How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Learning to deal with everyday stressers can be challenging. If you work out on a regular basis, eat healthy, and get enough rest that will go a long way to good health. However it is also just as important to mange stress and this is an often neglected part of people's routines. There are many different forms and approaches to meditation and it is good to experiment to find the one that works best for you. The instructions below are for a mindfulness meditation exercise.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A quiet room
• A straight backed chair, meditation bench, or cushions to help you sit comfortably and with good posture

1. Prepare.
   Find a comfortable seated position you can remain in for fifteen to twenty minutes where you will not be disturbed. You can sit in a chair with the back straight and feet flat on the floor. You can also sit on the floor with the legs crossed if comfortable. When sitting on the floor it is better for your back and posture if you sit on a bench or cushion so that your hips are slightly higher then your knees. This will automatically put you into a comfortable position where you will not have to work at holding your back straight.
2. While you want to be relaxed keep in mind that when meditating you are attempting to learn a skill to help you deal with stressful situations and you do not want to fall asleep. Practicing meditation will help you to learn to stay calm in situations which is more helpful since you can not always just fall asleep wherever you are.
3. Turn off phones and find as calm of an atmosphere as possible to practice in. It is also important to pick a time of day that will work. Some people like to start their day with meditation while others use it to unwind in the middle or at the end of their day.
4. Begin your practice.
   The goal of mindfulness meditation is not to distract your mind away from stressful thoughts but rather to just observe the thoughts without reacting to them. So for the duration of your practice you are working at being a dispassionate witness to your thoughts.
5. During your mindfulness practice whenever thoughts come into your consciousness whether they are internal thoughts or reactions to outside events happening, you are to simply acknowledge the thought but not react or attach emotions to it. For example if during your meditation a noise (such as a car horn) distracts you, you name the noise (car horn) but then let it go. You attempt to not react to the noise by thinking about how it stopped you from meditating or getting agitated or curious about it. You simply name it and go back to observing your thoughts. This type of practice helps you develop a skill to not react to everyday stresses but rather let them pass as events.
6. Complete your meditation practice.
   When ready gently and slowly bring yourself out of the meditation. Allow yourself a few moments to just sit and feel the effects of your practice. It is important to not try to rate or compare how you did and refrain from labeling it as a good or bad practice, Just allow it to be what it is.
7. Mindfulness meditation is based on the Buddhist philosophy that much of our suffering comes from the need to grasp onto things and to change what is. So regardless of what occurred during your meditation, the important part is that you took time from your day to take care of your health and to manage your stress.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that learning to meditate is like learning any other skill. It takes time and practice. Mindfulness meditation can be very challenging at first but the more you practice the easier it becomes to do.
• Make sure you use a seated position that is relatively comfortable and allows for good posture. Avoid position that cause or increase back or knee pain.