If you are new to meditation and looking to deepen your spiritual practice, you can find tutorials, guided meditations, and shamanic journeys on our Resource Page.

Start with quality over quantity

Work on developing a quality practice instead of just logging hours. Try to start by meditating once a week for 15-20 minutes instead of squeezing 2-5 minutes into our already jam-packed days. Once a week is far easier to accomplish when you are starting anything than challenging yourself every day. This is supposed to be a joyous experience, not a chore. Give yourself a chance to actually get into it.

Let go of the idea that you aren’t supposed to have thoughts

Calming your mind is a big part of meditation, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t supposed to have any thoughts or activities. In fact, if we begin meditation by telling ourselves not to think, what is the first thing that happens? We think about not thinking.

Instead, shift your priority to just watching your thoughts and noticing what comes up during your practice. What is on your mind?

Collect yourself first

We are so used to multitasking that sometimes it is hard to stop. The nice thing about meditation is you can work it into various parts of the day. Many people like to start first thing in the morning or you can squeeze it in while you are waiting in the car or in between appointments. I like to meditate after I exercise. No matter where you are or what you are doing, begin first by collecting yourself. That means calling yourself back in from the many other things you may be thinking about, dinner, conversations, plans, and giving yourself a moment to just be present with this.

Oh yeah…