12 tips (and keys) to meditate correctly

Meditation is a practice that dates back thousands of years and its purpose is to focus attention on a stimulus in order to reduce negative thoughts, be more aware of the present and be able to relax. There are multiple benefits of meditation, helping both to improve cognitive variables such as attention, visuospatial ability, empathy or stress reduction; and physiological, as it improves the state of the immune system and decreases body tension.

For its correct practice there are some tips that can be useful to you. It is important to keep in mind that the purpose of meditation is not to leave the mind blank or not to think, but rather it is to focus the attention, focus on a stimulus that can be both internal and external and reduce the importance given to thoughts or sensations negative. It is also essential to maintain good posture and exercise in a suitable place and time of day.

If you are thinking of starting the practice of meditation, in this article we mention some of the most relevant benefits of meditating and we give you some tips so you can do it correctly.

• We recommend you read: "Mantras: 11 powerful phrases to meditate and concentrate"

What is meditation and what are its benefits?

If we value the meaning of the word meditation this comes from the Latin term "meditatum" which means to reflect, to focus attention on something, to become aware of it. The practice of meditation allows you to relax both the mind and the body, since if we fix our attention on an object, a word, a part of the body or in our breathing we manage to reduce the thoughts or worries that affect us and generate us discomfort.

The origin of the practice of meditation dates back thousands of years ago, being located in the East, specifically in the India, later spreading to the rest of the world and reaching the different cultures giving rise to the panorama current. Currently the practice of meditation is common, being able to do it in different ways or with different purposes.

So we can meditate alone at home, we can go to meditation classes or even use this technique to treat mental or physical health problems. Good results have been obtained to reduce stressFor example, applied in a complementary way to other interventions, meditation has proven effective in improving the condition of patients with cardiovascular disorders.

The main beneficial effects of meditating are: it helps reduce stress; generates positive effects on the immune system, an increase in antibodies has been observed; improves attention capacity, helps the correct use of brain resources for this function; predisposes to better interaction with others, better empathy; increases pain tolerance; better memory function, especially working memory and other functions such as visuospatial processing; and facilitates the appearance of positive thoughts.

The best tips to help us in meditation

As it happens with other practices, such as sports, meditation offers us different possibilities of doing it, adapting to the characteristics and needs of each subject. Not everyone works the same techniques or the same way of executing them. Below we give you some tips that can help you for a correct meditation, try them to know which ones are more useful for you.

1. Don't try to make your mind go blank

Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of meditating is not to get the mind to rest. white, since it is impossible to achieve it, think that even when we sleep our mind stays active. So that, the objective will be to focus attention on a specific stimulus (a word, a part of the body, our breathing...) thus helping us to free ourselves from other thoughts that cause us discomfort.

2. Find the right posture

There are different postures that can be performed to meditate correctly. The most common, or at least the first that comes to mind, is sitting cross-legged, although We can also use a chair or lie down, if the posture is more common to us and helps us to achieve greater relaxation.

The essential conditions that we must maintain regardless of the chosen position is keep the sword straight, thus facilitating better breathing and avoiding tensing the muscles, we will not cross our arms or legs, seeking greater relaxation.

3. Gradually increase the meditation time

When we want to learn to perform an exercise, it is common for us to spend a little time at first to gradually increase it until we reach the recommended time that works best for each one of us. In this way, you can start doing practices of 1 or 5 minutes to finally reach 20 or 30 minutes.

Of course, to be able to do it correctly It will be necessary for you to exercise it regularly, if it can be every day, since at the beginning it is very likely that it will cost you. Do not focus so much on getting it perfect the first time, but more on continuing to practice, since that will be the only way to get it right.

4. Choose comfortable clothes

In order to relax, it is necessary to feel comfortable and for this purpose it will be essential that our clothes are appropriate. Choose a set that does not constrict you, that is loose and that also helps you maintain a good temperature, think that you will be still for a while, so you may catch cold. Very hot or cold also does not allow us to relax and meditate properly.

5. Don't force yourself to stay 100% still

Forbidding you to do something often causes the response or need to do it. Thus, although it is advisable not to move, if we notice that something bothers us, we feel itching in some area of ​​the body or we want to sneezing or coughing we will not avoid doing it but we will proceed to do it without giving it more importance, to relax again later.

If we notice that the feeling of discomfort persists and we continually have the feeling of itching or discomfort, we will try to focus our attention on other stimuli for these sensations to lose strength.

6. choose a quiet place

Obviously, in order to relax, the environment must be adequate, that is, there must not be much noise or the surface or place that we choose to meditate is comfortable, we will take into account, as we already mentioned, the temperature or light.

You can choose your room, the dining room, the terrace, or even a public place like the beach, the mountain or the gym. The important thing is that the environment is adequate to be able to carry out the practice correctly, relax and not be distracted by external stimuli.

7. Register your practices

One strategy that can help you establish the habit of meditating can be to record the times you do it, like this you make sure you follow up, it motivates you more to continue practicing so you can write it down and it also allows you to see the progress, observing how the duration of each session gradually increases.

8. Focus attention on a stimulus

As we have already mentioned, the way meditation uses to relax and disconnect the mind from worries is to focus attention on a stimulus. These target objects can be very diverse, located both inside and outside the subject. For example we can focus our attention on our breathing; in a word, a mantra; in a sound; a part of the body, among many other possibilities.

9. Choose the best time to do it

Each person knows their level of activation during the daywhen you have more energy. In the same way, there are also external variables that influence such as work, family or the noise that there may be at certain times of the day. So choose the period that works best for you, we can practice it both in the morning and at night.

Yes, we must keep in mind to be able to do it correctly, that is, it is necessary to be relaxed but without reaching the point of falling asleep since this way we will not be able to complete the exercise and continue improving, if you see that doing it at night or lying in bed makes you sleepy, better look for another moment.

10. Give yourself some post-practice time

The state of relaxation that we have achieved with meditation is not good to tell suddenly, since in this way we do not all the process that we have carried out during the meditation would be of no use, we would recover the sensation of stress by instant. In this way, it is recommended to get up and return to the activity little by little, giving ourselves the necessary time so that it does not involve a very abrupt change.

11. Start doing the meditation with someone you know

Starting the practice of an exercise together with another person can help us stay more motivated, so we can share our progress, the strategies or techniques that have worked best for us or what our feelings are. It encourages us not to give up and to be more constant, wanting to improve, benefiting us especially when we are new and practice is more complicated for us.

12. Don't try to avoid thoughts

In order to reduce worries and negative thoughts, we must not prohibit ourselves or avoid thinking about them, but simply let them happen, without giving importance to them since that will be the way to achieve reduce them.

It is also important that you focus on the present, we mean that you focus your attention and be aware of what is happening or of the specific stimuli of the current situation. In this way we will also be able to restrict thoughts linked to concerns that concern the past.