50 Meditation Tips for Beginners

The popularity of meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, has exploded in recent years. Because of this, huge waves of people are just beginning their meditation practice, or still working out the kinks, and could use some simple guidance.

I don't pretend to know everything, but I have uncovered a number of tips and tricks from my own meditation practice over the years which I'd like to share here for everyone. I'm sure just about everyone can find at least a few tips from the 50 below which will help them move their practice forward or deepen their practice in general.

Below are 50 meditation tips for beginners starting their own meditation practice (centered around mindfulness meditation practices). The title says meditation tips for beginners, but the reality is even if you've practiced for a while there's probably at least few points here you can use to take your practice to the "next level" so to speak.

I hope you find them useful. Here are 50 meditation tips for beginners: _____________________________________

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50 Meditation Tips for Beginners

1. You can meditate anywhere

Meditation isn't just sitting in a crazy difficult folded leg position (the lotus position) with your eyes closed.

You can meditate anywhere, any time of day, and in multiple positions with multiple forms.

Expand your practice to your entire day and utilize multiple forms to see the real power of meditation. To learn how to meditate, or for ideas on where to start your practice, you can read How to Meditate for Beginners.

2. You don't have to close your eyes

It's a common misconception that you have to do meditate with your eyes closed, and while this is perfectly acceptable (for sitting meditation at least...), it's highly beneficial especially in the beginning to meditate with your eyes partly open to help you maintain alertness and avoid dozing off.

Many traditions and backgrounds meditate exclusively with eyes partly open, never closed.

3. Start simple

Don't jump right into walking meditation or mindful eating, start with breathing meditations. The most basic, most common, and most useful of which is mindful breathing.

This is essentially the same as sitting in meditation (with mindfulness of breath), so whether you sit or take a minute or two throughout your day to practice mindful breathing, whatever works for you is fine.

4. Walk it off

There's an exception to the last point. Whether you've just begun or have meditated for some time, if you feel a strong energy in your body, or are extra restless, you shouldn't force sitting in meditation, you should get up and walk slowly with mindfulness (walking meditation).

This is a common practice that helps the practitioner calm their nerves so that they can sit more successfully.

In the beginning, you should sit despite this restlessness, but if you've sat for a few weeks and still find yourself moderately restless it can be beneficial to do walking meditation for a moment and then sit after.

This is also a valuable advanced meditation tip for those who are experiencing an abnormal level of restlessness.

5. Find what works best for you

Once you've practiced mindful breathing for a few weeks I'd suggest you start trying out the various other forms of meditation. This usually begins with walking meditation and expands out to eating meditation, driving meditation, and so forth.

It's limitless really, and I wouldn't just dive into them without some instruction, but you're free to experiment, find what works best for you, and structure your meditation practice accordingly once you're passed the initial phase of practicing mindful breathing.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying don't sit in meditation, but I am saying that you can sit for half a day in meditation or you can sit for 30 minutes and do other meditative forms, like do walking meditation, and focus on simply living your everyday life as it is in mindfulness.

For anyone living a halfway "normal" life, this is generally much more effective and far more natural.

Even with regards to sitting meditation, there's no one way to do it. You can sit and be mindful of your breath, or you could mix it up and be mindful of the many sights and sounds within your field of awareness as well. Or you could even meditate on compassion from time to time.

The choice is up to you, so find what works best for you.

6. It usually takes practice (but not always)

Some people get the idea, that is, how to be mindful, almost immediately. But most people take a while to get the hang of it.

I was the latter, so if you're having some difficulty in your practice don't worry, it's only natural. There's no rhyme or reason to this, and those more proficient at first don't go on to be better at mindfulness, they just get it faster.

So don't be discouraged by this and think it "isn't for you" or something else discouraging. The challenges you're facing will actually help to strengthen your practice.

7. Soft focus, not hard

While mindful, it should feel as though you have a soft, but constant, focus on your object of meditation (your breath, steps, etc.) and of anything else that comes into your field of awareness, rather than a hard focus that makes you strain your eyeballs and hurt your brain.

If this is what you're doing simply relax a bit and remind yourself that you're not forcing your awareness, or focus, on one point.

Your object of meditation works more like an anchor helping you stay in the present moment, rather than a laser target that's concentrating your focus.

If you become drawn away, by a thought or sensation, this isn't a bad thing, it's only bad if you don't acknowledge it with your mindfulness.

These thoughts and sensations coming into your field of awareness are totally natural, and should be welcomed (of course after acknowledging them, come back to your object of meditation- breath, steps, etc.).

8. Don't worry about whether you're doing it right or not

I didn't get the hang of mindfulness right away, it took me some time. Get a good resource with instruction on how to meditate and simply follow it as best you can, practicing at least a little each day.

As long as you're doing that, don't worry about whether you're doing it right or not. With time, provided you're doing you best to follow the instruction, you'll get the hang of it.

9. Don't worry about your hands

I know you've probably seen pictures before of people meditating (who hasn't?). In those pictures, they were usually doing something specific with their hands, right? That specific hand placement is called a mudra (Sanskrit for "sign"), and it's generally meant to symbolize some important principle in the particular meditation or spiritual tradition that it originated from.

Mudras can be used to enhance your practice specifically while sitting in meditation, so feel free to use them, but in no way think that they're required.

10. Wake up

In a very literal sense, you should be wide awake when you attempt to meditate, especially sitting in meditation, as otherwise, it becomes very easy to doze off. If you're not, you might need to wait until a better time or find a way to wake yourself up beforehand.

This could be something simple like caffeine or something more complex like only meditating during a specific time in the day (such as an hour into your morning, when your energy is full and the sleepiness of the morning has worn off).

11. Stretch

While meditation isn't about rejecting anything or quieting your mind to the point where you stop thinking (an impossible and useless feat), the beginnings of meditation are about bringing the mind to rest.

This is because, before you do this, your mind will be too active to sit back and observe, which is the entire point.

A simple trick you can do to help this along is simply to stretch a bit before you begin meditating, as this will help to not only relax you but activate your body to some degree. It doesn't matter what you do, just pick a few simple stretches that relax you and do them for a minute or two before meditating.

12. Posture is important

Your ability to stay focused while meditating is directly connected to your posture.

Without proper posture, you're more likely to doze off and improper posture is usually an obstruction to your breathing.

To some degree, this isn't something you have to worry all that much about, as often just becoming fully present will make you realize you're slouching and stand up straight. But in any case, make sure while sitting in meditation that your back and neck are straight.

13. You don't have to sit in the lotus position

If you don't know it, the lotus position is that position which involves sitting cross-legged and then placing each leg on top of the opposite thigh.

The lotus position is not something that everyone is capable of doing (or should try doing) even with practice.

Feel free to sit in a chair, it really doesn't matter. Keep the main thing the main thing, and that's the actual act of meditating. Everything else is there simply to help support your practice, even physical positioning.

14. Don't sit and meditate on a full stomach

Zen students avoid meditating on a full stomach, as this generally leads to an increased tendency to doze off. Of course, it can be equally bad to meditate while you're starving, so I'd suggest against that too.

It's not as difficult as it sounds, just something to stay mindful of as it can affect your sitting meditation specifically.

15. Half-smile

In the beginning of your practice, or even if you've practiced for some time and just had a tough day, the stress and general restlessness you're feeling can make it really difficult to meditate.

To combat this, adopt a simple half-smile. We hold a huge amount of tension and stress in our facial muscles, and a light smile (a half-smile) can relieve much of that tension and stress. It's a simple act with a powerful effect.

16. When questions arise, stay focused and mindful

In the beginning, it's natural to become frustrated with your practice and wonder what you're doing, why it isn't working, or just feel like quitting.

During this time you need to meditate more than ever. Stay focused and know that it's just a part of the process (largely, just the process of removing the jitters and stress from your body).

With time, your mind will calm and you'll find a great sense of peace from your practice again, often even more than before the ordeal.

17. Count

Don't just breathe (or walk, chew, etc.), while being mindful it's highly useful to count while doing so. Counting to yourself helps keep you awake to the moment and helps you notice when you've become distracted.

You can simply count from 1-10, one number for each inhale or exhale. So: inhale (one), exhale (two), inhale (three), and exhale (four). If you notice yourself slip, start the 10 count over.

If you have a heavily productivity centered mindset you might find yourself trying to cheat here. Don't, there's no point. All you'll end up doing is fooling yourself and hurting your own practice.

The quality of your practice is dependent upon your willingness to be honest with yourself. This technique can really help you improve your practice, so don't get in the way of your own ability to get the most from your practice.

18. Set a timer

If you don't set a timer, you'll have no idea when to stop and often end up pausing your meditation to glance at a clock constantly, interrupting your practice and making yourself even more uncomfortable and distracted.

By setting a timer you can relax and focus on your meditation practice, knowing you won't go over your time and miss what you have to do afterward.

19. Don't set a timer

OK, a timer isn't always a good idea. In general, my rule with a timer is that it's good to use one, but keep it in a place where you can't see it or get to it, such as up on your desk while you sit several feet away on the floor, and with your chair blocking your computer screen for good measure.

This way there's no way for you to find out what time it is during your meditation, but you still know your timer is set, and so can rest comfortably knowing that you should just stay focused since your timer will tell you when you're done.

But even after doing this, sometimes just knowing there's a timer set can be the very cause of your restlessness. If you find that happening, just don't set a timer.

Sitting without a timer can be really pleasant, and is the way I almost always meditate. It feels more natural, like I'm free to just float off as long as I please. Of course this is a luxury I'm not always afforded, and the likelihood is neither will you, but when possible it can be really nice.

20. Don't sit longer than you can

Even so, after calming yourself before meditating and using a timer in the proper way, in the beginning at least, you'll grow increasingly more restless as time goes on.

Maybe that time is 5 minutes, maybe it's 10, or maybe it's 20. Whatever it is, if you've only been meditating for a week, a month, or even a few months, there's a time period you'll get to where you just can't sit any longer before feeling like you're crawling out of your skin.

Once you get to that point, just stop sitting. It's as simple as that. There's no reason to push it. If you do this consistently, each day, you'll gradually be able to sit down for longer and longer periods until the point where you feel as though you could sit forever peacefully without this feeling ever arising.

This stage is the goal, but there's no rush to get there. Take your time, and don't sit longer than you feel you can.

21. Start sitting for 5 minutes

When you begin your sitting meditation practice, simply sit for 5 minutes. Don't attempt to sit for 10, 20, or more even if you think you can.

Don't think you're Mr. or Ms. hot-shot and go into your practice ego-first, that's a sure way to stumble hard right from the get-go and lose the motivation to keep practicing. Just do 5 minutes and then expand later only IF you feel comfortable enough to do so.

By sticking to this, even if you feel you can do more, you make the idea of meditation a simple and quick practice in your mind, and this helps establish it as a daily habit.

22. Work in blocks of 5

With that being said, it's generally best to increase your meditation in series of 5-minute blocks.

Let's say on Monday you begin meditating, and one or two Mondays later you begin feeling pretty comfortable while meditating for 5 minutes, no longer feeling the intense restlessness you once felt after a few minutes of meditating.

That's a good sign you're ready to begin meditating for 10 minutes, at which point you should test it out and see how it goes. If you feel it a little tough towards the end, you can always push through it.

But if the difficulty is intense, as I mentioned earlier, there's no reason to push it, so just go back to 5 minutes for another couple of days.

23. Have a meditation space

It's important, at least with your sitting meditation practice, just as with work and family, to have a space designated for the activity.

By doing so, when you go to sit down in meditation distractions go away, you become focused, and overall become more able to cultivate a strong meditation practice.

You shouldn't limit your meditation practice to this one place, but it's still important to have a place like this you can go to that's reserved for your practice. This is your Zen space, as I discussed in a previous post (which was an exclusive preview of a Zen for Everyday Life chapter as well).

24. Read a book, or get instruction

You don't have to get personal instruction, but it's important to at least read a book on meditation to get detailed instruction on the practice, preferably various forms of meditation you can use throughout your life and for various purposes (focus on one at first though).

This is all but necessary, as otherwise you're shooting in the dark and aren't completely sure if you're doing it right.

25. Don't restrict your practice to the meditation cushion

By this I mean don't restrict your practice to sitting meditation only. As I mentioned, you can meditate anywhere and at any point in your day, no matter what you're doing. But it can be easy to get comfortable and just stop there.

This is greatly limiting your practice. Once you get the hang of sitting in meditation, begin to try out other forms of meditation.

Most importantly, bring mindfulness into your everyday life.

26. Get a good audiobook (or a couple)

This will really help you take your meditation practice beyond the cushion and into your everyday life, on top of being the perfect complement to your book. With audio, you can take your practice with you wherever you go.

I love listening to audiobooks in my car (mostly Alan Watts right now) and still occasionally use them elsewhere as well. Test it out for yourself and see how it helps.

27. Try guided meditations

Rolling off of this point, in the beginning, it can be beneficial to try out some guided meditations. These are enjoyable at varying levels of practice but are especially helpful for anyone beginning with meditation.

Guided meditations are also nice for the same reason audiobooks are- you can take them anywhere and listen to them at just about any point in your day.

28. Let others know you're serious

Let your friends and family know that you're serious about your meditation practice. This is important for a few reasons, but an example would be letting those you live with know not to interrupt you during your sitting meditation practice.

For that purpose, if you live with others and you meditate, say, in your room, then you can hang a sign on your doorknob once you begin your meditation. There are various ways this can manifest, though, so you'll have to look at your own life and take the necessary steps to let those around you know how important your practice is to you.

29. Reduce distractions

I'm talking specifically about sitting meditation here, but if you have a scheduled time for walking meditation, or even just plan to eat your lunch or another meal in mindfulness, then it's important to reduce distractions as much as possible to improve your practice.

30. Meditate with friends and family

You might think that meditation is a private affair, but it's not. Meditation is greatly enhanced when two or more people sit, walk, or meditate in any other way, together. Try it and see for yourself.

31. Sit in the morning

Whether you're a night owl or an early riser, it can be very beneficial to begin meditating once you rise in the morning. A daily morning meditation practice is probably the single most powerful morning ritual you can adopt. It will literally transform the rest of your life with a consistent daily practice.

32. If your interest begins to wane, reaffirm your practice

This might happen, and it might not. Due to the sometimes difficult nature of meditation, but probably more importantly just because sticking to anything for any length of time can be difficult, it may be necessary at times to reaffirm your practice.

By this I mean remember why you began meditating in the first place. Typically, coming back to your book or audio can be highly beneficial in these cases as they'll remind you of how powerful and beneficial your practice can be and usually be mixed with enough encouraging words to keep you going.

In general, if this does happen, it will only be a phase. So stay strong, reaffirm your practice, and keep moving. It will wear off. Once this happens, your practice will be stronger than ever.

33. Discover the power of silence

You might be compelled to listen to some peaceful music or something while meditating, and at times this can be OK, but in general I'd suggest you learn the value of silence.

Silence is a powerful and almost mystical thing really which can often leave us with no real way of describing the experience itself (of sitting in silence, for instance). Silence is healing and revitalizing, so learn the power of silence now. Not just in sitting meditation, but in all forms of meditation: silent walking, silent eating, silent driving, etc.

Test it out- it's a beautiful and highly nourishing practice.

34. Use bodily signals to uncover and deal with strong emotions

It can be difficult to sit with strong emotions, like sadness or anger. To help this, it can be valuable to focus your concentration (or object of meditation, where you place your attention- typically your breath, steps, etc.) on your body.

Practicing mindfulness of the body can help detect these strong emotions, and sometimes, when you're feeling restless and don't even exactly know what you're feeling, identifying where on your body you're feeling changes can help you identify what emotion it is that you're feeling.

Overall, whether you've already identified the emotion or not, practicing mindfulness of body can help to bring these emotions into perspective.

It helps you see that these emotions aren't any different from the rest of your body's natural processes and helps shed their sometimes monstrous cloak which make them feel to us like they're these impossible forces to overcome (which they're not).

35. Don't jump up

Once you've finished your meditation session, don't immediately get up and rush off to the rest of your day. It's important to take a moment after your meditation to stay in this relaxed state, look around, let your thoughts come back to you slowly, and get up only once you feel you're ready.

Doing so will make your practice more enjoyable and help break the habit of rushing from place to place.

36. Have fun

Ultimately, your practice should be a great sense of joy. You won't always enjoy it, as we talked about earlier you may run into problems or your motivation to keep practicing might wane, but these things will be temporary and you'll soon go back to your "usual" practice.

And this practice should be highly enjoyable, bringing you in touch with the limitless beauty and peace of all the things within your everyday life.

37. Find a community

This is in no way required, but finding a meditation community can be both highly beneficial to your practice and greatly rewarding in your life as a whole.

Meditation done in groups is far more effective than alone, so even just one weekly group meditation session with people can be of great benefit. This could mean simply bringing your friends and family in on your practice as I talked about earlier, or it could mean joining a local meditation group. 

Whatever you decide to do, finding a group of people to practice with is something to strongly consider.

38. Mindfulness isn't about quieting the mind

Know that mindfulness isn't about getting to a point where your mind is literally quiet like the dead of night, so don't get frustrated if even after a year of meditation you still have thoughts popping up regularly.

The purpose of mindfulness is to calm your mind to the point where you can observe it with clarity. You'll never completely quiet the mind, and nor is this the point.

You'll greatly calm the mind and derive a great source of peace from your meditation despite this. This is definitely one of the most important points on this list because it's not just a common mistake beginners make but also a common misconception even among those who practice (at least those who haven't practiced for long).

39. Meditation forms are generally separated by position, but there are various forms of meditation for each position

Let's take walking for instance. You might think that there's only one form of walking meditation. That is, walking while being mindful of your steps.

This is the most common, but while walking you can also be mindful of the sensations you're experiencing, especially if you're outside, such as the wind hitting you and the heat from the sun on your body.

The most common forms of meditation are generally the most common because they're the most universal and straightforward, but it doesn't mean there aren't ways to mix it up. Doing so can really take your practice to a different level, allowing you so many other varied methods of living with mindfulness and offering new opportunities to deepen your practice.

40. Stick with it

Meditation, in all its forms, is like anything else in life. If meditation is something you want to make a daily practice, you'll need to work to establish it as a habit, and that means wrestling against all those negative habit energies that will likely try and get in the way.

It won't take long to really start cementing meditation as a daily practice, but things will come up from time to time that will try to throw a wrench in your practice.

Just stick with it, the longer you take your practice the more consistent you'll become and the less effort it will take to stick with it.

41. Create a lifestyle and a daily practice, not a habit

The whole "21 days to create a habit" myth has been handily debunked in recent years, but in general anything you want to make a new habit is something you've decided you'd like to be a new part of your life for at least an extended period of time, if not the rest of your life.

Because of this, it's better to stop thinking about creating habits in a short term sense and to start thinking about designing your life as a whole. This will help give you perspective and instill patience in you and is more accurate to what you're trying to do.

We tend to focus too much on what it takes to create a habit, when in reality even once you've gotten to that point (whatever that point is), that thing still requires consistent upkeep or else you'll fall off.

There is no magical point where a habit is just automatic for the rest of your life, only varying levels where something becomes easier and requires less effort. Have a long-term vision for your practice, and stop being pulled along by the "get it done" attitude so many of us have.

42. Your mindfulness is nonjudgmental, thoughts themselves are not

Don't get confused, while mindful awareness itself is nonjudgmental- that is, while being mindful you're simply observing without purposely thinking anything and making any judgments- it doesn't mean judgmental thoughts won't arise while being mindful.

Mindfulness and mental activity are two totally separate things. Mindfulness observes this mental activity nonjudgmentally, but the mental activity itself sprouting from you while meditating encompasses all of you, and that includes thoughts that have to do with your beliefs and opinions.

If you notice a thought like this pop up during your meditation, don't think you're doing it wrong. As long as you're acknowledging the thought itself nonjudgmentally with your mindfulness, you're right on track.

The point is, in a way, to make no purposeful effort to think or enter your mind. But your thoughts are their own monster, and they'll continue to bubble up whether you try to think about something or not. Your "effort" is to observe nonjudgmentally, not to condemn judgmental thoughts which arise.

43. Don't take your thoughts, well...personally

Your thoughts are not the "you" you imagine them to be. This might be difficult to see for now, but know that your thoughts are their very own monster. As I just mentioned, without even trying, while meditating thoughts will pop up. And these thoughts can sometimes be uncomfortable.

But begin realizing now that those thoughts are not you, so you should in no way judge yourself for what thoughts arise. Not just while you're being mindful, but ever.

Thoughts arise because of our life experiences, the effect they have on us, our interpretation of the whole thing, and general imagination which when broken down we see is hardly the "us" we imagine when thinking of ourselves.

Don't take your thoughts personally, know that they'll pop up no matter what you do and involve a lot more than "you" and you'll be able to begin distancing yourself from them. If you can learn to do this, which meditation will naturally do, you'll experience a great sense of relief.

44. Stop trying to win at meditation

Most of us are so productivity-obsessed and goal oriented that when we begin to practice meditation of any kind we tend to apply these same ideas to our meditation practice. This isn't in any way your fault, it's just something that's been ingrained in most of us since we were little (it certainly was for me).

But this can only damage your practice and lead you to take less from it than you could, ironically. You can't win at meditation, plain and simple. It isn't a game, and there are no shortcuts. No matter how hard you try, aside from dedicating yourself to a daily practice and striving to be mindful during each moment in your everyday life, you have to let your practice develop on your own.

You'll only discourage yourself and quit if you try to apply this same productivity mindset to meditation because it just doesn't work that way. Stop trying to win at meditation and rest simply feeling the peace of the present moment.

45. You can just be, too

You don't have to be doing anything in particular to meditate, you can literally just sit or stand and be fully awake to everything around you. A sort of "global awareness", this form of mindful awareness is the act of simply letting everything within your field of awareness come to you equally.

It's a highly nourishing practice which can often leave you feeling a profound sense of interconnectedness with everything around you. This is a nice practice to do from time to time, the literal expression of non-striving, and simply being one with the moment fully.

46. Start where you zone out

Once you've practiced some basic form of meditation for a few weeks, it can be highly beneficial to target some other activity during your day where you tend to zone out and bring mindfulness into it.

This won't just have the "usual" impact. Making a typical zone-out activity, such as driving, into a meditation can completely transform the rest of your day for the better. The great part about this is the activities you usually zone out on are the activities you do most often, so if you pick something like walking or driving you'll also be targeting a major part of literally every single day. This can have a hugely beneficial effect on your entire life.

47. Look for "moments of nourishment"

Find it difficult to carve out time to sit and meditate? One of the great things about mindfulness is you can do it anywhere, and that means even those times you typically feel are wasted like sitting in a waiting room or in your car during a long commute.

These are what I call potential "moments of nourishment", little bits of time in your day where you can slip in your meditation practice that would otherwise be unproductive or just boring wastes of time.

Of course, your goal should be to practice mindfulness throughout your day, but practicing in this way is a really effective way to grow your practice in the beginning and can have a big impact on your stress level and help you find a sense of peace between the chaos and craziness of your everyday activities.

48. Use a book to remind you

I carry a Moleskine book I call my "book of mindfulness", which has various verses and phrases meant to help instill greater awareness in me throughout my day. It's a great little book which has been of much use to me.

But the greatest part about the book? Because it sits in my pocket, it reminds me to be mindful throughout my day. Reminders such as these are powerful, and can really help you establish a daily meditation practice. You can read more about my little notebook in The Little Book of Mindfulness.

49. Be in nature

Simply sitting or walking in nature and being mindful of the many sights or sounds within your field of awareness is highly nourishing and helps to improve your mindfulness practice. With the high amount of stimuli you can't help but be fully present for what's going on around you, and this helps you develop your mindfulness and gives you a reference point for when you practice during your everyday life.

50. Focus, work in chunks

Once you've begun meditating and really seen some positive effects from your practice, it can be pretty exciting. That is, the idea that you can meditate with your whole life and bring more of those feelings into so many of the other activities you do in your everyday life.

You can be mindful anywhere and everywhere and throughout your entire day. But, at least in the beginning, what actually ends up happening is usually a bit rockier than this attractive fantasy of a day filled with peace and joy.

The likelihood is, you'll forget to me mindful constantly and have a hard time developing a strong daily practice. The universal application of mindfulness is great, but it also tends to make us feel lost in the beginning. Where do we begin?

Even if we know that we should start by practicing sitting meditation, or at the least following our breath, the next step can be fuzzy. Unless we focus on one or a few activities at a time, we tend to end up overwhelmed and don't practice it at all (or sporadically, and never make it a daily habit).

For this reason, it's highly beneficial to work in chunks. For instance, after you've practiced mindful breathing for a few weeks, you can then add walking and driving meditation to your daily practice.

Don't worry about being mindful at any other point in your day, even if you know that you can. Simply take the next 4 weeks to practice walking and driving meditation at every chance you get and make those activities new mindful habits.

Once you've established those, or at least gotten them to a point where you generally remember to do them consistently and can then add something else in, pick one or two more activities and tackle those.

After a while, you'll start becoming mindful throughout large portions of your day and often remind yourself to practice without any effort at all, but at first it's important to focus on just a few activities at a time to gradually build the foundation of your practice.

Learn to Meditate

Below are resources to help you learn the practice of mindfulness meditation and associated practices:

Creating a home meditation practice:

1. How to Meditate for Beginners
2. ZfEL Ep. 8: How to Create a Home Meditation Practice
3. 10 Ways to Make Meditation a Daily Habit
4. 5 Tools to Help You Start Your Home Meditation Practice
5. My free eBook: The Little Book of Mindfulness
6. What is Mindfulness? A Guide to Mindfulness Meditation
7. The Buddha’s Guide to Mindfulness Practice
8. 10 Awesome Tips and Tricks for Beginning with Mindfulness
9. The Beginner’s Guide to Walking Meditation

Free Guided Meditations:

Below are guided meditation episodes made freely available for your use. Learn to meditate with these guided meditations:

1. Mindfulness Meditation / Mindful Breathing
2. Mindful Walking (formal practice)
3. Mindful Walking (out-and-about in your daily life)
4. Mindful Welcome
5. Mindful Driving

*This list will grow quickly in the future. Each week I feature a new guided meditation on the Zen for Everyday Life podcast. You can listen to the podcast on the blog here or on iTunes here:

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So, what tips did you find most helpful? I'd love to hear from you. :) 

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If you're already a part of the Buddhaimonia newsletter you'll be getting a welcome email with a download link to the book- for FREE. Yep, you're getting The Little Book of Mindfulness for free.

Haven't signed up to the Buddhaimonia newsletter yet? No problem, just fill your name and email below and you'll get access:

Along with the welcome email that includes the TLBM download link, you'll also begin getting my new and exclusive email content series. About an email a week (then later an email every 2 weeks), this content series will guide you through the process of developing a daily practice which nourishes your mind and body, leads you to greater peace and happiness, and helps you realize your true potential. And it will direct you to some of my best content which covers the various topics that I'll discuss in those emails.

What was originally supposed to be a small book meant to introduce people to mindfulness in simple, clear, and straightforward language turned into a 15 chapter and nearly 100-page book filled to the brim with valuable information. Here's a snippet from the TLBM page which can be found here:

The Little Book of Mindfulness is literally filled with valuable information, tips and tricks, and insights:

1. The origins of mindfulness- I'll go into detail on where mindfulness came from and how it's traveled from ancient India to the offices of Twitter and other Silicon Valley giants, major hospitals and medical centers, and classrooms around the United  States.
2. What mindfulness is- I explain in simple English how mindfulness works, what it is, what it isn't, and ways to help you make sure you're practicing correctly.
3. The benefits of practicing mindfulness- It takes me two full chapters to explain all the reasons you need to start practicing mindfulness.
4. How to practice mindfulness- Detailed yet simple and clear instruction on how to actually practice mindfulness in a variety of ways
5. How to develop mindfulness- How to bring mindfulness into your everyday life as a daily practice and habit which nourishes your mind and body and helps you cultivate true peace and happiness.
6. My 11 Best Tips and Tricks for Beginning with Mindfulness
7. The 9 Most Frequently Asked Questions on Mindfulness and Meditation

Seriously, It's Free?

So why am I giving away for free something I've worked so hard on? The world is constantly changing, and being an author in 2014 isn't what it was even ten short years ago. But I mean that in all the right ways.

Everything is online and everyone has the ability to become a self-published author. It's a beautiful time for books, writers, and self-development in general. The format has changed from:

Get idea -> Send proposal to publishing companies -> hope you hear back (99% of the time you don't, and your career as a writer grinds to a halt) -> If you're lucky, you hear back, get a deal, begin writing manuscript, finish writing, and then go on tour promoting the book (and getting the book promoted for you by your publishing company).

Now it's:

Get idea -> write book -> build platform (by that I mean essentially build a blog -> format book for eBook / print publishing -> publish book -> promote book (probably have to extensively study content marketing, because you'll be doing this, and essentially everything else, yourself)

Self-published authors really are that- they do essentially every part of the publishing process, with the help of a number of key online resources, themselves. I now have great respect for any self-published author. This was a big undertaking, especially considering how many pages long The Little Book of Mindfulness turned out to be (and my next, Zen for Everyday Life, will be 150~...).

Sure, blogs don't typically give away books as large as the one I'm giving. But at this early stage of Buddhaimonia's growth, I feel it will be worth giving The Little Book of Mindfulness away for free in order to get myself out there and to start building a community of people on Buddhaimonia that can support one another.

I'm deeply grateful for anyone who has, or will, promote The Little Book of Mindfulness. If you appreciate the book, let someone know about it whom you think could benefit from it.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your support. I hope the book brings you peace and joy.

Matt

Get The Little Book of Mindfulness:

Book Preview #3: The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 3: Awakening to Your True Nature

The Little Book of Mindfulness Book Previews: 1. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 1 2. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 2: Finding Peace Within 3. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 3: Awakening to Your True Nature (Current)

Coming Soon

I'm excited to announce that I'm now half way done with writing The Little Book of Mindfulness. I'm going to keep my intro short this week because I'm trying to finish another new article for you by Saturday.

I'm super excited to complete my first book, but I'm taking my time and making sure it turns out to the quality standards I've held all of my previous work to. I make it a point to never finish a piece of writing until I'm 100% happy with it.

I hope you enjoy the next chapter of The Little Book of Mindfulness, titled Awakening to Your True Nature. In this chapter, I describe the deeper level of spiritual practice and how mindfulness plays an important role.

I haven't decided yet if this is my last preview of the book before I release it or not. In any case, look for the book (in all versions) to be released next month!

As always, let me know what you think!

Part 1, Chapter 3:

Awakening to Your True Nature

As we discussed in the last chapter, mindfulness can allow us to obtain a tranquil mind and thereby bring a wellspring of peace and joy into our lives. But mindfulness has another important role. It’s the energy which allows us to discover the truth. Specifically, the true nature of things including ourselves. So the second power of mindfulness is the ability to help one obtain perfect clarity and awaken to one’s true nature (vipassana). By true nature, I’m referring to our true “way” or our natural existence. By seeking to live in this way we can unearth wrong perceptions and discover our true selves.

To discover one’s true self is something so many people strive for. Some strive to discover this elusive state most of their lives. But so many of us have no idea what exactly this entails. Where do we start? The very question of “who am I?” is as confusing as it is open ended. For the most part, this question is difficult to answer because there are so many hidden forces at work in our lives: the negative emotions which keep us locked in a perpetual “mental prison”, the ego which strives to protect our self-worth at all costs, the ever-present pressure from society to conform to often unrealistic or misguided ideas, other false views which distort our perception, and worst of all: fear. Fear of everything. Fear of what people think of us, fear of losing those close to us, and fear of losing our position in life, among other things. These forces alter our perception of reality. We think that these things are “us”, so the question of “who am I?” becomes a seemingly impossible question to answer. But these things aren’t really us. By living with mindfulness we can see beyond these wrong perceptions to our true nature.

What is our true nature? It’s beyond all perception, beyond all mental formations, beyond the physical body we inhabit, and beyond the sense organs we use to experience the world around us. And it’s beyond consciousness. You’re not your thoughts, emotions, or sensations. You’re not a separate self, disconnected from everything and everyone around you. You’re limitless. You’re in the trees, the flowers, and the clouds. And these things are in you. To confine ourselves to a limited identity such as “I am this old, this nationality, this sex, good at this, bad at this, I work here, and I’ve accomplished this.” is to confine ourselves inside of a small box. Our true nature is boundless. We’re closely interconnected to all living and nonliving things. We and everything around us is impermanent, and yet, we exist beyond life and death itself in an endless continuation of energy. Our true existence is the very ground of being, the plane of existence beyond words in which all things exist as one.

The essence of discovering our true nature is to come in contact with the ultimate. What is that? It goes by many names- the ultimate reality, the ultimate dimension, the ground of being, Buddha mind, and even God. The ground of being is the ultimate level of reality. It can’t be completely described in words because it’s beyond the concept of language. It can only be experienced. It exists in some form in just about every religion and spiritual tradition on Earth. I don’t want to speak too much about it, but know that the ultimate purpose of all spiritual practice is to touch the ground of being. By living deeply in this reality, the historical reality, we can touch the ground of being. By touching the ground of being, we see beyond all the things that once kept us chained down. We rise above fear, no longer have any need for hatred, anger, or jealousy, and we break the illusion of limiting beliefs. To touch the historical reality deeply is a very meaningful and fulfilling practice. You don’t need anything else. In that moment, everything is perfect. And you realize what true happiness is. To discover our true nature is in fact to discover our true selves and our true potential.

Building a resting place

It’s important to become aware of the ideas in this chapter, but if you’re just starting out don’t bother with awakening or any of this ultimate reality stuff. Just focus on calming the mind. Work on stopping, calming, fully resting, and healing as we spoke about in the last chapter. Develop your mindfulness practice by sitting, walking, breathing, and doing as many basic tasks throughout your day with mindfulness. Do this for at least a few months. Let your practice progress naturally.

As we spoke about in the last chapter, with time you’ll develop a great feeling of calm, experience a strong sense of peace and joy in everyday life, obtain complete rest, and heal the mind. These are all very important. But it also takes time to develop mindfulness as an ability and as a habit, so don’t try to rush through this part. You won’t get anywhere if you do that and will therefore just end up wasting a lot of time and effort. The practice of calming the mind never ends, it will be something you practice for the rest of your life and it’s equally important to gaining clarity of mind. Don’t think you can bypass this and become truly at peace without it. There’s no separating the two states of samatha and vipassana, in reality, they’re two sides of the same coin.

Remember when I said that calming the mind was the foundation for obtaining a clear mind? Tranquility and clarity are natural extensions of one another. When we calm our mind, it’s like we’ve built a nest for our mind. This nest nurtures and heals the mind naturally. This is our resting place. But this resting place is also fertile ground for receiving insight. Take the time to build this resting place and you’ll have a strong foundation which will allow you to begin touching reality deeply.

There’s no separating the two states of samatha and vipassana, in reality they’re two sides of the same coin.

Shining the Light of Mindfulness

So how does mindfulness help us discover our true nature? Mindfulness is the very vehicle which helps us see reality in its true state. By learning to live with mindfulness we can develop great clarity in order to see the world as it is. By “as it is”, I’m referring to seeing into the true nature of all things. This is reality in its true form, free from wrong views. This extinguishing of all wrong views and concepts is called Nirvana. Nirvana can best be translated as freedom. That is, true freedom. Freedom from all views in fact, because all views are wrong views when speaking in terms of the ultimate reality, which can only be experienced directly and is beyond all forms and concepts. And the act of obtaining this great mental clarity is traditionally called “awakening” (or “enlightenment” in many English translations of ancient Buddhist text). Why is all this important? Because it’s through this process of awakening that we discover our true nature and experience the ground of being. And it’s only until we learn to touch the ground of being that we discover true inner peace.

Imagine an orange. Your whole life you’ve seen this orange and you think the way that you see it is the way that it is. But, as we spoke about earlier, our wrong views color the lens (our perception) with which we perceive reality through. This wrong view of reality, which can be caused by a combination of “mental formations” such as fear, anger, and ignorance among many other things, is the ultimate source of all our suffering. By suffering, I’m referring to a sort of mental ill-being. Think of it as the opposite of inner peace. With mindfulness, the true nature of the orange will gradually reveal itself. You’ll see the orange peel back its skin and reveal something completely different from what you had perceived before. This is the process of awakening to the true nature of things.

Just as with calming the mind, gaining clarity of mind is a process. Don’t expect some sudden enlightenment to happen one day while practicing mindfulness. Moments of clarity can happen. These are moments of insight. But awakening is the slow process of peeling yourself and everything else in the world back one piece at a time to unveil the truth. You’ve lived your whole life “collecting” these false views. Imagine if you could wear ten pairs of sunglasses at once. Ten lenses, one in front of the other, in a row. Each of these lenses is a different color- green, pink, red, black- and each represents a wrong perception or mental formation which block you from experiencing reality in its true state. Your job is to remove each lens, one by one, until all ten pairs of sunglasses are gone. Each lens is blocking you from experiencing the full magnificence of the light. But with each pair of glasses you remove the more clearly you can see the light. It will take time to free yourself from all the things coloring your perception. But this is the ultimate liberation. This is true freedom. To be free from all false views, to no longer be tortured by deep-seeded issues or controlled by the ego, and to realize our limitless potential. I give this example to show that clarity is a gradual process. But as you work to wipe away your false views you’ll develop a great sense of peace and liberation. It doesn’t just come at the end of removing the last pair of sunglasses. Every moment of mindfulness is an opportunity to touch the ground of our being. This is the magic of living deeply.

To live deeply is ultimately what a spiritual practice is about. This is because to live deeply is to touch the ground of being and be liberated from all afflictions. Living deeply means nothing is trivial. Every single action, no matter how minor, holds great significance. Living in such a way, you appreciate every little thing in your life. You appreciate the water you have to drink, the food on your plate, the clothes on your back, and for having healthy eyes with which to see. Living deeply, in a way that cultivates a deep appreciation for the world around you, is a very fulfilling practice. By letting our mindfulness guide us, that is, being fully present for every action and placing our entire being into everything we do, we can realize our true nature.

Mindfulness is itself our “true vision”. Remember the field of mindfulness example I gave earlier? Mindfulness is the quiet observer of everything. It judges nothing, so it sees with absolute clarity. It sees the outside world, the mind in mind (observing one's thoughts), and it sees the mind in things, that is, our perception of the things we experience in the outside world. So mindfulness is itself awakening. When you’re practicing mindfulness you are awakened. It will take time though to identify and realize your true nature. But know that there is nothing to be gained, nothing you need to accomplish. You’re perfect just as you are in this moment. So to live deeply with mindfulness is to strive to live true to our nature and touch the seed of awakening in us.

How do we live deeply with mindfulness? This will be a natural progression of your mindfulness practice. Once you’ve become fully rested your mind will be able to rest in mind. You’ll now be able to experience mindfulness of the mind in the mind and the mind in things. Previously, we discussed the fact that everything we see, everything we experience, passes through our perception before we experience it. Because of this, the mind itself is part of what we’re experiencing. This is mindfulness of the mind in mind. In simple terms, there’s no escaping the mind because the mind is us. So when we observe the behavior of the mind with mindfulness that’s mindfulness of the mind while in the mind. We think we’re looking at a book, but in reality, we’re looking at our perception of the book. This is because, in reality, there is no separating subject and object. You can never separate mind from that which the mind is perceiving. What you think of the book- whether you like the book or not, think the cover looks funny or cool, or if the book conjures some sort of old memories good or bad- arises from the mind and becomes your perception of the book. So to be mindful of the book is also to be mindful of the mind in the book. Furthermore, this means that what we perceive isn’t necessarily the real world at all. The book that we see is first and foremost an object of our consciousness. When you and I look at the book, we see two different books. I might have a bad memory of the book which distorts my perception of it. On the other hand, you might have a good memory of the book with positively distorts your perception of it. Neither is correct, they’re both distorted perceptions of the book. It’s when we can see the true book that we experience our own true nature.

Mindfulness is our master tool in the study of the self.  By developing the power of mindfulness to the point where we can experience the mind in mind and the mind in things we begin to see that everything is mind. If the book we see (not the real book) is really an object of our consciousness, and the process of gaining clarity of mind is really about extinguishing all false views such as these, then mindfulness’ role is the tool which allows us to see deeply into ourselves and identify these false views. The light of mindfulness, the great observer, is also a great healer. Remember the animal that simply sits and rests in peace and quiet in order to heal its wounds? Mindfulness is the healing energy which allows us to gradually erode all false views and concepts in order to attain nirvana and touch the ground of our being. To realize our true nature is the only way to experience true inner peace. It will be difficult at first, but if you let mindfulness be your guide it will lead you to an existence filled with peace and joy.

UPDATE: Get My eBook, The Little Book of Mindfulness, free

Book Preview #2: The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 2: Finding Peace Within

The Little Book of Mindfulness Book Previews: 1. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 1 2. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 2: Finding Peace Within (Current) 3. The Little Book of Mindfulness, Chapter 3: Awakening to Your True Nature

Making Progress

Writing a book is best done one chapter at a time. If you try to tackle too much at once you'll just end up overwhelmed and incapable of even finishing a single chapter. This has been a big challenge, but the biggest writing challenge for me has always been finding out how to explain things in a simple manner while still getting the complete point across.

"You never really know something until you have to teach it to someone." This isn't an exact quote, just something I've remembered roughly ever since I was a kid. And it couldn't be truer.

You might think you know something, or are good at something, but until you have to explain it/teach it to someone else you realize your knowledge was only fuzzy. Writing forces you to sharpen your focus on the subject at hand. It has the ability to help you develop an incredibly clear level of understanding. And for this reason, writing is best used to convey some truth which has the ability to teach either yourself or another something valuable. For discovering that in my own life I'm grateful, but it's because of this that I also feel the need to tell others about the power of writing.

If you're faced with a difficult situation, or sense some strong or confusing emotions rising to the surface, take out a pen and paper or sit down at your computer and just write. Write whatever comes to mind. "It kind of feels like anger.", or, "I think I'm jealous of my sister." Whatever rises to the surface when you begin to write, just let it out. This can be an incredibly healing activity and a great partner to mindfulness.

I hope you enjoy this exclusive preview of Part 1, Chapter 2 of The Little Book of Mindfulness: Finding Peace Within. Let me know what you think!

 Part 1, Chapter 2:

Finding Peace Within

So, now you have a general understanding of what mindfulness is. But why practice mindfulness? What’s so important about being mindful? Knowing how mindfulness works is only part of what constitutes a complete understanding of mindfulness. In the introduction, I covered briefly some of the reasons why you should practice mindfulness. In this chapter, I’ll expand on what I mentioned there and show you why mindfulness is the key to both finding inner peace and true happiness.

All spiritual practice can be broken down into obtaining and maintaining two states: 1) a calm mind, and 2) a clear mind. In Buddhism, these two states are generally referred to by their Pali/Sanskirt terms depending on the Buddhist lineage. The first state, samatha, is a state of tranquility, inner peace, or calmness of mind. And the second, vipassana, is a state of awakening or clarity of mind. The first state, samatha, is typically translated as “stopping” (referring to the mind). Samatha is the process of stopping, calming, fully resting, and healing the mind. The growing popularity of mindfulness as a way to “manage” one’s emotions and reduce stress comes from the samatha side of the equation.

Samatha, which moving forward I’ll refer to as inner peace, tranquility, or calmness of mind, is the necessary basis for the second stage, vipassana, which refers to seeing deeply or with clarity. The English equivalent of vipassana is “insight”, and it’s the word typically associated with vipassana. Insight is wisdom gained through direct experience, and insight into the “true nature of reality” is what vipassana is all about (moving forward I’ll refer to vipassana as awakening, insight, or clarity of mind). You’re likely familiar with the concept of “learning from experience”. You know, the idea that, say, reading something in a book and “knowing” it is different from experiencing it yourself. You might have read ten books on true love and think you know all about it, but until you actually experience true love for yourself you don’t really know true love. That’s insight. In the case of spiritual practice, though, this direct experience is typically a direct experience of the “Ultimate Reality”. This ultimate reality goes by many names: the ultimate or absolute dimension, the ground of being, or even God, depending on your interpretation. But we’ll get more into that in the next chapter.

Likewise, the “benefits”, or purpose, of mindfulness can be separated based on these two states as well. Which brings us to the topic of this chapter: the first “power” of mindfulness. The first power of mindfulness is the ability to help one obtain inner peace or a calm mind (samatha).

Inner peace is the very foundation of spiritual practice. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to obtain awakening, the state of complete liberation and true happiness. How does mindfulness help us attain inner peace? The process can be broken down into four components: stopping, calming, fully resting, and healing (the mind and body).

Stopping

Obtaining a tranquil mind, the practice of samatha, is ultimately about stopping. We need to learn how to stop. At first, this might seem silly, “I’m sitting while I’m reading this book. I’m stopping!” But it’s not so simple. By stopping I mean we need to stop both body and mind. A mind at rest is a peaceful mind. So we need to learn how to fully stop and let our minds calm. By doing so we bring us back to ourselves. This is called the practice of “going home”, and it’s the practice of going home to ourselves by reuniting mind and body. The practice of mindful breathing does just that- it allows us to reunite mind and body as they’re truly meant to be. This is important because the way we typically live our lives both mind and body are almost always separated.

Mindfulness is in opposition to the way we usually live our lives. That is, halfway in our heads, bouncing around in an endless stream of thoughts, and halfway in the present moment, only partially awake to what we’re doing. This state of semi-consciousness, or mind dispersion, is a state where we’re unable to attain complete rest and our minds are perpetually clouded.

This semi-conscious state, or mind dispersion, is what the Buddha often referred to as our “monkey mind”. Our monkey mind is constantly bouncing from one thought to another. We’re doing one thing (body) but thinking about another (mind). We’re driving home from work while we’re thinking about work, and then bills, and then dinner, and then that dinner date with your old friend coming up, and then your daughter’s school project, and then whatever happened to your favorite band because they seemed to drop off the map, and then “When was that TV special again?”, and then work, oh and then that sounds good for dinner, and then you look in your overhead mirror and think “I look tired today”, and then a Sit-And-Sleep commercial for some reason pops into your head and so you start thinking about how you really should get a new mattress soon, and then you think about home again and how the day is passing so quickly, and then, and then, and then…it never ends. That is, unless you take action.

Mindfulness delicately brings the mind to rest and unites body and mind as one force. When you walk to work you’re walking to work and you’re enjoying the walk with all of your being. You’re not thinking about what’s for dinner or what you’ll say to your boss about that project when you get into the office. When you drive home you know you’re driving. You’re not letting yourself be distracted by the billboard advertisements or passing retail outlet signs. You’re truly enjoying the drive home in peace and quiet. When you’re sitting down to play with your children you’re fully present for them, giving them you complete and undivided attention. When you live with mindfulness you’re able to truly appreciate the presence of your loved ones.

This state of mind dispersion does more than just make us stressed and take us away from our loved ones. On top of heightening stress and anxiety it decreases our productivity, restrains our creativity, disconnects us from the world around us, and overall makes us less happy. Instead of being at peace, our minds are in chaos. And as long as our attention is dispersed this monkey mind will rear its mischievous little head. The only way to stop our monkey mind is with mindfulness. Mindfulness gives us the ability to stop our monkey minds. Once we learn how to do this, the process of calming the mind, obtaining complete rest, and healing comes naturally. This is because, in reality, there’s no separating the four components of inner peace (samatha) as you’ll see in the next sections.

Calming

By living in the present moment with mindfulness we’re able to bring our mind into a state of deep calm. A natural byproduct of learning how to stop the mind and body and simply be fully present, such as for the act of following one’s breath, is a calm mind. Indeed, the opposite of our monkey mind is a calm mind.

Calming the mind is a process, though. It doesn’t happen all at once. We build up a lot of stress and tension in our everyday lives and it takes some time to fully calm the mind, especially assuming your current life doesn’t just stop when you begin practicing mindfulness (which it doesn’t!). You’ll still have the same headaches and stressors as before and so you’ll need to calm the mind despite these things constantly getting in the way. Of course, this is a two-sided problem. You might need to reevaluate why you do certain things which are causing you stress. But your focus should always be on your practice of mindfulness. By making the act of stopping a priority and seeking to live your life fully in the present moment, cherishing every moment of life, you’ll naturally begin to calm the mind.

Resting

Nowadays, we’re so productivity focused we even map out our vacations. A checklist for a vacation? Yeah, we’ve lost our way. We live off of checklists and to-do lists at work and at home. We think the more things we check off of our list the better we’ll feel. We don’t even notice it but what we’re chasing is inner peace. We’re hoping for just a little slice of it here and there. Even if it’s temporary. But we don’t have to settle for these temporary states of peace. We can have the whole pie. Indeed, if we could only learn how to truly come in touch with it, we’d see that this pie is limitless.

We need to learn how to attain complete rest. By complete rest, I’m referring to a fully rested mind and body. A state which most of us rarely if ever feel. And a full night’s sleep doesn’t provide this for us either. We’re tossing, turning, and bending our bodies in uncomfortable positions which lead to aches and pains. To add to that we’re dreaming constantly. And the more your mind is racing when you go to bed, the more it will be racing in your dreams when you go to sleep. Worst of all, though, our sleep can be interrupted (especially if you have kids!). That really sets us off. Then there’s the fact that sleep primarily rests the body and does very little for our monkey mind. The second we wake up, we’re right back in the jungle.

Mindfulness, particularly sitting meditation, allows us to attain this state of complete rest. It gives our minds the rest it needs. My favorite example is the image of a pebble slowly falling to the ocean floor. Imagine your mind is the pebble. The longer you meditate, the deeper the pebble sinks. And the deeper the pebble sinks, the more calm and peaceful your mind becomes. Meditate until you feel your mind reach the ocean floor. Imagine your body slowly sinking just like the pebble. Then simply sit there for however long you’d like. Be fully present for this state of absolute calm. This is what inner peace feels like. This is true rest.

If we can learn how to rest in this way we give ourselves the ability to overcome so much. Without a doubt, the major reason we experience so much stress and anxiety in modern life is because we don’t know how to attain complete rest.

Healing

This last section is about learning how to utilize the body’s natural healing ability. In order to attain inner peace, it’s not enough to stop, calm, and completely rest the body. These are key aspects of achieving a tranquil mind. But if we don’t know how to heal our mind and body then we’ll have no chance of attaining inner peace.

Our mind and body come equipped with a natural healing ability. We’ve all but forgotten about it, living in an age of advanced medicine, thousands of both over-the-counter and subscription medicines, and a whole roster of mental and physical professionals all ready to help us heal our mental and physical wounds. It’s because of this that we now grossly underestimate our own ability to heal.

We’ve forgotten that the only thing necessary in order to heal is to be with that which needs to be healed. My favorite example of this is from Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. He often speaks of how, when injured, an animal’s natural instinct is to find somewhere safe and quiet to lie and rest. This is what it means to be with an illness, whether mental or physical. By stopping all activity the animal conserves every ounce of energy. This puts all of their being into the process of healing. You can do this yourself to heal both mental and physical illness.

What is a mental illness? In the case of the mind, this could be a deep-seated negative emotion or limiting belief. Maybe you hold a deep sense of resentment, and maybe even anger, towards your spouse. Years ago, when you first started dating, things were great. You were both young and you had the entire world at your fingertips. You had fun and generally lived life with wild abandon. But years later you become married, have children, and gain multiple responsibilities. Now you feel as if the entire world has closed in around you. You feel like all the opportunity and possibilities that were once at your fingertips are all but gone. Never to return. Because of this, you now resent your spouse. This is an example of a very deep-seated emotion which needs to be overcome before you can achieve inner peace.

To heal this and any other form of deep-seated emotion you need to sit in meditation and simply be with the emotion. When mindful, you awaken and see through all illusions. Your limiting beliefs rise to the surface. This allows your body and mind’s natural healing process to take effect. You simply need to care for the emotion. Tend to it. Accept it fully with compassion. Much of our suffering comes from our tendency to bottle up emotions and ignore them, thinking that if we do they’ll go away. But this never happens. Neglect won’t heal your wounds. You need to face these emotions with your mindfulness and full of self-compassion. Know that you’re human and everyone has emotions such as these. Accept it fully with your mindfulness and it will subside. This is our natural healing ability and anyone can utilize this with practice.

As you can see, there’s really no separating these four areas from each other. Stopping and calming essentially always happen simultaneously to some extent, resting involves stopping, calming, healing can really be considered a form of resting (or vice versa), and all four can be a part of one single mindfulness practice.

Finding Peace in the Age of Distraction

Distraction is a force which takes our already dispersed attention and splits it into a million different strings. It brings our monkey mind to a whole new level. This was already touched on in the section on “Stopping”, but our modern world warrants extra focus on this particular point. If it wasn’t enough that our minds are already naturally inclined to this semi-conscious and stress inducing state, the modern era has brought us many of the worst sources of distraction all within a matter of decades.

These distractions, which are the substance of our monkey mind, are always within arm’s reach in our modern world. Smartphones are in our pockets, desktops are at our place of work, and TVs are in our homes. It’s so easy to distract ourselves from reality. But if we can bring our attention back to the present moment with mindfulness we have the ability to attain both a tranquil mind and clear vision.

This is the reason mindfulness is so attractive to us. Our modern world is plugged in 24/7 and it’s difficult to get away from these distractions even if you make an effort. More than ever it’s so easy to live in a mindless, disconnected, state of being. Most of us are rarely fully present. We live in a state of perpetual distraction. We live the majority of our lives in one place while thinking of another. We’re at work but we’re thinking about what to make for dinner at home. We’re at home thinking about that project we have to finish at work. We’re enjoying eating out with our family but we’re really inside of our heads, stressing about the bills we have to pay next month.  We all think this is normal. That it’s OK. But it’s not. This mind dispersion is the cause of much of our suffering and discontent.

After a tough day, one where you’ve been rushing around constantly and inevitably forgotten to take time for yourself. Your mind will naturally be more active. If you sit down to meditate during this time you’ll see that your mind is literally like a firecracker. It will be very difficult to keep the mind in one place for more than a few seconds. In this situation, the mind will often be distracted over nothing special. It’s still racing because it’s conditioned to you racing around, not because there’s anything particular going on in your consciousness. Mindfulness of these distractions won’t lead to any great liberation. This is simply a sign that you need to slow things down. If your life continues as is it will be very difficult to attain complete rest and fully quiet the mind. And if you can’t calm the mind you certainly won’t be able to get to the point where you can start gaining clarity of mind. Of course, that’s part of the point of mindfulness. At the beginning, in order to practice mindfulness of anything you’ll have to do it very slowly. If you’re constantly rushing around your mindfulness practice won’t be authentic. You’ll be telling yourself that you’re practicing mindfulness but you won’t actually be mindful.

Computers, smartphones, and TVs aren’t the enemy. But you do need to be careful not to go overboard. For this reason (among many others), it’s important to establish mindfulness as a way of life as opposed to simply “something you do sometimes”. By making mindfulness a way of life you’ll begin to notice how these things distract you and pull you away from the real beauty of life. You’ll naturally begin to distance yourself from these devices a bit. A busy mind is only natural and the modern age has made our minds more chaotic than ever. But by developing the practice of mindfulness in your daily life you have the ability to stop, calm, fully rest, and heal the mind and body which will provide a renewable sense of peace and joy in your everyday life. In Part 3 I’ll cover all the tips and tricks I’ve personally used to establish mindfulness as a way of life.

UPDATE: Get My eBook, The Little Book of Mindfulness, free:

How to Become an Early Riser: The 12 Techniques I Used to Go from a Night Owl to Waking up at 4 AM Daily

When my first son was born I began feeling starved for personal time.

I love my son, but that didn't keep much of the time I once had to myself from being swallowed up by my new responsibilities.

I sought to squeeze extra time out from wherever I could, but nothing gave me a significant, and definitely not a consistent, amount of extra time.

One day I read an article about the sleep schedule of Buddhist monks, which for most is something akin to 10 PM - 4 AM, and something about it convinced me to give it a shot.

I want to be sure to mention that I was as much of a night owl as they come.

I went to bed somewhere around 2-3 AM for much of my life, by choice, and when I did wake up I did so with just enough time to get to work or wherever I needed to go.

So, needless to say that when I began working on waking early it was a bit of a shock to my system. I also did this with a wife and a newborn son, so I had to fight off the excuses at every turn.

I'm not saying everyone should become an early riser. Maybe you have your best ideas at night and feel great waking up late. That's fine. Do whatever makes your body and mind feel best.

However, in general, I've found that people who adopt this kind of schedule feel more rested, at peace, more productive and more ready to handle the day ahead- and life as a whole- among other things.

There's a lot of science to back up why this sleep schedule makes your body feel better too. So, if you've never tried it I'd give it a go and see what it does for you. It absolutely transformed my life. 

The benefits I've taken from becoming an early riser is a list in itself:

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The Benefits of Being an Early Riser:

1. I have more energy

Both waking early and the accompanying hours of personal quiet time in the morning have increased my energy like nothing else.

Whether you sit in silence and meditate, do some simple task while practicing mindfulness, sit and read or just go outside for a moment you'll feel refreshed and ready to take on the world by the time you have to get on with the day.

2. I'm more productive

The extra time in the morning was a huge boost to my productivity, especially with the responsibility of two children requiring so much of my time.

The peace and silence of the early morning had a clear effect on my productivity. It wasn't just about having more time, it was about the quality of the time I had.

3. I'm more creative

Most of my best work comes when I'm sitting in the absolute silence and uninterrupted peace of a quiet morning. Perhaps because it's easy to practice mindfulness and put my complete and total being into on the task at hand.

Aside from that, perhaps because of how well prepared my mind is once the day gets going, I'm more creative all day long. Not just in the morning.

I'm able to simmer over what I worked on that morning and ideas seem to rise to the surface throughout the day.

4. I'm happier, calmer and handle the challenges of each day better

I remember the first day I felt my heart thump like it was shooting out of my chest every time it beat. I realized later after it happened a few more times that anxiety was building in me.

This was the first time I had felt anything like it in my life, so it was a little scary. I was constantly in a panic to get things done.

Waking up early, having that time in the morning that I can put towards working on myself and catching up on anything I'm behind on, has turned that completely around. I no longer feel that anxiety and stress nor do I rush to get everything done during the day. 

No matter what happens during the day, I always have my morning session to fall back on. This is incredibly comforting and really allows me to just embrace the day as it comes and be happy.

These are just some of the benefits I've taken from becoming an early riser. I've benefited so much from shifting my schedule that the list is too long to write here.

Now on to how to establish the habit. These 12 points are what I used to create the habit of waking up at 4 AM daily:

How to Become an Early Riser

1. Take it slow, do 30-minute increments

Becoming an early riser is a gradual process.

My first goal was moving from 8:30 to 7:30 AM. That was a bit of a jump, but considering that wasn't all that early it was easy to adjust to it after a few weeks. After that, I did it in 30-minute increments over the next year.

Take it slow, learn to appreciate and cherish each additional 30 minutes you have in the morning. Start by using that time for the most rewarding things you could do in the morning in order to build up motivation.

Meditation or a quick walk outside to breath in the fresh air and watch the sunrise are both great activities that will leave you feeling better throughout the day and motivate you to continue to wake up early.

2. Have a bedtime and take it seriously

This means that whether you happen to be out at a friend's birthday party one night and you're considering staying later, your favorite show just changed times and airs at 10 PM instead of 9 PM now or you just feel like staying up- you probably shouldn't.

Take your bedtime seriously, don't take it as a loose commitment.

"I need to make sure to get to bed sometime around 10" should be. "I need to get to bed at 10 PM every night- no matter what."

The above were all situations I encountered when establishing the habit of rising early. You'll be tempted to loosen your commitment on certain nights, and very occasionally it's OK. But whatever you do, try to be as consistent as possible.

If you don't get to bed at the time you've established then you won't get enough sleep and there are few things that can kill your chances of waking up early like a lack of sleep can.

3. Get ready for bed early

This is especially true if you have kids, but it applies to everyone.

You need to get prepared for bed early because often we overestimate what we have to do before actually being able to lay our heads down for the night.

With my daughter and two sons, I don't even remember my bedtime for what it is, but rather I remember the time we have to start winding down and get them ready for bed because it's such a process.

Going potty, changing diapers, last minute snacks (which just started lately...my oldest usually requests almonds or pine nuts), brushing teeth, changing into PJs, reading bedtime stories and then the process of actually falling asleep which can often take over 30 minutes for my oldest.

Whether you're single or have a family, everyone has things to do before actually placing their heads down to sleep at night.

Get an accurate gauge of how much time you need before laying down for bed to ensure you get enough sleep at night.

4. Get to bed early

You need to get enough rest.

This one might sound obvious, but trust me you'll try to cheat. You need to make sure you get to bed early enough so that you feel rested once it's time to rise. 

I average 6-7 hours a day, as I have most of my life. It's what feels best to me. Pay close attention to how your body feels after waking up if you don't already know your ideal number.

Never skimp on your sleep. It's not just about putting yourself in the best position to wake up, you'll hurt yourself due to sleep deprivation if you try to push it consistently.

5. Place your alarm a few steps away from your bed

Make sure your alarm is far enough away that you have to get up out of bed and take a few steps to turn it off.

This is important. Make sure that it isn't just off of your bed, but that no matter how hard you tried you could not hit your alarm without taking 2-3 steps.

Forcing yourself to stand up and take a few steps out of bed really helps wake you up.

And whatever you do, if you use your phone as your alarm clock like I do, DO NOT GRAB YOUR PHONE AND BRING IT TO BED. That's a quick game over, trust me.

I charge my phone overnight and when it goes off in the morning naturally I turn the alarm off and take it off its charger. After a while, I noticed that if I was really tired I'd take my phone off the charger and bring it back to bed with me.

If you want to get a little extra sleep, that's fine, set your alarm to go off in 30 minutes and keep it in its place. If you take your phone with you in bed you'll hit the snooze alarm as soon as it goes off without even realizing it- total suicide.

6. Have a compelling reason, or reasons, to wake up early

You need to have a compelling reason to want to get up early. If you don't, you'll never push yourself up.

At one point my drive to do my martial arts training (which really compelled me at first) began to fade, and with it, my ability to rise early.

If you have no reason to wake up early, you'll have little chance of consistently doing it.

Make your morning block an important part of the day for you, a block of time that you feel like you can't do without.

7. Have a schedule

One of the first things you'll learn upon becoming an early riser is that you'll often be more productive in the morning than any other point in the day.

There are three reasons you want a schedule:

1. You won't wander once you're awake
2. You'll be maximally productive
3. It'll help you wake up in the first place.

The last point is similar to number 6 on this post in that if you know exactly what you're going to do as soon as you wake up and through the rest of the morning then you'll be much more willing to wake up.

I can't emphasize these last two points more, you need to make your reasons for waking up in the morning compelling and have a schedule, otherwise, you'll wander, be minimally productive and lose the drive to wake up early altogether.

And without a schedule, soon after you wake up you'll often wander off and start doing things that don't serve you (checking Facebook, watching YouTube) or, even if you're working you'll bounce around aimlessly.

It's different when you wake up in the morning than when you're awake later in the day. For a while, you'll look at the morning as bonus time, so you'll be more willing to blow it doing nothing particularly productive.

Create a schedule, even if it's just a loose one, and keep yourself from losing out on precious time.

8. Nightly Ritual #1: Remind yourself why it's important for you to wake up early

This is one of the techniques that helped me the most.

You might have a good reason to get up early, but when you wake up in the morning you're not a person- you're a zombie with an extremely limited mental capacity.

You know exactly what I'm talking about and it's is one of the primary reasons it's so difficult to wake up early. You're just not a fully functioning human being yet and can't put together a logical thought for the life of you.

So do this: right before bed, take a few minutes and remind yourself why it's important that you wake up early the next morning.

Review your compelling reasons, whatever they are, as well as your schedule or the specific tasks you planned to accomplish that morning. This makes a sort of imprint on your mind which will stay with you as you sleep.

After practicing it for a while you'll feel less like a zombie and actually remember why you intended to wake up.

9. Nightly Ritual #2: Visualize yourself waking up early and getting to work 

Continuing from the last point, after reminding yourself why it's important for you to wake up early, visualize yourself, as clearly as possible, waking up early and doing the things you have planned.

Be clear and specific in your visualization. This should only take a minute or two, but see yourself clearly getting up, turning your alarm off, getting dressed and doing your thing (whatever that is for you).

These two nightly rituals greatly helped me establish the habit of waking early.

10. Take a few moments to breathe (don't go to bed feeling emotionally drained)

This isn't something that you'll use every day, let's hope, but still something that's really useful when the right circumstances arise.

Something interesting I've discovered over the past few years is that when you go to bed emotionally tired, from a tough day at work or something else emotionally draining, you just don't wake up. For a long time. And then when you do, you still tend to feel drained.

Unless you catch it and do something about it before you go to sleep.

In order to fix this, simply take a few minutes and follow your breathing.

Pay close attention to your breathing and begin to slow it down after a while. You'll calm down and have a more restful night of sleep.

11. The Water Trick

As soon as you turn your alarm off walk into the restroom, turn the sink on and throw water in your face a few times.

This will be a little shocking at first but you will IMMEDIATELY feel nearly 100% awake.

I can't describe how effective this is. As soon as you're done you'll feel ready to jump into anything. The risk you run by not doing this is, while you did push yourself to wake up early, you're still half asleep and feel tired.

Before I started doing this I'd often fall back asleep after 30 minutes to an hour on days where I felt particularly tired.

12. Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Today, I consistently wake up between 4-4:30 AM.

But sometimes, particularly when I feel extra tired from a long day, I let myself sleep in and fully recharge.

This averages out to about once a week and usually on the weekend. Don't be so hard on yourself. In order to build the habit of rising early, you don't actually have to do it every single day.

And this is healthier and better for your creativity and productivity. If you push yourself up long enough particularly on days when you feel extra tired, essentially never letting yourself fully recharge, then eventually you'll suffer the effects of sleep deprivation which can have a lot of negative effects on your body and mind.

Creating the habit of waking up early is a long-term commitment. If you fall off of your commitment, simply pick yourself back up and continue where you left off.

Get the How to Become an Early Riser PDF Guide Free

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Notes:

1. The "Sleep Mistake" Which Boosts Your Risk of Cancer - Dr. Mercola

2. SLEEP - Buddhism A to Z. This page briefly discusses the origins of the Buddhist sleep schedule, which apparently came from the Buddha himself. At the end, it even reviews a text where the Buddha actually gives some pointers, one of which is the water trick!

3. Unfortunately, I can't find the original article about Buddhist monk's sleep schedules that convinced me to change my own schedule. If I find it I'll be sure to update the article.