the most simple approach. Start with 5 minutes of sitting meditation. Find a quiet, comfortable seated position where you won’t be interrupted and set a timer for 5 minutes.
Allow yourself to start noticing your breathing, in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Observe your process of being breathed in the moment. Notice any thoughts that come into your mind and feel free to gently label them as “thinking, worrying, planning” or using a descriptive word that matches the thought.
Then imagine placing that thought into a bubble and sending it out into the ether without judgment.
Gently bring your awareness back to your breathing. Be fully present in your experience of the observed moment.
When the timer bell rings, thank your mind for doing what it does. Give gratitude and acknowledgment to yourself for taking some moments out of your busy day to prioritize what I like to call this “mental hygiene” process.
There is no need to try for calm here, in fact when you are just beginning your meditation practice it is not uncommon to have many thoughts and to experience what many meditation teachers describe as the ever moving “monkey mind.” Allow this experience to be what it is. This is the beginning of a process of releasing the grasping nature of the mind. Allowing all experiences whether they be mental, emotional, or somatic to be what they are and to bring in an element of gentle curiosity.
This basic meditation practice is a foundational step to creating a habit of observing the mind, which cultivates greater self-awareness and over time, the ability to connect with the ever-present witness within yourself, outside of time, space, expectation, or the created ego self.
While meditation has traditionally been used as a spiritual practice, it is now recognized as a highly effective psychological tool to help create increased self-compassion, gain new perspectives on stressful situations, increase self-awareness, practice patience and tolerance, and increase imagination and creativity. These are just a few examples.
If you’d like to start with guided meditations, try Insight Timer, Headspace, or the Calm App. Foundational to creating your meditation practice is self-compassion, which allows you to lean into your experience without judgment, bringing your awareness gently back to the present moment time and time again. This process creates more space within your psyche for the “witness mind” or “observer” to be present in your day to day reality. What a beautiful gift to give yourself!