How to Start Meditating

You should know by now I am a HUGE fan of meditation. I have talked about it in many blog posts before, but I felt the need to dedicate an entire post to it. When I think about all the things I do in an attempt to be a better, healthier person… I would say meditation is the #1 most important and where I see the biggest results. When I suggest meditation to friends I get a lot of the same responses.

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I have no time for that!”

“I could never sit still for 20 minutes.” 

How Do I Get Started?

Let me start by saying, you do not need to be intimidated by meditation. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to do it. I started with just 5 minutes a day using the Simple Habit app. Most mornings, 5 minutes is still all I do and I started this practice a few years ago. These days, there are plenty of free meditation apps out there. I have tried many of them, but I do have my favorites. 🙂 For me, Simple Habit is a great starter app. They have a lot more subscriber content these days, but all the basics are still free and that is still the version I use.

Another app I love and the one I use all the time now is the Insight Timer. This has thousands of free guided meditations, music and a timer bell. They also have a number of discussions on there now, sort of like mini-podcasts, that I have started listening to in the car. I know a lot of people like Headspace but for some reason I never got into it! (maybe I need to give it another go) I also listen to the podcast 10% Happier by Dan Harris and he has a mediation app by the same name that I have heard good things about but have yet to try myself.

I love guided meditations since even though I have been doing it for a few years, it is still very hard for me to silence my thoughts without that voice to guide me along. I am going to start practicing more “traditional” meditation methods more often to try to get better at it though.

Why Meditate? 

I really believe that in today’s busy world, we need to give our brains a minute. I am currently reading a book called Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain and Body and it is SO interesting. But you don’t need a whole book, a simple google search will return hundreds of articles on the benefits of meditation. 

If you are curious, I encourage you make a commitment to try it for 2 weeks. You can use one of the apps mentioned above to make it easy, and try 5 minutes a day. I guarantee you will notice a difference!