Tips on How to Meditate Effectively

Meditation has helped me to not only develop other helpful daily habits, but it’s also helped me to become more willing to accept difficult sitiations, be more focused, less stressed, and more appreciative and attentive to situations that come my way.

I wish I knew about these tips when I first got into meditation and mindfulness. They would have provided me with a solid foundation to start with which would have helped me avoid the common challenges that many first-timers and beginners encounter. You don’t have to practice them all in one go. I recommend trying a few first and coming back to this article to try the rest.

In this article, I’ll be sharing 5 tips on how to meditate effectively.

First, let’s talk briefly about what meditation is and the benefits of it.

What is Meditation and Why Practice It?

Meditation is a mindfulness practice that has been around for centuries, whereby one trains their body and mind to be in a state of consciousness and focus. Many people who meditate on a regular basis, regardless of religion, gender or professional occupation, practice it for both short-term and long-term benefits.

Short-term benefits can be to decrease stress and anxiety and improve general wellbeing and self-awareness.

Long-term benefits can include a better understanding of how the mind works to better cope with difficult and challenging situations.

The most important benefit, in my opinion, is just the joy of sitting for a few minutes with nothing other than experiencing the present moment.

Quick and Effective Tips

Find a Person, Class, App or Programme that can Help Build your Foundation

Meditation is more effective for beginners when you follow a tried and tested method either in-person by someone else or virtually.

Same Time, Same Place

When you start meditation and can’t make a morning routine of it, try to make a commitment to meditating at the same place and time each day. If you want meditation practice to develop into a long-term habit, make the destination and time part of your daily routine.

Guard Against Interruptions

Interruptions and distracting lights, sounds and environment can ruin your meditation practice and prevent you from getting the full richness that meditation has to offer. It’s best to practice inside a quiet room where you are alone, and place a sign outside your door not to come in for 20 minutes or so.

Focus

Regardless for how long you practice meditation, focus and awareness of the present is important. Be very aware of your breathing, both with inhaling and exhaling. If any disruptions do happen, draw back your attention to your breath.

Wear Loose and Comfortable Clothes

The last thing you want is for your clothes to interrupt your thinking patterns and make you uncomfortable while meditating. Its recommended to avoid restrictive and tight clothing such as jeans or tight pants. Generally, the clothes you sleep in should also be find for practicing meditation.

Be Mindful When Meditating

Just before your meditation sessions ends, it’s best to form an idea of what you plan to do next. Whether that’s going out for breakfast or lunch, working on an important project deadline, or going to visit family and friends, whatever it is, carry mindfulness with you to the next task to better equip you.

Instead of juggling many different tasks at once, try to work on one task at a time. By giving yourself permission to focus, on just one thing, you’ll deliver the task faster, more accurately, and you won’t feel so overwhelmed with your workload.

I’m Anneke Kirsten, a Cape Town therapist and Counselling Psychologist (MA Counseliing Psychology) and an Accredited Integrative Enneagram Practitioner with a special interest in Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership training.

At TOP MIND, we provide individuals and organisations with the tools to better understand, measure, and solve internal issues and build high-performing teams. We use psychological principles to solve problems in the workplace and improve employee wellbeing.