A great number of people nowadays, meditate regularly, and if you are one of them, you might have wondered what you can do to improve your meditation.
As you probably know, many factors can disturb meditation, such as noises, external distractions, stress or physical tension. Lack of enough focus and lack of motivation also play they role.
In this short article, I would like to suggest a few tips that can improve your meditation experience. If you have been learning to meditate, I am sure you are already familiar with some of these tips, but it is always a good idea to repeat them again.
Remember, perseverance and repeated practice improve any skill, in all areas of life, including meditation.
How to Improve Your Meditation – 7 Tips
Simple tips on how to improve meditation.
1. Make Peace with Your Mind
After sitting down to meditate, and just before beginning, tell yourself that all thoughts and all problems will have to wait until you finish meditating. Repeat these words firmly several times, so that you remember them when thoughts start to disturb your meditation.
Tell yourself that no matter how important the thought might be it has to wait until you finish meditating.
2. Avoid Anything that Interrupts and Distracts Your Attention
All of us encounter many interruptions and distractions that attract our attention and disturb our meditation. Here is what you need to do to avoid them:
- Meditate in a place, where you are alone and undisturbed.
- Close the windows and doors of your room.
- Take the phone off the hook and switch off your mobile phone.
- Turn off the TV and the radio.
- Turn off your computer.
3. Meditate at the Same Time of the Day
If you meditate every day at the same hour, it would soon become a habit. When meditation turns into a habit, it would require less effort to sit down and meditate. The whole process would become automatic and require less effort.
The mind will automatically remember to meditate at the same hour, and there will be less mental resistance. Early mornings or early evenings are good times for meditation, but you can choose any other convenient time.
4. Meditate at the Same Place
Try to meditate at the same place every day. It could be a special room, a corner in a room, your office, or in a garden. Try to use the same place, at least in the beginning.
If you meditate every day at the same place, your mind will start associating the place with meditation, and after some time, will learn to become calm and ready for meditation whenever you sit down there to meditate.
5. Do not Meditate Immediately after Eating
Do not meditate immediately after eating a meal, especially a heavy meal. Allow for some time for the food to be digested.
After eating, the body directs its energy toward the digestive processes at the expense of the mental processes. This is one of the reasons for feeling drowsy after eating a heavy meal.
Meditation requires alertness and focus, and therefore, it would be a good idea to avoid practicing it immediately after eating a meal.
Please also note that you should not be too hungry when meditate, since it can disturb your concentration. If you are too hungry, you may eat a fruit, a slice of bread, or drink a glass of water or juice.
6. Sit in a Comfortable Posture, Keeping Your Back Straight
It is important to sit in comfortable position and avoid physical strain as much as possible, so that your mind is free to focus.
You may sit on the floor, if you find it comfortable, or you may choose to sit on a chair. Do what is more comfortable and less strenuous for your body.
It is also important to keep your back straight, but without straining it.
7. Avoid Tensing Your Body
Often, there is a tendency to tense the body when meditating, concentrating, or doing any mental work. This is a common habit, which you need to avoid, since it tires the body and the mind, and stands in your way to a better and deeper meditation.
It is highly recommended that you learn to relax your body. You can find relaxation techniques by searching for them on the Internet.
I recommend that you develop the habit of being aware of any tension in your body and release it. During the day, every time you feel that you are your tensing your body, stop what you are doing and relax your muscles to undo the tension. If you often do so, this action will turn, in due time, into a habit.
These are a few simple tips to help you improve your meditation and make progress with it. The important thing is to implement these tips, persevere with your practice and stay motivated.
For more information and guidance about meditation and on how to improve meditation, please read the other articles about meditation at this website.
Quotes on Meditation
“Meditation is to be aware of every thought and of every feeling, never to say it is right or wrong, but just to watch it and move with it. In that watching, you begin to understand the whole movement of thought and feeling. And out of this awareness comes silence.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
“Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal Bliss and supreme joy in the end.”
– Swami Sivananda
“Meditation is really letting go of all the thought processes or ‘mind traffic’ that gets in the way of just whatever is between you and space and consciousness.”
– Trudie Styler
Calming down the constant chatter of the mind and making the mind peaceful are essential for good meditation and for enjoying inner peace in the various situations of one’s life. You can find all the guidance you need for making it true in your life in the book Calm Down the Nonstop Chatter of Your Mind mentioned below.
