The Meditation Primer: It's Easier Than You Think!
Author: Ali Sharifi

When most of us think about meditation, we envision a Tibetan monk wearing little more than a tattered orange robe, sitting at the top of a desolate mountain, pondering the sound of one hand clapping (which by the way is “Ohm?. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that kind of spare time. The good news is that this is only one of more than a thousand ways to meditate. You don’t need to swear off humanity to reap the countless benefits of meditation. So, what do you need? Well, for starters, you need to learn some of the various methods of meditation out there. It also helps to be able to dedicate at least 5 minutes to meditation each day.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that the minute hand on my watch is moving much faster today than it did years ago. It seems harder to make time for self-improvement and some of the loftier goals we once enjoyed. With all of the advancements in technology and society as a whole, we’ve effectively quadrupled the level of complexity in our lives. We are faced with far more decisions and far more frustration. Now, this isn’t true about everything, but you get the point.

How do we regain control of our lives? How do we effectively deal with anger, anxiety, frustration, and negativity? Meditation comes to the rescue! If you were to spend just 5-10 minutes a day on meditation, I could almost guarantee you a happier, more fulfilling life. How can I be so sure? Well, I am just one of millions of people in the world who meditate everyday with amazing results. I can attest to the numerous benefits meditation brings, not only through my own experiences, but also through the research I have done on the topic.

You are in the driver’s seat when it comes to meditation. You choose the type of meditation you want to do, when you want to do it, and for how long. In a way, you choose the results you get from meditation as well. It’s pretty simple: the more time you can spend on meditation, the more likely you are to have greater results. Now, I want to point out that meditation is not a results oriented endeavor, by its nature. I doubt that you’ll come out of your first meditation, feeling like an enlightened master, but you will start to see results over time. The effects of meditation are cumulative. The results are also dependant on each individual. Everyone is on a different path, and so, will respond differently to meditation.

So, how do you start meditating anyway? Well, in the olden days, an interested student would seek out a master, and if the master accepted, would be that master’s apprentice. For years, they would train together, until one day, the student would be ready to go out into the world as a master. If this is the way you’d like to learn, I wish you the best of luck. This type of training still goes on in much of the world, but is not the best way to learn in my opinion, unless you are willing to dedicate your entire life to meditation.

I’m of the belief that meditation should work for you, and not the other way around. It’s real easy to start meditating immediately. You can learn meditation in many ways. You can take a class, read a book, and/or learn from articles like this one. Which method you choose depends entirely on your learning style and the teacher.

Still think it’s too hard to learn? Well, here’s a quick and easy meditation you can do virtually anywhere. Find a comfortable spot to sit or lie down. Try to pick a spot where you won’t be interrupted for a few minutes, if possible. When you’re comfortable, close your eyes and begin to breathe deeply. Try to breath in through your nose, making sure your stomach rises as you inhale (most people’s chests rise as they inhale), and then breath out through your mouth, allowing your stomach to return to its natural state. Do this three to five times. And then you can continue to breath normally. The goal of this particular meditation is to focus all of your attention on your breathing. This means that whenever a thought pops into your head, and it will, simply observe the thought and let it go. How do you do this? By refocusing your attention on your breathing. Every time you have a thought, just observe it without giving it any extra thought, and refocus on your br! eathing. Do this for as long as you comfortably can. For some, this will be less than a minute, while others may be able to do this for hours. As you practice this meditation more often, you too will be able to do it for much longer. For some helpful hints on making your meditations more effective, please see our article entitled, ? Helpful Hints for Meditation Success?(http://sagewithin.com/redir.asp?RefID=6).

It’s that easy! There are thousands of different meditations out there and as you start to meditate, you’ll find some work better for you than others. If you stick to it though, these are the benefits you might expect to see: improved memory and concentration, increased self-healing potential, a general sense of well-being, and much more.








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ali Sharifi has been teaching meditation and self-hypnosis for 5 years and is the President of The Sage Within, a company dedicated to helping people tap in to their inner wisdom through practical exercises and useful information.

Visit http://sagewithin.com/redir.asp?RefID=7 for free audio guided meditations and informative articles. Be sure to sign up for our FREE monthly meditation newsletter while you’re there.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------