A Short Lesson On How To Meditate
For Beginners

It isn't very difficult to learn how to meditate. For beginners, a simple breath watching meditation is often recommended. An example is below. Then an even easier way follows that.

How To Meditate - Breath Watching

Relax, close your eyes and pay attention to your breath - that's the whole meditation. The idea of this meditation is to let go of your thoughts. Of course this is easier said than done, so here are some tips to make this more effective.

1. Tense to relax. If you have difficulty relaxing or letting go of the tension in some particular part of your body, it sometimes helps to first tense up and then release. Pay attention to the feeling of the tension draining away when you release, and you essentially train yourself how to relax more deeply.

2. Choose a comfortable position. Sitting with legs crossed is the most common meditation posture, but if you can remain awake, laying down works fine as well. I even enjoy doing this while standing.

3. Breath deeply through your nose. You'll notice that your diaphragm is more engaged when you breath through your nose (notice how your abdomen expands more). This brings air deep into your lungs. Let your chest expand as well.

4. Return to the breath. Your thoughts will intrude again and again. This isn't necessarily a problem though. You just keep returning your attention to the air coming and going through your nose.

Simply meditate like this for at least five minutes, working up to twenty minutes in subsequent sessions.

How To Meditate - The Easiest Way For Beginners

The easiest way to meditate is to simply listen to a meditation CD that uses brainwave entrainment technology. These products usually have background music (or other sounds) in which beats are embedded. These "binaural beats," as they are sometimes called, affect your brainwaves, slowing them down. This quickly brings you to a meditative state with no real effort on your part.

Do they work? Yes. Having tried many different types of meditation CDs, I can report that they are powerful tools. I use them for meditation as well as sleep-inducers (just lay down while listening).

Steve's Recommendations: (Use these links so I can get a small commission if you decide to buy.) 1. Binaural Beats - Brainwave Entrainment These are a very affordable way to learn how to meditate with brainwave entrainment, because you can buy just one CD at a time. But you'll probably want to get more, so consider the following recommendation. 2. The Meditation Program If you spend just a little more you can go a big step further. This full program (eight levels) uses the latest brainwave entrainment technologies to put you into a meditative state. There is truly no effort required beyond sitting down and listening. The recordings have inspiring soundscapes created by composer Michael Anasazi. This is powerful stuff, and yes, it really works. (Both my wife and I use these meditation CDs. - Steve)