Meditation for beginners is usually an awkward experience at first. You might feel silly breathing in and out and doing nothing at all. There are people who are like this. They want the results of meditation but they can’t keep themselves still due to lack of discipline. The truth is no one can really learn from others. The only way for us to every really, truly learn anything is through ourselves, our own choices, our own experience, our own journey. If you have decided that you at least want to try this journey, then you will find the techniques and meditation instruction below very useful.

Learn to relax and focus on nothing

This is easy to say but harder to do. In fact, it might even seem impossible to empty your mind. This is why Buddhists call it “no-mind” because that’s exactly what it is. It is sort of like spacing out, but not because you are so stressed, overloaded or sleepy. It is done through conscious effort and discipline to silence one’s mind. This is one of the first, greatest hurdles of meditation for beginners. No amount of meditation instruction can help you do this if you simply just won’t sit down, keep still, and make your mind shut up. But you won’t be able to do this at first try. When thoughts and whispers from within are heard, listen to them, then let them go their course like night travelers who seek shelter in your home in the night; they will each have to go sometime in the morning. The more visitors you have, the more you are probably full of emotional baggage.

Keep your posture straight.

Seating on the floor with your feet crossed is popular, recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Keep your posture straight. Relax, but do not fall asleep. Keeping your posture straight will be something you will focus on. The energy of this discipline is positive. It is not being rigid, rather, it is about withstanding and forbearance of the world, concentrating through all the material noise of existence while keeping yourself whole. Essentially, you are focusing on keeping yourself whole.

Control your breathing

It is the ebb and flow of energy and life. Inhale the good, expel the bad in a cycle where all life is based on. Concentrate on your breathing as you concentrate on your posture. Once you keep your breathing calm, slow, and rhythmic, then your heart will also slow down. This will help you relax and center yourself. This meditation instruction can be extended to include the Buddhist ohm but that concept is no longer part of meditation for beginners.