Welcome to Energy Wheelhouse! I am happy you are here!
My name is Sarah Hamilton and I am the owner/founder of the mobile Reiki studio, Energy Wheelhouse. I serve the Denver metro area including the communities of Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Denver, Littleton, Lakewood, Ken Caryl, Greenwood Village, and Lone Tree.
Meditation for Beginners: How to Get Started
I want to share some thoughts on meditation for beginners. When I ask people if they meditate, they often say in a frustrated tone, “I can’t” or “I can’t shut my brain off”. While quieting the mind to the point of emptiness is possible, striving for that, in the beginning, can be frustrating and make you feel as though anything short of that is not useful. Meditation is a learned skill, there are ways to feel successful when you first start a meditation practice.
Meditation is not just shutting your brain off and not thinking about anything. Meditation is, however, being mindful and aware. There are thousands of ways to meditate.
One of the easiest ways to focus your attention and become mindful and aware is by focusing on what is happening in your body. The easiest part of your body to focus on is your breath. We breathe all the time but rarely do we think about it. Stopping to think about the breath makes us pause and pay attention to our bodies.
Three Breathing Exercises for Beginning Meditators
Meditation for beginners may seem overwhelming. But it doesn't have to be. Below are three breathing exercises I often encourage my clients to try when I start my treatments.
While when you take a breath in visualize your breath as a pink coming into your lungs. And when you breathe out visualize black leaving your lungs. Why pink? Why Black? Pink is the color of healthy human tissue and black is the color of diseased tissue. We want to bring in more health and let go of any negativity.
Breathe in for the count of 4, hold the breath for the count of 4, breathe out for the count of 4. You can do this for 10 breath cycles then breathe normally.
Breathe in for the count of 4, hold that breath to the count of 7 then release the breath forcefully through the mouth to the count of 8. You should only do this for 4 breath cycles and then breathe normally. This breathing practice can actually calm your parasympathetic nervous system.
If you are starting a meditation practice start slowly. The most important part of a meditation practice whether you are a beginner or more advanced is consistency. Just try to do it daily.