How to Meditate

Meditation and Journeys

One of the most significant things you can learn on any spiritual path and can be even just be used as a method of relaxation is meditation and journeying. A lot of people find this very difficult to do but it is worth persevering. It took me a long time to be able to meditate and get myself into a regular routine but I now meditate at least ten minutes every morning and I find it a very essential part of my daily routine and I make a conscious effort to make sure that I always do it!

Meditation doesn't have to be about clearing your mind completely, in fact probably the best way to learn to meditate is to use things you can concentrate on. There are several methods you can use to do this. One of them is called the breath count. To do this, as you breathe in you say in your mind "One", breath out, then say "Two" do up to three and then keep doing this over and over, you will feel very clear headed afterwards, you may even find you stop eventually and find yourself in a clear space without much effort at all!

You can also just concentrate on the breath which is something which is often taught in yoga classes. You can just think "In" as you breath in and "Out" as you breath out. You can also trying breathing in and counting to four, then letting the breath out and again counting to four. These are very simple methods but are very beneficial and even people who are very experienced in meditation will still come back to these meditations.

The next thing to learn is visualisation. Some people don't "See" in meditation and that's okay, I very rarely "See". I more "Feel" the images and stories that come up for me. Some people will hear, some people will even taste or smell. A good way of practising visualisation is by looking at something and then closing your eyes and trying to imagine it in front of you. You can do this for instance by using a candle flame or even something like an apple! Also guided visualisations can be good to help you visualise a journey or meditation.

When you feel able to see or feel images, you will be able to do many more things in your meditations. There is so much you can do with the aid of meditation or journeying that it is really worth learning. If you decide to give something like shamanic journeying a try you can do things like learn what your power animal is. Through journeying or meditation you can get advice from your spirit guides or even from your own intuition, you might be surprised what you might find! You can visit many other planes of existence, some people can even visit those who have passed.

Exercises

1. Find a space in your home you can use as a meditation space. It doesn't have to be a big space, but somewhere where you can sit in private without any distractions. Make it comfortable and nurturing, use cushions, candles, whatever makes it appealing to you.

2. Allocate a time for your meditation practice. It doesn't have to be very long. Is there a spare ten minutes you could use for this? Maybe in the morning or before you go to bed? Stick to the same time every day and it will start to become a habit.

3. Try all the examples I wrote about. You can also find many guided meditations online including on YouTube. Experiment and see what works for you. Yoga classes can also be a good way to learn to meditate as it's usually included in the session.