The busier our lives, the more we yearn to find a way to balance, and one of the most recommended is meditation.

The Origins of Meditation

Meditation is the practice of focusing on a specific object to achieve a state of mental clarity and emotional calm. You will receive countless benefits both in terms of mental and physical health.

Meditation brings many benefits to mental health such as reducing stress, controlling anxiety, improving sleep, improving memory, increasing concentration, reducing negative thoughts, and finding stability in perception. awareness, or improve symptoms of pressure, and emotional disorders, reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Basic meditation techniques

Sit in good posture for meditation

You can sit with your legs straight on a chair or sit cross-legged and relax. Regardless of the posture, always remember to relax the body (shoulders, hands), maintain a straight back, and the head and neck are in line with the spine to avoid affecting the above parts during meditation. You can also choose any position that you are comfortable with and stay in that position while you practice.

Your eyes in meditation

During meditation, you can close or open your eyes depending on your body’s ability to focus. If you find yourself focusing better with your eyes closed, it’s best to keep your eyes closed during the exercise and vice versa. However, try to keep your face, eyes and eyelids as relaxed and comfortable as possible.
Head and neck
Let your chin fall naturally and relax your facial muscles so that your head and neck are not forced. Keeping your chin, head, and neck comfortable will help you maintain your posture for longer and keep your face relaxed and light.

Note that if you try to squeeze your chin against your body to stretch or tighten your neck and face muscles, your breathing will be more easily interrupted, thereby making breathing not properly maintained. The meditation process will therefore also be affected.

Your hands in meditation

As mentioned above, when practicing meditation, not only the body but also both hands need to be relaxed to achieve the most comfortable state. Some techniques you can refer to are:

Place your hands on your thighs, palms facing down.
Place your right hand on top of your left hand at the same time with two thumbs lightly touching and then resting it on your thigh, palm facing up
Control your breath
Breathing is one of the most important factors while performing meditation. The way you breathe in meditation plays a very important role in helping you feel and listen to your body.

You need to focus your attention on the parts of your body that feel the breath most clearly, such as your nose, mouth, or stomach. Take a deep breath in through your mouth and then slowly exhale through your nose with an exhalation equal to twice the inhalation. After feeling the breath, you should pay attention to monitoring and adjusting your breathing for 2 minutes.

Status in meditation

Thought wandering while meditating is a common problem when you are just starting to come into contact with this discipline. However, just focusing and feeling each breath will help your mind quickly settle down and return to control. Besides, setting a meditation limit for yourself is also an important factor to maintain a stable and effective meditation state.

Tips to help you perform better meditation techniques

1. Take it slow

The important thing about meditation is to help your mind slowly calm down, thoughts are passing through one by one. You can’t force yourself to get rid of all the thoughts in your head quickly as soon as you start meditating. So you need to do the meditation slowly, take the time to let your mind reduce stress, and gradually settle down.

2. Create a sense of comfort

You can sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, cross your legs and relax. You should choose whatever sitting position you feel comfortable in and stay there for a few minutes.

3. Focus on the breath

A simple but very important thing is to focus on your breath. You pay attention to the places where you can feel your breath most clearly, such as your nose, mouth, or stomach. This way you gradually gain your focus.

4. Breath Tracking

After feeling the breath, you should pay attention to your breathing for 2 minutes. You take a deep breath, expand your belly, exhale slowly, and then pull your belly in.

5. Limited time

For those who are just starting out with meditation, it is recommended that you meditate for short periods of time. Then you gradually increase the practice time. This helps the body gradually adapt to meditation for better results.

6. Mind control

It’s common for you to think wandering while meditating when you first come into contact with this type. However, just focusing on your breath and feeling each breath will bring your mind back in control.

7. Imagination

During meditation, you can visualize a specific object to draw your focus. This helps you to improve your concentration while meditating.

8. Use your voice

Reciting sutras during meditation improves the results of meditation. “Om” and “aum” are two chants commonly used in meditation and yoga practice. Reciting sutras helps you to balance your breath and create a sense of relaxation for your soul.

9. Soft ending

To end a meditation session, you should slowly open your eyes, take a minute to look around, and pay attention to your emotions, thoughts, and body.

Also, as a beginner, you should count your breaths from 1 to 10 and repeat. Sitting meditation is a popular method in meditation, you can also meditate and apply the yoga Nidra technique. Another note is that you should not practice meditation when stressed or force yourself to meditate. Do the meditation in a relaxed and voluntary position. Experts recommend that you meditate for 5 to 10 minutes a day.