Meditation Tips for Beginners

Want to learn how to meditate and naturally reduce your stress? We’ve made it quick and convenient for you to learn how to meditate with our Meditation Tips for Beginners!

Chronic stress can affect the body in so many ways, decreasing your ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, including your ability to lose and manage a healthy weight.

Just a few of the things chronic stress can have an effect on include:

1. Increased Cortisol

   1. A stress hormone that when elevated is associated with weight gain (esp belly), inability to lose weight, premature aging and disrupted sleep patterns.

2. GUT flora

   1. Stress decreases healthy intestinal bacteria. This can decrease immunity, cause skin issues and create digestive distress.

3. Decrease in Sex Hormones

   1. This decreases sex drive and muscle mass

4. Increases Inflammation

   1. Can lead to heart and brain disease

Throughout my unique Hayes Girl Health wellness programs and with every client, I encourage and introduce them to meditation. My belief in its benefits are unbending and I have seen the positive effects of it in myself and anyone who makes it a regular practice. Meditation is backed by many studies as helping to decrease stress, increase stress resilience, decrease cortisol, increase immunity, decrease inflammation and improve overall well being.

Most clients have questions and are often confused on just where the heck to start this meditation thing.

Here I have listed some of my more helpful tips for the beginner brain!

1. Choose your environment

   1. Minimize distractions

   2. Designate a space for your practice

   3. Do you want a scent involved? Light a candle, incense, sage, etc.

   4. Music can be helpful. Try a “spa” playlist

2. Positioning

   1. Cross legged on the floor (root chakra to ground)

   2. Laying on floor

   3. On chair with feet to floor

   4. Hands on knees with open palms

3. Breathing

   1. Try a prolonged exhale. For example, inhale for 5 seconds then exhale for 7

   2. Try 5-5-7 breaths. This is an inhale for 5, hold for 5 and exhale for 7

   3. Breathe into your belly to activate your parasympathetic nervous system

4. Body scanning is an easy way to initiate a meditation. Start from mtoes and scan all the way up to head. Just noticing anything you feel but not becoming overly concerned with anything you feel.

5. Floating thoughts are normal to have. Our brain never stops! Meditation can help you to center yourself in the face of chaos. Practice noticing those thoughts and then just letting them float by you without letting them steal your attention.

Extra’s

• Insight timer app for guided meditation, music, affirmations, tracking, etc.

• Mantras and Mudras are vocalizations to help enhance your concentration and hand gestures to help create an energetic seal. Try the much pictured Gyan mudra that symbolizes union of self with the universe.

• Chanting stimulates the vagus nerve which can decrease inflammation, stress, blood pressure and boost immunity. The most common OM is easiest to remember. Do this at the end of your meditation and just belt it out!

Let me know if you have questions! I’d love to help you on your journey.

Happy Meditating!