3 WAYS TO PRACTICE MEDITATION

3 ways to practice meditation:

1. Follow your breath

This is the most common of all meditation skills. First, exhale hard, and exhale the carbon dioxide from the bottom of your lungs. It helps to practice a technique called "deep breathing" (aka belly breathing): Imagine a lotus flower opening in your abdomen. As you inhale to fill your abdomen with air, the petals of the flower open; As you exhale, the petals close.

2. Staring at a painting or something

Let your mind rest gently on it. If you are a Catholic, you can choose a picture of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the Holy Spirit. If you are inspired by the eastern spiritual and cultural tradition, you can choose the Buddha's portrait or logo to enter. You can also use flowers, crystals, or other objects instead, as long as they mean something to you. Slowly bring your attention there, and focus on it quietly and calmly.

3. Guided meditation

On the same line as guided imagery, guided meditation is a powerful way to focus and direct your imagination toward a clear goal (imagine a diver mentally visualizing all of his "perfect dive" moves before taking off). If you find it difficult to meditate for the long term and always make plans and fall by the wayside, guided meditation can be very helpful in creating an effective personal daily meditation habit. If you don't have the experience of meditation and don't have a teacher on hand to guide you, guided meditation is a great option! Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk in Vietnam who is also a scholar, poet, peace advocate, and author, suggests trying this very simple but effective self-taught guided meditation or some meditation music.


Meditation is often described by experienced practitioners as "a state of being -- a state of accepting everything without expectation, a state of being one with nature." All methods are ultimately aimed at achieving such a state. Therefore, meditation practice is not meditation itself. It may take years of practice for a person to reach a true meditative state. An experienced meditator may only have so many moments in an hour when he or she is truly in the "oneness" state of meditation.