Meditation for Complete Beginners – Awareness

It’s common to have questions when you try something for the first time.

Am I doing it right? Is this working? What is this going to do for me?

We have a tendency to overthink and complicate things that are really quite simple, such as meditation. To better understand it, let’s look at the “ABCs” of meditation: Awareness, Breath and Connection.

Let’s first focus on awareness. We often go through the day unaware of what happens around us. We eat lunch and never even taste or savor one bite. We have conversations at the water cooler or nurses’ station where we might gossip or complain and we don’t consider the effects our words have in the workplace or on others.

Meditation teaches you to be more aware of your actions and words and how they affect your space, the people you encounter and the eyes through which you see the world.

This beginning meditation teaches you awareness. Please get into a comfortable position, gently close your eyes and follow along!

Guided Awareness Meditation:

Close your eyes and start to focus on your body. Gently breathe in through your nose and send your breath down your body and into the ground. Imagine you are standing outside on the Earth and you turn to face your body to the sun. As you feel the sun shine on your face, imagine your body turns into a tree.

Consider what kind of tree you are. What is the state of your tree? With each breath, use your awareness to send energy into your root system and to grow your roots deeper into the ground. The goal is for our roots to reach the core of the Earth. In order to be a big beautiful tree in this world, we need a strong foundation on which to grow.

Once you feel you have connected to the core, breathe the energy into your root system, up into your trunk and out through your branches. As you continue to breathe, become aware of your thoughts, your physical body and your emotions.

The more we practice this simple awareness technique, the more we become aware of our mind, where it goes when it’s still and how to gently guide it to focus on what you wish to create.

This tip is brought to you by Healing Mariah.