Meditation 101: How to meditate
If you feel stressed and anxious more often than not then welcome to the club. In our ever-increasingly busy world of information overload, these two unwanted companions can seem to take up permanent residency in our lives. You’ve probably considered meditation to help with the overwhelm but may wonder how to meditate. Use this article as your meditation 101, or beginners guide to meditation.
How to Meditate
Having to maintain the work/life balance while simultaneously multitasking endless to do lists can get to be quite overwhelming which creates the perfect storm of unwanted feels. How does one navigate these storms of certain woe? It may be more simple than you think and doesn't take much time from your busy day.
Easy Two-Step Meditation
With either your eyes open or closed, begin to count your breaths (without changing your normal breathing patterns) from 1 to 10 with 1 being your inhaling breath and 2 being your exhaling breath up to 10.
Focus only on the counting (if you find yourself thinking random thoughts as you count - that's totally fine, observe them, dismiss them, and refocus on the counting)
Unlike having to create additional time like most activities designed to get you to a place of calm, this can be done on your way to whatever demands of the day require. The best part is it can be as little as a minute or up to an hour, YOU pick the amount of time you need to get to your happy place. Now doesn't that amount of control make you feel devilishly good inside? It's okay to admit it because YOU ROCK! Now go forward and continue to conquer all of life's demands you busy go-getters!
More Help with Meditation
If you’re interested in learning more about meditation and mindfulness, we have another article that dives further into the methods and benefits of meditation and mindfulness. You can read that article by clicking here.
Resources for Stress and Anxiety
If meditation isn’t helping as much as you’d like, it may be time to schedule an appointment with a therapist. Wasatch Family Therapy has openings at all locations and is ready to support you on your journey. Schedule your initial visit by texting or calling 801.944.4555 or filling out this form. You do not have to do this alone.
This post was originally written by Jameson Holman, LMFT, but was updated by the Wasatch Family Therapy team.
