How to do Meditation at Home?

Meditation, a skill to control your mind and emotions can get overwhelming as you start. Rather it can also feel daunting to keep up with Meditation at home, as to me Meditation is an art to allow your mind to do “Nothing”. Yes, Nothing, which is against what our mind is tamed to do! This is why getting a real empty mind might and sitting in sheer silence might sound funny to many. As a beginner, the same thing happened to me, some 20years back. With better awareness and lots of online modules, starting with Meditation sounds easier today. Many of my friends often ask me, How to do meditation at Home? And this is why this post had to be drafted, sharing my learnings and helping you How to do Meditation at Home!

Read here for tips to balance Body and Mind

How to do meditation?

First and foremost, Meditation is not related to any religion, faith or belief. Yes, our ancient sages, monks used to practice Meditation for years, but that doesn’t relate it to any belief. It is a skill to control and calm your mind for a mindful life.

I enrolled in meditation classes in my hometown, when I was in Class X. Then the aim was to enhance the concentration. The approach with which I started made me feel overwhelmed at the start, but the continuity of classes turned it into a feeling of happiness, then calmness and I never turned back. It was well set into my daily routine, and I started reaping the benefits as the years passed by.

Techniques of Meditation:

There are many techniques to start with Meditation, though the ultimate aim is the same, to enter into a phase of no distraction, with a calm mind. Meditation techniques might vary from focussing on your breath to repeating a mantra or any word, to staring an object in front of you (maybe a picture of God, Guru, anything you have faith in), by counting beads or more.

My journey to Meditation started with focussing on the breath, which is the easiest way for any beginner. It was followed by chanting the mantra (ॐ, not as OM, but as AUM) and controlling the breath. When AUM is chanted, you feel the vibrations through your chakra’s and chest. AUM ends with a silence, which makes you feel vibrations rising through the body.

Whatever the technique you follow, the main aim is to focus your breath and allow your mind to do “nothing”. In the start you’ll find yourself lost in thoughts, that’s awareness, as it is then when you bring yourself back to your focus object. This is what you need to practice, the return yourself back from the distraction. With practice, the periods of bringing yourself back from distraction will lessen and it is you who will feel that. 

How to Start Meditation at Home?

1. Build a routine :

To continue a new practice, you need to build that into your routine. Set a time for yourself. At the start, don’t overboard, rather opt for 5minutes. For me, the best has always been the mornings, after a bath. This is when, I find my energy at its peak, and meditation gives a boost for a refreshing start of the day. Honestly, there is no time fixed for Meditation practices. You can start meditating even during the evenings. But it becomes easier in the morning, as your mind is not laden with full-day happenings, it’s a fresh start of the day.

2. Decide a location : 

Though you would see most practitioners, sitting on a mat, cross-legged while meditation. Though I would call it the most suitable position (even I have followed the same), but you can sit on a cushion, chair or even a bench. In a nutshell whatever you want to begin with.

3. Right Posture:

The thing that matters the most during Meditation is your Posture. The correct posture is back straight, neck relaxed, chin slightly tucked in. Hence whatever is the place you choose to sit, ensure that this posture is retained for the complete meditation duration.

4. Set up your goals:

Setting up goals is important for any task. Why are you opting for Meditation? Think and write the answer. This is what you will need to monitor as months pass with increasing time and continuity. If I talk about myself, I started when I was 14 years, and the reason was to increase my concentration wrt studies and curtail the distractions. I was in my teen phase, and lots of thoughts used to bubble. But my goal was clear and believe me with every year, I could ascertain better focus, with a sense of calmness in my life. The goals, later on, changed, as life took its course. 

Today, my goal remains to mitigate the stress life showers with and to retain the positive energy throughout the day.

So set your goals right and monitor them!

5. Ensure Continuity:

Just like body training, mind training, meditation also needs continuity. The ultimate goal of practicing meditation is to make us more mindful. The more mindfulness we experience, the lesser will be the bouts of distraction. Increase your time slowly, as per your body’s comfort, but don’t give it a break.

6. Carry the awareness throughout the day:

This is why you need to be “mindful” of your actions and reactions throughout the day. Your actions need to be in control of your thoughts. Appreciate the calmness of your mind, when you end the day’s meditation. And try to carry that calmness for the rest of your day. The challenges of life will provoke you to jump from your seats and get into the stress mode losing all the calmness. But this is where you need to channelize the positive energies earned every morning. Be conscious to take this awareness into your day’s tasks.

Meditation is not an immediate miracle, but after practicing it for 20years, I can say that it does wonders for your mental health and happiness. Life will certainly throw challenges, but meditation helps you take them positively. Mind it, breakdowns will still be there, but in an aware manner.
In the next post, I’ll share my technique of How to do Meditation at home and what benefits have I gained (with scientific reasons). Stay tuned!

Much Love & Happiness,