Beginner's Guide to Meditation: What It Is and How to Do It

Have you ever tried to meditate but thoughts kept creeping in? Did you try to empty your mind and focus on your breath only to start thinking about an itch on your nose, the next three tasks you have to do, an appointment you have to schedule, those dishes you needed to clean, and—

Right, yeah, not the point!

If you’ve struggled with meditation, or are interested in developing a new practice, then I invite you to get curious and keep reading. Below, I’ve put together a quick guide to meditation for beginners. You’ll find out what meditation actually is, how to do it, and how it can affect positive change in your life. 

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a state of being where you practice transcending your thinking/physical self to access your feeling/spiritual self. The goal is to come out of your worldly experiences – the things that cause your physical body stress, fear, anxiety, and insecurity – and into the truth – that you are not any of the things you experience. You exist as infinite awareness.  

I know this probably isn’t what you’ve heard before about meditation, so I’m going to break it down for you!

Common Misconceptions About Meditation

The western world has appropriated the practice of meditation to be the act of focusing your breath, clearing your physical mind of thoughts, and finding peace in simply being. While the concept carries some truth and value, the focused view that meditation is a physical experience is misguided. 

What is Infinite Awareness?

Infinite awareness is a state of being in truth, understanding that you are not a person, you are not a body, you are not the thoughts in your head, you are not the emotions you feel, nor are you the experiences you endure. You are aware of all of these things, and as awareness you are free from existing in or as any of these things. 

Meditation for Beginners: How to Meditate in 3 Steps

Step One: Intentionally Stop & Relax 

Relax your physical body. Intentionally stop engaging with your physical surroundings. Be still, find a comfortable position that you can maintain during the meditation, and start taking deep, regulated breaths. Push past intrusive thoughts by focusing on your breath. Bring awareness to your rhythm. 

Acknowledge physical sensations, let them pass, and come back to your breathing. 

Acknowledge sounds around you, notice they are outside of yourself, and come back to your breathing. 

Acknowledge intrusive thoughts and feelings, let them pass, and come back to your breathing. 

Control your state by focusing on your breathing, releasing all else, and coming into your consciousness. 

Step Two: Come into Your Infinite Awareness

In your calm consciousness, you can find deeper connection to self and spirit. The process of transcending your worldly experience into the state of meditation inherently reflects the separation between the truth of who you are and the fallacy that you are made up of the emotions and experiences you endure. 

Focus on the space between your experiences and the awareness of those experiences. Move into the awareness and increase the distance between who you are and what you’ve experienced. 

In the awareness, you will begin to experience the safe space that exists within your body, the space where you are connected to your spirit and can engage directly with your intuitive voice/inner child. 

You can stay in this space, lengthening the meditation. Acknowledge the awareness as it pertains to specific areas of your life, such as past traumas, challenging moments from your day, and other worldly experiences you need to release. 

Step Three: Observe Your Experience and the Truth That You Are Not These Things

As you come out of your meditation, reconnect to your physical body. Tune into your breathing. Tune into the sensations and sounds around you. Hold onto the truth that you are not a person, you are not your physical body, you are not your thoughts, and you are not your emotions. You are infinite awareness. And move forward with this enlightenment bringing ease to your everyday experiences. 

Why Meditation is Important

My personal saying is “meditate in private so your emotions don’t punk you in public.” 

Meditation is a personal activity. While you can come into this awareness anywhere, the most impactful meditations happen in private, preferably in a place that feels safe. Your home is what you’re most accustomed to, and as such it’s much easier to disengage from your physical surroundings and immerse yourself into the meditation state.   

Meditation is important because practicing coming into your infinite awareness in a controlled setting will prepare you for when you need to intentionally come into your infinite awareness in settings where you think you lack control. Calling attention to the separation between a challenging moment and your true self will enable you to achieve the state you want to be in instead of further entrenching yourself in the story of your negative situation.  This means you can detach from your experiences and live an overall freer, more attuned and intentional existence. 

How Meditation Can Change Your Life

The release people experience in the space between what they are and what they experience is the reason meditation can be transformative and bring about positive change in your life. 

When people realize the separation between who they are and the stress, fear, anxiety, and insecurity they feel, they can intentionally release those hindrances to achieve a higher frequency in line energy they hope to pull into their life. 

Realizing that you are not your negative experiences makes the process of moving on from them much easier. 

Where to Start

If you’re not sure how to start meditating, or struggle to immerse into the meditative state on your own, you could listen to a guided meditation or meditation music. Guided meditations facilitate the immersion, meditation, and resurfacing process and gives you a voice to anchor your focus. Similarly, meditation music gives you a sound to anchor your meditation state and can make it easier to find rhythm.

Here's a link to a free guided meditation and free meditation music!