Go on, try it for a week! Take a couple of minutes each day to improve your Mindset, reduce stress, beat anxiety and have more energy. Don’t forget to let us know how it goes!
Meditation involves a single-minded focus on one thing. That thing changes, depending on the type of meditation you do. You might focus on the breath, the body, an object, sound or a mantra.
Why meditate? It’s good for you! Studies have shown that daily meditation helps reduce …
- Stress and anxiety
- Heart rate and blood pressure
- PMS
- Risk of heart attack, stroke and disease
- Absenteeism and injury in workplaces
- Insomnia
- Your physiological age by more than 10 years
5-Minute Meditation For Beginners
Life is crazy busy but all it takes is five minutes a day to significantly improve your wellbeing.
Here’s a simple meditation you can do anywhere, anytime. If your lifestyle allows it, five minutes of meditating first thing in the morning is ideal, but if not then steal a moment in the day whenever you can.
Step 1: Choose a comfy seat. The easy part! Sit on the floor with legs crossed and if your knees are higher than your hips, elevate your buttocks with pillows until your hips are higher than your knees. If this is uncomfortable, try sitting with your back against a wall, kneeling, or just sit on a chair. Set a timer for five minutes.
Close your eyes. Keep your spine long, like someone has a piece of string at the top of your head and is lifting you taller. Check that your face, eyes, eyebrows, jaw, teeth and tongue are relaxed.
Step 2: Be still. This is the tricky part. Don’t move. Don’t doubt your choice of seat.
Step 3: Breathe in and out through your nostrils. Don’t control or modify the breath in any way, just allow it to move freely and naturally.
As you inhale think of the word “let”, and as you exhale think “go”. Your mind will wander – that’s OK. Just notice where it’s gone, without story or judgement, and come back to the breath and thinking: inhale “let”, exhale “go”.
Continue this process until your 5 minutes is up.
“What If I Can’t Concentrate?”
Rachael finds a quiet meditation spot
Are you thinking: “But my mind doesn’t stop! It just keeps wandering! I can’t meditate!”
Here’s the big secret – that’s kind of the point. Your mind will keep turning, that’s the job of the mind. YOUR role is to notice the patterns of your mind. You see the thoughts come, and you see them go. You just watch them and come back to the breath.
It’s like when you first meet someone – you make awkward conversation to avoid sitting in silence. Over time, you get to know them, become more comfortable and eventually you can sit with them without having to say a word.
The same thing happens in meditation. The more familiar you become with patterns of your mind, the more relaxed you are with your thoughts. Eventually they come and go all day, without creating anxiety or stress.
“What Music Should I Choose?”
I like meditating in silence. But often I’m stealing a moment to meditate, when life or work is still buzzing around me. Sometimes I put headphones on and listen to something to drown out the chaos.
Here are my favourite choices:
- Frank Natale’s “Mother Om”
- Ben Leinbach
- Lama Gyurme
Top Meditation Tips
- Be consistent – five minutes a day, seven days a week is better than 20 minutes one day a week.
- Avoid meditating on a full stomach as it can fell unpleasant or make you feel sleepy.
- Even with a comfortable seat, it becomes uncomfortable to sit in stillness. You may get pins and needles in your legs BUT it’s all part of sitting through distractions. No one ever died from pins and needles or meditation!
- Stick with it and be patient. You may not feel the results immediately but it does get easier and you WILL feel better for it.
Sign up to 12WBT today to transform your Mindset, clear the roadblocks holding you back – and become the best version of yourself EVER!
Rachael has over 1000 hours yoga teacher training. She loves teaching wholistic, integrated, powerful vinyasa classes, Prenatal yoga and meditation. Rachael is also a writer, performer and teacher and is passionate about story telling and creating new work, especially with young people. She is now mum to baby Gabriel, her most challenging and rewarding yoga practice to date.
