How to Meditate...The Easy Way (VIDEO)

Meditation can be intimidating. Sitting there, doing nothing, just breathing can be trickier than it sounds. It may feel strange, uncomfortable, or even put you to sleep. Distractions try their best to pester you. Thoughts of the weekend, family, work, finances, politics, what's for dinner, all invade your aspiring-to-be-still mind. You start to fidget, adjusting your seat, clothes, and hair, anything to have something to do. Meditation can be like a battle with yourself, your thoughts, your body. But if you stick with the uncomfortable moments, they will start to fade away and cool things will happen.

The experience of meditation has been described and taught thousands of different ways. One detailed instruction may click for you that won't make sense for someone else. For me meditation is a practice to get rid of useless junk cluttering my mind, and useless ticks inhabiting my body. Once you can sit and breathe and get past all of this, then it's like your whole being is plugged into the all-knowing light socket that's always there. To get motivated, I remind myself that practice reduces stress, builds focus, compassion, sensitivity, confidence and more.

Here are a few suggestions that I've collected along the way that help with meditation.

Any Time, Any Place, Any Outfit. You can sit and breathe anywhere. You don't have to be in your best yoga outfit sitting on your yoga mat to do it. Take a couple minutes first thing in the morning, at work, at home, before bed, whatever works for you.

Conscious Breathing. That's all meditation is really, paying attention to your breath. Focus on watching your breath coming in and going out and you'll be doing a whole lot of good.

No Pressure. Try sitting first for only a couple minutes and build slowly from there. There is no rush. This is something that you can do your whole life. Meditation will sharpen your senses and your awareness. Everything you ever wanted to know is right there waiting for you.

Comments

[BlissCat]

Very sweet video Tara. Well, I personally prefer TM to anything else. It is in fact one of the most widely practiced, most scientifically validated techniques. But, never mind that, what I love most about it how easy it is, and yet it has had such a wonderful effect on my day life. Since I learned TM I have become more creative, stronger, happier, and more settled. The time I spend diving within is the most precious of the day. Some good websites for information: http://truthabouttm.org/, www.askthedoctors.com. And, by the way, having a TM teacher provide free lifelong follow-up is great, I love to have my meditation checked, it just makes the practice even simpler and, well, for lack of a better word: "crisper"!

[littlewitch]

Only Connect

[metatron1970]

Though I've written about Maharishi's TM elsewhere on this thread, I would also like to say that chanting the Vashnaiva Maha-mantra (great mantra) of HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE is remarkably effective, with a different effect from TM. The Hare Krnsa mantra, unlike other forms of meditation, is repeated ALOUD, and since the sound vibrations of the mantra are imported from the upper worlds, hearing the mantra over and over begins to produce very noticeable changes in consciousness. An excellent book for beginners available from the International Society of Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON) is "Chant And Be Happy" which contains interviews, among other essays, between George Harrison, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono and ISKCON's founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada, in which the philosophy and meaning behind the mantra are discussed. For roughly $7 you can easily purchase japa beads from ISKCON that are very useful for structuring ones meditation. All I can say is try it and see: chant the Maha-mantra for a couple of hours and you will begin to notice very significant and salutary alterations of consciousess: one becomes filled with overflowing bliss and good humor and ones thoughts become fixated on the Divine (and not in a narrow way that confines this conception to Hinduism). As George is quoted in that book,"There's nothing higher."

[Ed and Deb Shapiro - Huffpost Blogger]

I personally spent time with Prabhupad. I met him and chanted with him when there were only a small group of us before George, John and Yoko knew him. I took 6:00am walks with Prabhupad each morning. It was a special time of my life.
But Prabhupad said Krishna was the only way in those days. It was in the 60's and the flower child generation was the happening. I hung with Allen Ginsberg, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) Tim Leary and Ken Kesey. As much as I loved the bliss and the outrageousness of the Krishna trip I couldn't accept that anything was the ONLY WAY.
ALL meditations are valid as long as they are helpful. As I said a technique is just a technique. None are superior or inferior it's up to you. Each person should decide what works for them! TM or any method is still just a method. The elegance of meditation is it has the capacity to lead to freedom. Ultimately meditation is beyond ALL techniques! It arises spontaneously & is a natural occurence. Ed

[metatron1970]

Ed, I would like to congratulate you for having been blessed to have come into contact with some of the most interesting figures of the counterculture during the first flowering of the New Age. You have known the type of life most of us have only read in history books.

I'm inclined to agree with much you wrote. Prabhupada seems to view all other paths as inferior to his own, that Truth is THIS way and only this way. I have serious misgivings that will probably preclude my ever attempting to become a fully-fledged member of ISKCON even while recognizing that the devotees have something to teach us all, particularly in entering a more loving relationship with God. Prabhupada makes derisive remarks about many of his contemporaries, including Maharishi, whom he dismissed as a fraudulent "yogi" (with the quotation marks to suggest he really isn't one), discounting the proof that there are millions who have had positive benefits as a result of TM. Also daunting is the idea that one cannot live a spiritual life unless one follows with obedience the regulative principles. Though I'm vegetarian, I don't think that path is essential for a person to live a spiritual existence, and I also disagree with his ideas on sex, about which he expostulates often. I have to side with Lennon when he said he learns from many different sources but doesn't fully embrace any of them: "A little bit of this, and a little bit of that."

[WendyAron]

Every time I concentrate on my breath it gets very sharp and short and I become convinced I have lung cancer.

Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness

[kbob108]

Hi fellow seekers, I don't want to knock anyones choice for meditation or relaxation but I just wanted to make the point that Transcendental Meditation (which I happily practice) does not involve any kind breathing technique. In TM you don't pay any attention to your breath, its totally about diving deep within your mind in a natural and effortless way and experiencing the silence that is deep inside each of us. Its not a mood making thing either, it really works and I love it. I have never tried any other meditations but my friend has and she says that TM is much, much easier and alot more profound than the other meditations she has tried. I think there is some research (meta analysis) comparing TM and other meditations too. You can find it at this site: www.doctorsontm.org or continue to enjoy whatever your currently doing. Peace

[kavika]

If you want something powerful and effective- www.dhamma.org
Check out the movie Dhamma Brothers -
http://www.dhammabrothers.com/trailer.html

[Ed and Deb Shapiro - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes this is an extraordinary movie about vipassana meditation programs in prison in Alabama. Deb and I saw DHAMMA BROTHERS last evening. It will touch your heart like no other film of it's kind.

May all beings be happy and free from suffering!

Ed

[applejax42]

thank you;) I have become a fan of meditating and taking moments out of my day to realign myself and its very helpful. i was able to do this for about five minutes before other thoughts and desires crept in.

keep up the good work. do you know yoga to the people in NYC?

peace love and bliss

adj

[LightningJoe]

Most humans don't really function that well in a rat race mentality.

After all, we evolved from beings who spent most of their time sitting around socializing in trees; waiting for the next fruit to ripen (and ferment!).

[mamacat]

Regarding this subject, I am reminded of a recent interview with Rahm Emanuel, in which he said "Those who know aren't speaking, and those who are speaking don't know."

He was referring to an entirely different subject, but this is one of those things that defy the written word.

[BoulderSue]

I have a couple of water fountains in my room and find that just coscious breathing while focussing on the sounds of dripping water, especially in fairly dim light with no other sound around (except maybe the purring of one of my cuddly cats) does the trick every time. The breathing is important to really oxigenate your body, and the gentle sounds to clear the mind. Easy. You basically just have to learn, first, to sit still and stop thinking about all the the you "have " to do. I find it carries over into my actual activities. I'm more calm and deliberate no matter what I'm dealing with-even a flood from a broken hose in my washing machine.

[ananana]

I learned a form of meditation very similar to TM but without all the things I find unattractive about the TM organization (and without the steep price tag). It's called Vedic meditation -- very simple, 20 minutes twice a day, using a mantra. It's easy and enjoyable enough that I've stuck with it for 15 years. I learned it from a teacher named Paul Brown -- he travels the world a lot teaching so you never know, he might be coming to your city sometime soon. You can find him at www.thequietpath.org.

[dbranford]

The Cobain Chic flannel is awesome. Tara's awesome.

[peterfromcanada]

and what i meant to imply is that he is a meditator. obamaditation perhaps?

[lgalloway]

While meditation and prayer are powerful spiritual refreshers -- and to be encouraged-- Transcendental Meditation is a corrupt, fraudulent cult that encourages unhealthy self-focus nd social 'otherness' and that can be dangerous -- even deadly -- when used by the mentally ill or emotionally fragile. The TM center in Fairfield Iowa encourages already disenfranchised people to 'cut out' relationships that they consider negative (pretty much anyone who speaks truth) and continually pumps students/participants for money. They claim to be a science, but are indeed a bastardization of Hinduism. Please do some googling and reading before signing up for any TM instruction.

I don't mean to discourage any self-exploration or spiritual developement -- but I have watched the TM organization suck the life, sanity and money from my 86 year old mother in law: they have her convinced that she can launch a singing career in these advanced years, and she has become repeatedly suicidal over her failure. She's told if she just takes another class (yogic flying - at 86 and with osteoporosis?) and just really applies herself, all is within her grasp. The voices she hears telling her to kill herself come when she meditates... repeated calls to the Fairfield TM center have yielded no assistance, they enjoy cashing her checks too much to care.

Please enter TM with eyes wide open. This site is helpful, and reflects the experiences I've seen my mother in law go through: http://www.cultnews.com/?cat=141

[NinaW]

While it's really sad what your Mother in Law is going through, that is not the experience of many people I know.

Both my parents are Transcendental Mediation teachers, I learned the technique at 10 years old, and also went to the school in Fairfield, IA. I can tell you while having many restrictions and rules as to personal appearance, there was nothing so far over the line that I would have shouted "cult!" Believe me, I spent a good amount of time reading sites like the one you link when I attended the school, and honestly, a lot of it is simply inaccurate.

I don't think anyone should ever blindly follow anything, but I also think that there is nothing inherently bad or cultish about TM.

[lgalloway]

Thanks NinaW -
While my observations have been very different than your experiences -- I'm glad that we agree that no one should blindly follow anything... I'm glad that your experiences have been good ones.

L

[peterfromcanada]

This may be off the track a little, but Obama demontstrates many of the benefits of meditation, calm, poise, intelligence, clarity of thought and purpose, focus: all the things that we like about him.

[carlgt1]

has he actually said he meditates? even if he does I can't imagine he would since the right-wing nutjobs would screech it "proves" he's "not one of us" and "Muslim"!

[kavika]

Actually I was always thinking that Obama must be a meditator. He certainly has the demeanor of one.

[sophieozz]

Hm. While sitting still, watching TV, and breathing is not intimidating.

[Arithrianos]

that practice leads to the animal realm, not liberation. Watch your own mind, not TV.

[sophieozz]

I was being silly. Forgot the smiley. As for animals, I've met some cool ones, and they don't watch TV either.