Enjoy 60 Good Seconds with me – Beginner meditation in 60 seconds
Meditation anywhere
The brain waves of meditators show why they’re healthier. Neuroscientists have found that meditators shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex—brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. In other words, they were calmer and happier than before. Benefits of meditation
So you heard about meditation and haven’t had the time or the knowledge to look into it. In just 60 seconds I’ll give you a very quick introductory lesson to relax your mind in 60 seconds. So that you can enjoy the benefits of meditation too:
Benefits of meditation:
- Meditation helps the body regulate it’s breathing
- Meditation reduces anxiety attacks as it lowers the levels of blood lactate.
- Meditation makes you more aware of your body and well being
- Meditation builds self confidence.
- Meditation gives your conscious mind a rest
- Meditation increases serotonin which influences moods and behaviour. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, headaches and insomnia.
- Meditation enhances energy, strength and vigour.
- Meditation increases your minds capacity for creativity and problem solving
- Meditation helps keep blood pressure normal
- Meditation reduces stress and tension
- Meditation creates a state of deep relaxation and general feeling of wellbeing
- Meditation helps with P.M.T.
- Meditation increases concentration and strengthens the mind
- Meditation helps reduce heart disease
- Meditation helps with weight loss
So how do you begin with meditation, much like everything else you simply begin. In order for medititation to be effective all you need to do is to allow your mind to release itself from incessant thinking. All I’m going to ask you to do is to follow this exercise for 60 seconds a day and you will have started on the road to a more peaceful inner life. When starting meditation I found meditating for long periods very difficult, almost impossible, and very demotivating. For this reason I suggest starting for short periods and increasing as you feel more comfortable.
Meditation Excercise 1
You will need some free time a quiet place free of distractions an egg timer or something similar preferably with an alarm. Anything that can make a noise with a 60 second delay will do.
During the exercise dress comfortably in loose fitting clothing and sit or lie down anyway that is most comfortable.
During the 60 seconds I will ask you to:
- Close your eyes.
- Breathe in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth
- I ask that you concentrate on the air that you are breathing in.
- For the full 60 seconds concentrate only on the path of the air from just in front of your nostrils down into your lungs
- Hold each breath there for a moment and then release it, all the time focusing only on the air you are breathing as it travels in and out
You will during the minute of meditation find thoughts encroaching, you’ll wonder about work or what you’re going to eat or any number of real world problems. When you do just become aware of the thought and allow it to fall through your mind as you begin concentrating on your breathing again.
Do this meditation excercise whenever you have a free moment, first thing in the morning is the best time for many, and you will soon find that you have less and less trouble keeping your mind clear for the full 60 seconds. In the interim you will find that even these short 60 second bursts are thoroughly relaxing.
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This is brilliant, I can easily spare 60 seconds a day, and once I get the hang of it I’m sure I will be itching to increase the time spent meditating.
BTW, near the end of your post I think you accidentally used hour instead of minute?
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Michael Reply:
December 16th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Indeed I think too much people see meditation as a big scary mystical thing when the reality is it’s just the clearing of the mind. I am quite sure that you’ll find you’ll get the hang of it soon, the reality is, it is the bodies natural state. The more you practice the more easy you will find it to relax.
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Hi Mike,
I have three more weeks of classes and then I’m going to commit to learning meditation properly. I’m going to use my winter vacation to develop this new skill.
Thanks for listing so many benefits.
Gordie´s last blog ..Why You Should Make Your Life Remarkable.
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Michael Reply:
December 17th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Indeed there really is no down side to meditation. There are thousands of great resources available on the internet to learn meditation properly. There is a great guest post 20 practical tips for quieting the mind on zenhabits which is a good starting point.
Some Other good books are:
Wherever You Go, There You Are (ROUGH CUT) (Also Reccomended in the post)
Mindfulness for Beginners
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Brilliant post,
I have always wanted to get into meditation. This post was perfect.
The benefits are amazing 60 seconds a day is easy to spare!
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Michael Fletcher Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
You’ll find that as you get more comfortable with meditation you’ll spend more time on it and the benefits increase exponentially the more time you put into it. I do however think that short bursts are a great way to start.
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I like your post. This is a great way for beginners or busy people to start meditating. A simple breathing exercise like this can really relax the body even though it is only for a short minute. As long as we allow ourselves to retreat from the stressful world, we will feel some of the benefits. And a minute is still better than none. So great post for encouraging people to start meditating.
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Michael Fletcher Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Indeed I’ve always felt the best way to start, is to start. More people need to experience the restorative power of escaping thought even if only briefly.
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