Your Complete Guide to Meditation for Peace
Do you feel tired and exhausted after you come back home after a long day? If you are facing excessive problems regarding stress management and even the common activities such as music or sleep is not helping, you need something extra.
You need to start practicing meditation and you will see the magical difference within just a few days. Meditating is not any rocket science and anyone can do it easily.
We do not meditate to change our personality or become a better person. We meditate to find peace within ourselves. It is a process of awareness and achievement of a healthier perspective sense. Meditation will teach you to stay positive even in the worst situations. You will stop being judgmental, and as a result, you will understand situations and people in a more neutral manner.
If we talk about the rich East Asian cultures, meditation has been of utmost importance since times of early Buddhism. It is not necessary that all Buddhists are monks and they meditate every day. However, every Buddhist knows that their religion and its practice has a 3-fold structure.
It is based on 3 extremely important aspects which are morality, wisdom, and concentration. The third is the most important out of all the three but all of these are mutually indispensable and supportive. In this article, we will discuss everything about meditation starting from the correct way of practicing it to the different benefits of it.
Steps of meditation
For starters, let us go through the easy tips and steps of meditation. The following are the most basic steps for beginners.
1. Make it your habit
Before you start meditating, decide on a few things including the time of the day you are going to meditate and the place you will practice it in. You need to commit to yourself that amidst all the work that you need to finish throughout the day, you will not miss your meditation session. It is not difficult carving out 5-10 minutes from your schedule.
However, if you are too busy, you still need to push yourself to it. You also need to choose a place for meditation and make sure it is quiet and there is nothing that will distract you.
2. Settle down
After you have chosen your place, sit down comfortably in a lotus position or on your knees. If you are on your knees, hold your back straight, close your eyes, and put your hands on your lap. Positioning is vital for meditation.
A clumsy posture will make the whole session a waste of time. Put on a timer or a soft mp3 and try to sit in the same posture throughout the duration that you have fixed. This will help in increasing your concentration.
3. Prepare yourself
As you sit down in a posture, you need to defocus your eyes. It means you have to fix your eyes towards the mid-point of your nose and below that. In this way, you can focus on your inhalation and exhalation process and resist any other thoughts. Now breathe-in and breathe-out loudly 4-5 times and finally close your eyes on the last count.
4. Checking-in
As you close your eyes, you will not go into a different zone. This does not happen so fast and so to check-in properly, you need to feel everything around you and not touch anything. Feel the weight of your own body and your surroundings. This is how you start meditating.
5. Start focusing
As you have settled down properly and noted down in your mind any kind of discomfort, it is now time to focus. There is no problem if you are getting crowded with thoughts while you are meditating.
You do not need to ignore them as it is a normal thing to happen. Just let them touch your mind but do not keep yourself engrossed in any one thought. Reach out to the thoughts and then again come back and focus at the same point.
6. Free yourself
As you reach the mid-point of your meditation session, you need to free your mind. This is when you do not think about anything else and yet let everything happen around you. This is a point when you are just awake but your mind reaches peace and as a result, relaxes your whole body. This is the whole point of meditation.
7. Transcending
Try to go back now and slowly try to reach the position from where you started the session. You can now go about your daily chores but you shouldn’t jump up from your position. You should hold the calm that you have created and take it along with you for a prolonged state of peace and relaxation.
Now that you know the basic steps of meditation and you will find the following meditation facts more interesting.
Some Secrets of Meditation
Here are some of the interesting secrets that are going to be revealed. You will not miss your sessions after reading these.
1. We are Natural Yogis
Yes, every child is indeed born as a perfect yogi. This is because they have the purest of minds and they are the best examples of positivity. You must have noticed how a child starts laughing right after he was crying for something.
Children are always happy and cheerful and are at a more advanced state of peace. We are all born in that way but the stress levels of growing up and daily life affect us to become negative and distracted. Yoga helps you achieve ultimate peace and calmness.
2. I want Vs. I Have
This is a very important thing to consider if we want to achieve ultimate peace and happiness. We ‘want’ peace of mind when we meditate but have you ever thought if you already ‘have’ that peace inside you?
It is just that we do not nurture what we already have inside us. We meditate to relax but we never think that this peace and happiness does not drop-in from outside. We just meditate to find that out from our minds and bodies. We have to believe in the fact that we are complete and we have everything positive inside us and we just have to start bringing them out instead of the negative aspects.
3. Meditation is Easy
Meditation is a very natural thing and there is no science involved in the procedure. Beginners may find it as an additional habit which is proven to have several positive effects on the body. However, with prolonged practice, meditation will become a part of you and meditation for inner peace and self- mastery will become a part of you.
4. De-focusing is the Key
The secret for successful meditation is not focusing but de-focusing. If you think about not concentrating on the several temporary thoughts clouding your mind, you will find peace. Rightfully, meditation is not controlling your mind and body, it is rather the art of letting go of everything.
5. Meditation Comes Naturally
If we take out half an hour every day and decide to sit idle with empty minds, it is a perfect way of meditation too. We need to sit, relax, and feel nothing and free our minds. Meditation will happen naturally without following a rule book. If you keep doing this, you will see this is becoming a part of your life, and you will be at more peace throughout the day.
6. Meditate for Mental Hygiene
We know how brushing our teeth is a part of our dental hygiene. Similarly, meditation works for mental hygiene. We never analyze how brushing removes cavities and harmful germs and dirt from our mouths. Similarly, we do not analyze how meditation helps in detoxifying our minds.
7. Meditation for World Peace
Think beyond yourself because meditation can have positive effects on you and the people around you. You can start meditating in large groups to spread awareness and peace among more people. The world will be a more peaceful place with more and more people practicing meditation.
Meditation for Kids
Do you think only adults need meditation and peace? You’re mistaken if your answer is yes. Kids are restless, and though they are always happy and cheerful, you should introduce the concept of mindfulness to them at an early age.
Growing-up takes time, and a lot of changes can be observed during this phase of life. Some children can show adverse changes and can have a tough time regulating themselves. Meditation can help resolve such problems if started early in life. Some disturbing scenarios during the growing-up phase that should alert you include-
- Kids who become restless and uncontrollable easily.
- Excessive meltdowns or tantrums
- Transition phases during daily activities
- Kids who are not easy with a lot of people surrounding them
- Kids who become excessive introverts
These are some common situations that call for guided meditation for peace and happiness in children. A guided meditation means a procedure during which kids are guided through a sequence of meditation with a script or facilitator’s help. These are created with group meditation, video, audio recordings, meditation for peace script, or all of these together.
When there is a problem of self-regulation, lack of concentration, and anxiety in kids, making them go through these modern meditation methods can be helpful. These guides are designed exclusively for kids and will enhance their emotional and social development. Some examples of guided meditation and mindfulness resources for kids are:
- Head Space
- Calm
- Go Noodle
- Settle Your Glitter
- Breathe, Think, Do the Sesame
- Breathe
- Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids
- Simple, Effective Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids
- Guided Meditation for Children
Applying these transition strategies and calming techniques will enhance self-regulation within your child. He will be able to overcome all the adverse syndromes that were becoming barriers to the process of healthy growing-up.
Best Apps to Practice Meditation for Mental Peace
The following is a list of some of the best apps that will help you focus on meditation, breathing, and mindfulness. They are available on both Google Play Store and iTunes, and they have better ratings than other similar applications.
1. Stop, Breath and Think
This app focuses on the emotional wellness of young people, especially those under the age of 25. This app helps young adults to deal with anxiety and depression. They also have additional activity platforms such as questionnaires to make you aware of your inner feelings from time to time. The app has a free trial version, after which it will cost you $9.99/month.
2. Calm
Calm helps people meditate more with the help of a wide range of guided meditations, and their main objective is to help people relax. They do not focus much on creativity and deep thoughts. Each meditation session ranges from 3-25 minutes, and their different guides are designed depending on the part of the day during which you will meditate.
There is also a premium version of this app, which offers additional tabs for breathing exercises, soothing musical tracks for better sleep, and sleep stories. Apart from this, they offer body-calming programs and advanced masterclasses. You can get this app free along with in-app purchases or purchase it for a $60 annual charge.
3. Buddhify
Available on both iOS and Android, this app consists of different meditation guides for different emotions and activities. It is a comparatively, more advanced meditation app and suitable for people who have been exposed to the meditation world for quite some time now. This is to help such people make mindfulness and meditation a bigger part of their daily lives.
There are personalized features and special features with which you can send meditation guidelines to your friends from the app. The app costs $4.99 for iPhone users and $1.99 for Android users. The premium membership will cost $30 annually.
4. Insight timer
This is one of the most user-friendly applications which offers you a wide range of free meditation guidelines. You will be able to learn from over 1,000 instructors without even purchasing a single service. They also have more than 750 soothing tracks. An extra $5/month can get you a premium subscription that will offer you premium meditation courses and an offline listening facility.
5. Omvana
This app is available free of cost along with in-app purchases and can offer you a wide range of meditation guidelines. They have guides designed to focus on creativity, better sleep, relaxation, productivity, body, and more. You can choose from their list of guidelines as per your requirement and the length of the session. You can customize a background score according to your mood.
Meditation Quotes
Apart from these applications, several meditation peace quotes have been designed by experts. You can find hundreds of such motivational meditation quotes on the internet that will help you find more energy.
You can get up in the morning and read a few of these quotes that can help you prepare for an amazing meditation session. These quotes are created to motivate you and inform you about the benefits of meditation, mindfulness, focus, creativity, and a positive mind and body.
Some of the meditation quotes are as follows:
"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."
"Learn to be calm and you will always be happy"
"Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom"
"When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a candle in a windless place"
"Meditation is a death – death of all that you are now. Of course there will be a resurrection, but that will be a totally new, fresh original being which you are not even aware is hidden in you"
"Your goal is not to battle with the mind, but to witness the mind."
"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
"The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a center of peace.”
“I meditate so that I can inundate my entire being with the omnipotent power of peace.”
"The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the spirit lies its greatest joy."
“Meditation is all about the pursuit of nothingness. It’s like the ultimate rest. It’s better than the best sleep you’ve ever had. It’s a quieting of the mind.”
FAQ
How do you meditate to find peace?
We all seek inner peace, and meditation is the best way to find it. There is a way of meditating to achieve a relaxed body and a peaceful mind throughout the day. It would help if you meditated for peace of mind early in the morning before starting your day.
Try to find a place where you will not experience noise or any other kind of distraction. Next, sit in a straight posture and properly cup your hands. Now your main focus will be on your breathing, and you will have to resist the hundreds of thoughts that crowd your mind.
Your aim should be to come back to focus every time an outer thought hits you.
How can I learn inner peace?
To find inner peace, you should have a sense of harmony, fulfillment, satisfaction in life, and the power to think positively despite all the struggles in life. You can learn inner peace by understanding and practicing the theory of acceptance, forgiving, mindfulness, and of course, meditation for peace of mind and concentration.
Try to count your blessings and not consider what you do not have in life. Also, try to dominate and control things you cannot change. These are a few ways that can lead you on the path of inner peace.
What are the 3 types of meditation?
Just like doctors can cure diseases, meditation can also heal many problems in your body and mind. The 3 types or categories of meditation are compassion meditation, open monitoring, and automatic self-transcending.
Compassion or focus meditation is done in the ‘Zen’ procedure in which you focus on a single thought and resist your mind from diverting. Open Monitoring follows the ‘Zazen’ procedure and involves much lesser effort. This involves mindful meditation and focusing on the waves generated due to the many thoughts revolving in your mind.
The last one or automatic transcending requires the least effort and involves a lot of thinking. This process starts with thinking and evolves to reach a point where you are just awake and meditating beyond floating thoughts.
How can I calm my peaceful mind?
We face storms in our every day lives in the form of stress, struggles, and hardships. Despite so much, we all still deserve peace and calm. Indeed, life will always move at its own pace, but we need to find peace in such a hurry. The path of meditation for inner peace and happiness is the idea to achieve ultimate peace of mind and body.
To calm yourself instantly, which is needed in some situations, we should follow a few tricks. Try to extract positivity out of any given situation, and you will be at peace. You should breathe in and breathe out when you feel a situation is leading to an outburst.
At this moment, you should imagine how much more critical the same situation could be, and you will not feel broken. Besides meditation, you should also go for walks to relax your mind and body.
How do I relax and find inner peace?
Your choice of relaxing can be different from someone else, and it is normal. Relaxing is extremely important amidst all the stress that you have to go through every day. You can sleep to rest or watch a movie or pursue a hobby.
These are ways of relaxing, and out of all, a magical healing therapy is meditation. Practice meditation to relax from within, and you will know the effects within just a few days.
How can I channel my inner peace?
We are so busy with our to-do’s that we completely forget what our body and mind crave in the middle of everything. It is essential to spend quality time with yourself irrespective of your busy schedule. It would help if you found yourself and, more than that, know the person you are.
To channel your inner peace, you should, after a point, lives for yourself and according to rules set by society and others. It does not always matter what other people think about you. What is important is how comfortable you are in your skin. Learn how to forgive and look beyond petty things and devote some of your energy to activities and people who make you feel happy.
How do I stop worrying?
Worrying and anxiety are part and parcel of life, and no one knows how much worrying counts as too much. Do not drag normal worries to a point when it becomes excessive and uncontrollable. Besides meditation for anxiety, there are a few other small tips that you can practice in your daily life. Continuous anxiety and worrying can have negative effects on your mind and body.
It would help if you took some out early in the morning to sit and think about all that is pending and you have to finish. Once you are done thinking, close that chapter and move on with your day with a fresh mind. Do not even ponder around this worry list other than during your worry time, which should not be too long.
Accept the fact that no one is perfect and there will be problems and moments in life. Try to focus on the many positive aspects, rather than beating around that one negative incident. Lastly, keep the faith and believe in yourself, and do not waste your time on things you cannot change.
How do I feel peace?
Feeling inner peace is majorly in your own hands. Focus on the positive aspects of life and try to look over the few negatives among so many other good things. Count your blessings, and don’t complain about what you could not achieve in life.
It is better to stop stressing about every possible thing around you. Try to devote at least half an hour every day to practice meditation for some relaxation and peace of mind.
Can you meditate in bed?
It can be possible that you are not comfortable meditating in a proper lotus posture. This, however, does not mean that you will feel upset and think there is no other way of meditation. The fact is meditation rules should not be harsh because, in that way, you will stop doing it.
The main motive is to relax your mind and body, and you can even do it in bed. You must have heard of meditation for peaceful sleep, which is done while lying down.
Meditation while lying down should preferably be done on the floor if you do not want to fall asleep. If it is the other way around and meditating for better sleep and body pain, you can do it on the bed itself.
How long should a beginner meditate?
The trick is to start small and grows bigger. The smaller you start, the better the development process is. In many cases, beginners may feel irritated even within a couple of minutes. Thus, it is valid that you start from as small as just 3-5 minutes and then increase over time.
The reason is that there is much less concentration when you start meditating, and so even a couple of minutes feel like hours. It is better not to meditate based on any hard and fast rules.
What is the goal of meditation?
The main goal of meditation is to see the world that lies beyond the mind and cannot be experienced with open eyes. You have to see this world and the beauty of nature here with the help of your mind and soul within.
This inner world is made up of peace, bliss, and happiness and has been experienced by anyone who has meditated properly over a prolonged period. Meditation is how you can free your mind because you know that your mind is the major most obstacle between you and peace.
How do you meditate properly?
The most important trick is to channel your mind into a single thought and focus on it. You can lie or sit or meditate in whatever position you want. Just make sure your body is let loose when you meditate. Stiffness of the body can become a distraction while you are trying to focus.
Next, you will have to close your eyes and keep breathing naturally. The breathing should be your main focus here. Try to concentrate on the process of breathing-in and breathing-out and resist all other thoughts that are trying to distract you.
How do I clear my mind to meditate?
You can refer to peace meditation YouTube videos to know more about the dos and don’ts of meditation. If you are concerned about your concentration and whether you will focus once you try meditation, then there is a simple way to overcome this.
Take your meditation position and inhale and exhale about 4-5 times. This will help you calm down, and you can start meditating now. Also, a glass of warm milk before meditating helps if you meditate at night before going to sleep.
What do you think about when meditating?
It would help if you did not think of anything while meditating, and that is how you can focus more. Your concentration should ideally be between the part between your lips and nose. This way, you can put all your concentration on your breathing, which helps keep away all other distracting thoughts.
This is a complete overview of meditation, and you can do that to achieve ultimate peace. Now you know how you can be happy and glowing despite all the work pressure and stress in your daily life.
