How
Decide to meditate and set an intention to meditate. Decide how long you will meditate and choose an anchor, which can be a word, a mantra, or your breath. Meditate with your spine straight from the tail bone to the top of the head. Close your eye while seated comfortably. Yes, you can lie down on a flat surface, but set an alarm in case you fall asleep. Close and open your eyes a few times and get comfortable with your surroundings then close your eyes and begin. Open your meditation by suggesting to yourself to go inside of yourself and prefer your word, mantra or breath to all your other thoughts, plans, schemes. You cannot control your thoughts. Thoughts will always be there but when you notice you are thinking go back to, “prefer,” your word/mantra or breath. In meditation you will have thoughts, mantra /words/breath, both, nothing, and even feeling of bliss and all you have to do is prefer your mantra when you notice anything else. You may have a rush of thoughts and that is ok too. Know that even that is releasing a stress in your body mind.
When
Research suggests that for the health benefits twice a day for 20 minutes is required. It is best to mediate twice a day, early morning and evening. But, practicing meditation is better than being rigid about the time you practice. Sometime in the morning, you may practice on the subway or train going to work or by closing your door as soon as you get in to the office, and you may practice later in the day than you intended. Just know meditation will make you smarter and if you practice late in the day you will either give up your to do list and go to bed or have lots of energy and stay up a bit too long. Set the time you will meditate and check your watch/phone for start and end time. You will not know what time it is when you are meditating so you will have to “peek” at your watch or phone to know the end time or set an alarm bell.
Where
You can mediate anywhere. No equipment is needed. No special chairs. You will hear everything but when you do not have to respond, keep meditating. If you have to respond for any reason, finish what you need to do and go back to finish your meditation by meditating a few minutes. It is rewarding to shut off your phone and other possible disturbances and give yourself the gift of silence for 20 minutes twice a day.
Why
Meditation changes you as you get to know the self. You can even befriend the self as you generate amazing insights, creativity and inner joy and peace. It reduces stress because you realize a lot of it you made up. Research has proven what meditators know: more frontal cortex brain cells develop in 8 weeks and you make better decisions, the amygdala (the flight or flight part of the brain) goes back to normal size as during stress it expands, you lower your blood pressure, the telomeres on the ends of your genes stop shrinking as you age, so it is definitely is an anti-aging benefit.
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