In this post I would like to address one of the major mistakes that people make when they start meditating, and give three tips to get deeper into meditation.

The major mistake people make when they start meditating is that they quit if they cannot relax enough or if thoughts keep plaguing them. So they meditate for around fifteen minutes, and if no results follow, they quit.

This is a major mistake – no beginner can get deep into meditation in fifteen minutes. It takes time to relax, and the less experienced you are in meditation and the more stressed you are – the longer it will take you to relax.

It might even take two hours to relax, if you’re really stressed. And so only after two hours would you get deep into meditation.

So the major mistake that people make is that they quit before the body and mind can relax enough to allow one to experience meditative states.

To avoid such a mistake, you should set time to meditate every day that shouldn’t change. Thus, if you choose one hour, you should sit in meditation for one hour, whether you relax enough or not. You may extend the time if you wish, but don’t shorten it.

Meditate at the same time every day, or after a certain activity. Thus, you may get into the habit of meditating as soon as you wake up, just before sleep, or after you come back from work. The most important thing is to get the body used to the routine, because this in itself will help it to relax in the future.

So this was the first meditation tip – to meditate at the same time every day and ideally for the same period of time. Do not rise from your meditation before the set period of time is up no matter how many thoughts you get. Just sit through it, and you will notice that with time the body relaxes more and more at the set time, you get fewer and fewer thoughts, and finally you will experience the state of meditation.

The second meditation advice is to use specific breathing to help you relax, so that you experience a meditative state quicker. You can, for example, do alternate nostril breathing to achieve this result.

Here is the screenshot from the Bihar School of Yoga book Asana, Pranayama, Mudra Bandha which explains how to do alternate nostril breathing:

Alternate nostril breathing

Stop this breathing technique if you feel dizzy. Also, it has the power to awaken kundalini, so if you don’t want this to happen, don’t do this!

The reason it’s powerful enough to awaken kundalini is because it centers you. When you’re centered, your sushumna nadi activates, which awakens kundalini.

Ida, pingala and sushumna nadis

Another breathing technique that helps you to get into a meditative state is simply to breathe slowly and deeply.

The third meditation advice is to do specific meditations for beginners, which have the power to quickly get you into meditative states.

For example, such a technique I’ve learnt when visiting a Thai Buddhist monastery where I meditated for twelve hours a day. I describe the technique in this post, and here’s a video about how to do it:

These are all the tips that I have for you to do with meditation. Lastly, I would like to also let you know that the sign that you’re getting into deeper states of meditation is when you start seeing visions or hear unearthly sounds.

This shows that your mind is concentrating and getting detached from the world, to explore things non-physical.

Hi, I'm Simona Rich, the author of this site.

I'm from Lithuania, though most of the time you'll find me somewhere in Asia.

I write about spirituality and self-improvement, and consult on those topics.

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