How to Create an Environment for Meditation

Meditation, an ancient discipline that focuses the mind while deepening the breath, is practiced by many as a popular way to reduce stress and improve mental functioning. It's easy to create a proper environment for meditation, though it's important for you to understand that what is considered a "proper environment" varies considerably from individual to individual and technique to technique. To maximize meditation's stress-reducing, awareness-heightening benefits, the crucial first step is to create a proper environment.

Things You'll Need

• A space in which to meditate
• Computer with Internet access
• Flowers and a vase (optional)
• Candles and/or incense (optional)
• Curtains (optional)

Instructions

Create an Environment for Meditation

1. Choose a place in your home you will convert into your personal meditation space. In many cases, this will be your bedroom.

2. Remove any distracting items from the walls you will face as you meditate. Ideally, the wall you face while you meditate will be a uniform color, preferably (but not necessarily) green or blue. Learn more about colors and meditation online (see Resources below).

3. Clean the room. Keep it nice and tidy, free of dust and dirt.

4. Remove any obstructing furniture items. A good rule of thumb is to allow 4 to 5 feet of empty space around you in all directions while you meditate.

5. Build a shrine, if you are meditating for religious purposes. Decorate it with spiritual or religious imagery, and position it in a place where it will face you while you meditate.

6. Block out excess light using heavy curtains. Again, blue and green are considered favorable colors.

7. Place candleholders or sticks of incense at safe and attractive intervals within the room. Small amounts of fire are viewed by many belief systems as beneficial to meditation.

8. Keep fresh flowers in your meditation environment. This will add to its pleasant air. In some belief systems, flowers are an ideal offering to deities or higher powers.

9. Find a focal point. If you constructed a shrine in Step 5, it can serve as your focal point. Otherwise, you can use a candle or meditation crystal.

10. Play music. A simple search of the Internet will lead you to countless sources of free, specially created music for meditation.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're going to redecorate your meditation space, hunt for bargains by shopping at your local thrift or secondhand store. Painting your walls or having your existing drapes dyed won't set you back a great deal of money. The cost of candles and incense is negligible.

• Don't treat meditation as a substitute for the care of a doctor. Stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure or anxiety should be discussed with a qualified doctor. Never self-diagnose or self-treat illness or injury.