3 basic meditation techniques for beginners and 20 reasons to try them out

Each of you very often hears the word “meditation” in recent times. Why does everyone talk about this practice? What is special about it? The main goal of meditation is to calm down your inner dialogue, which is constantly held in your head. In other words, meditation helps to take a break from the constant noise.

Thanks to this wonderful practice, you can feel calm not only externally, but also internally. Just imagine…no extra thoughts, you are completely calm, you are not worried…you are happy! All this is really possible, the main thing is just to start practicing meditation, and then the whole world will be at your feet!

If you have doubts and you do not want to start something new, just look at these 20 reasons to try meditation practice:

#1. Meditation lowers risk of overtraining

#2. Meditation reduces stress hormone concentrations like cortisol and aldosterone

#3. Higher DHEA-Sulfate as well as increased Testosterone and growth hormone response to stress

#4. Meditation improves kidney function, lowers sodium-potassium ratio and reduces urinary loss of calcium and zinc

#5. Remarkable success getting off drugs, even after being dependent

#6. Enhanced immune function

#7. A shift toward fat oxidation (“fat burning”)

#8. Meditation improves focus and sports performance

#9. Meditation enhances the reaction time

#10. Meditation improves carbohydrate metabolism

#11. Reduced evening-time overeating and better chance for long term weight loss

#12. Slowed biological aging (according to biomarkers) up to 5-12 years

#13. Improved antioxidant effects indicated by 15% lower lipid peroxides

#14. Improved hormone secretions through stimulation of the pneumogastric nerve

#15. Meditation improves digestion, metabolism and excretion

#16. Meditation reduces time required for a complete recovery

#17. Meditation improves brain function including memory

#18. Meditation massages the organs thus improving blood flow

#19. Meditation slows down normal breathing rate, heart rate and lowers blood pressure

#20. Has been shown to increase T-cell levels, which are linked to immunity.

There are different types and methods of meditation practice. Some of them are quite difficult and take a long time to learn how to practice them. And some of them are quite simple even for beginners in meditation. Therefore, if you do not know where to start and what technique to choose, we have prepared a list of 3 basic meditation techniques for beginners. Let’s check them out!

Basic #1

Find a quiet place to practice meditation. You can lay, sit in a chair or stand, whatever feels most comfortable. Close your eyes. Start breathing. Slowly and controlled. In order to get rid of the flow of thoughts, you need to try and watch your thoughts as they unfold like a movie screen. Do not interrupt your thoughts, try to relinquish all conscious control and just sit and observe. Do this for 10-20 minutes.

Basic #2

Start a stopwatch. Sit quietly, eyes closed, relaxed, breathe deeply and be very aware of your breathing (hear, feel, visualize). Simply count your breaths until you reach 100. Then note how long it took. The better you get the longer it should take to reach 100.

Basic #3

This technique should be performed lying down and preferably in a place that is not completely silent. Eyes closed, work from your toes up and become conscious of each muscle then simply relax that muscle. Take your time in doing this. Become very aware of your slow controlled breathing, and then start to observe the sounds around you. From the loudest to the quietest. Do not have any intellectual deliberations or make judgments, just observe. After a while (5-10 minutes at least) start again being consciously aware of your muscles but this time work from your head down and slightly contract the muscle.

Once you have done that, imagine a blank screen, say and write in very small font the number 1. Then proceed consecutively until you reach 10 making the font bigger and the mental audio louder with each successive number. The number 10 should be big, bright and loud. The colors of the font and the screen should be contrasting. When you have done this start to open your eyes slowly. With eyes fully opened observe for a small time the shapes, colors and contours of the sights of your surroundings.

Start practicing this technique for 2 minutes, gradually increasing the time to 20 minutes.