How to Meditate. A Quick Guide for Beginners 

Meditation is an old practice focused on quieting the mind and raising internal awareness, and it can help you prepare for bed. Explore tips for beginners.  

WEB-996 – How to Meditate A Quick Guide for Beginners

Are you looking to become more in tune with your inner self or quiet your mind so that you can fall asleep more easily at night? Whether you’re hoping to see the benefits during the day or at night, meditation can be a huge benefit to your daily routine.  

How Does Meditation Improve Your Sleep? 

Have you ever felt like your mind is racing too much before bed, and you can’t seem to turn it off? This is a frequent contributor to insomnia, which is also the most common sleep disorder, so know that you’re not alone in your struggles.  
 
Whether you’re worried about how your interview went or concerned about how your child will do on their first day of school, these thoughts can be disruptive and keep you from falling asleep. Meditation, by offering a way for you to quiet your mind and calm your body, can help.  
 
A meta-analysis of 18 trials found that mindfulness meditation significantly improved sleep quality, which the researchers state is because of the calming effect of meditation on the body and its ability to decrease emotional reactivity and ruminative thoughts. All of these benefits can then improve your sleep.  
 
Other studies have found that meditation is able to increase the concentration of melatonin in your body by slowing its breakdown and augmenting its synthesis. Melatonin is your body’s sleepiness hormone that builds up as bedtime approaches, and meditation allows it to reach levels high enough to prompt sleep.  
 
Meditation offers other physical benefits for sleep, as well. For instance, it has been shown that meditation lowers heart rate, which often increases as a result of stress. Since your heart rate naturally lowers while you’re sleeping, the ability of meditation to lower your heart rate can help your body transition from being awake to sleeping more easily.  
 
Meditation offers other indirect benefits for your sleep, as well, such as improving your mood and relieving stress and anxiety. These effects can help you to fall asleep more easily and have a more peaceful night of sleep.  

How to Meditate 

Reaping the benefits of meditation is simpler than you might think. Meditation can be completed anywhere, from your car in a parking lot to your bed, and it doesn’t require any special equipment—just you and a few minutes devoted to improving your mind.  
 
Here are the basic steps of meditation: 

  1. Find a quiet space. While meditation can be done anywhere, there is one stipulation—the area should be quiet so that you can best focus. However, whether you choose to sit or lie down is up to you; do whatever feels most comfortable. If you’re meditating in order to sleep better, lying down may make the most sense.  

  2. Close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly and deeply. Focus on your breathing. 

  3. Release intrusive thoughts. While you focus on your breathing, if a thought pops in, acknowledge it and then let it go, refocusing on your breathing. 

These three steps make up the simplest of meditation practices, and you can start small in terms of duration, with just 3 to 5 minutes of meditation. It’s not easy to learn to quiet your mind, which is why meditation is a skill that needs to be practiced. Over time, you’ll be able to slowly increase the time to 20 minutes.  

Different Types of Meditation for Sleep 

While the premise of meditation—focusing on your breathing and releasing any thoughts that pop up—is the same across different types, there are small variations. 

Guided Meditation 

If you have a hard time going through meditation on your own, guided meditation may help. 
 
With guided meditation, you follow a guide as they lead you through the different steps, such as when to breathe or relax a certain part of your body. Sometimes, you may be instructed to visualize certain images, a technique known as guided imagery.  
 
One benefit of guided meditation is that it offers something more to focus on, which can be helpful for those who find their mind wandering often. Guided meditation can also be beneficial for beginner meditators who don’t know where to start.  

Mindfulness Meditation 

With mindfulness meditation you follow the three basic steps for meditation, but you place a focus on the present, slowly increasing awareness of your breathing and body.  
 
When breathing, inhale for ten counts, hold your breath for ten counts, and then exhale for ten counts. Repeat this a few times. Then, take stock of your body. If anything feels tight or tense, consciously relax it. 
 
Just like standard meditation, if a thought comes up, acknowledge it but then let it pass without judging yourself and return your focus to your breathing.  

Body Scan Meditation 

As a step up from mindfulness meditation, with body scan meditation, you focus on each part of your body in order to increase awareness of your physical sensations. This focus then promotes relaxation, which helps you to sleep.  
 
Body scan meditation can progress through the following areas: your face (eyes, jaw, facial muscles), neck, shoulder, arms and fingers, back, stomach, hips, legs, and feet. For each section, focus on softening and relaxing the muscles, taking stock of how they feel. You also have the option to start from your head or your feet.  

Starting to Meditate 

Meditation is a beneficial practice that, at its most basic, doesn’t require much—just you, a quiet space, and some time dedicated to clearing your mind. There are different types of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation and guided meditation, that have some differences in practice, but the primary focus on using your breath to help control your thoughts remains.  
 
Meditation can be a beneficial addition to your nighttime routine because of its ability to increase melatonin production, reduce stress levels, and improve sleep quality. However, it’s important to remember that it’s called a meditation practice for a reason—you must practice regularly in order to train yourself to go longer periods and see the greatest benefits.  
 
We all have to start somewhere, though, and with each meditative inhale and exhale, you’re one step closer to falling asleep peacefully; so, why not start practicing today? 

d5365417-89b1-48c9-999c-3794e01f113e

Written by

Jessica G

Medical writer freelancer who has written hundreds of articles on varying topics. Masters of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering.

Copyright © Neybox Digital Ltd.