Before we talk about a simple method of meditation for beginners… at what age do you think you learned how to count to ten? And at what age did you forget to do it well? When you first learned the process, you had to close your eyes and think through each number. You didn’t have any processing power left to think about other things!

Now, as an adult with so much extra capacity in your brain, you can basically count to ten while doing anything, like riding a motorcycle with no hands and juggling at the same time. Don’t try that at home, though. Actually, don’t try that anywhere.

The point is, all meditation does is silence your mind so you can focus in on one thing. You’re meditating while you get really into an instrument you’re playing. You’re meditating while you push out one more rep on the bench, and you’re meditating while you give the best sales presentation of your life. Intense focus on one thing. Mindfulness meditation for beginners is the next step.

Your intense focus on one thing can transform into intense focus on no thing.

When you become a practiced mindfulness meditator, you will eventually experience what can only be called a natural phenomenon. Your mind is totally quiet, with not a single random thought.

You cease to exist separately from the rest of the world around you. Everything is just different types atoms in different configurations, anyway. Why do we think we as an “individual person” is separate from the rest of the universe? But we’re not ready to talk about that stuff yet.

And finally, all you are doing is breathing. In. Out. In Out. At the end of the day, your breath is the only thing that is inherently “separate” from the rest of you, so meditators will focus on that. There is simply nothing more profoundly powerful than a high-quality mindfulness session. All sorts of insights about yourself, your beliefs, and the world around you will arise. And after you open your eyes, you carry your peaceful awareness with you all day long.

Here’s the bad news. Getting to that stage is not easy. (It took me about 3-4 months of 20-30 minutes a day.) But it is simple, and it is worth it. Here’s the good news! The instant you start meditating you will experience the amazing benefits of reduced stress, increased awareness, and much more.

Don’t waste another moment and get started today. We’ve made meditation for beginners as simple as possible with the perfect ten method. All it takes is one minute of your time. You don’t need to sit in a special way, memorize any routines, or even learn anything new. You just need to count to ten.

HOW TO MEDITATE FOR BEGINNERS

The perfect ten method is the first step anyone can take to instantly discover the benefits of mindfulness meditation. All you have to do is close your eyes and count ten deep, slow breaths. The kicker is, those ten counts need to be perfect. All your attention must be on the numbers, and you must brush away intrusive thoughts. We will discuss some cool strategies to help with that in just a moment. Here are some simple steps to get started with the perfect ten.

1. Find a quiet place to sit or stand.

This isn’t even necessary, you can perfect ten in the checkout line if you want. Put your headphones in for a little more silence, or play some “white noise humming” sounds on YouTube to drown out distractions.

2. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to center your focus inward.

This is a great starting place of meditation, which is to turn your attention inside yourself, but not on your thoughts. Feel your belly expand, do a quick “check-up” of how your legs feel, and just start to relax.

3. Breathe in deeply from the belly (not the chest), say “one” in your mind, and exhale.

Do everything you can to make that number your only focus. Picture it as a large statue in a white room if you have to. Hear your mind speak the word as you say it.

4. Repeat the last step all the way up to “ten”. Make this perfect, without losing focus.

This should take you around a minute to complete. Once you have finished with the perfect ten, you can open your eyes, or continue with mindfulness meditation by replacing the counting with “in, out” as you breathe.

The first time you begin the perfect ten method of meditation for beginners, you’ll make it to about the number two before your mind starts saying, “Hey, what gives! Here’s are a thousand thoughts for you right now you can examine, interact with, and worry about! That’s what you like, right? Screw this quiet peaceful stuff!”

When this happens, you need to just let those thoughts go and focus back in on the numbers. Sometimes, you’ll “snap back into focus” around number seven or eight, and you’ll realize you were thinking about something completely different while your mind ran the numbers on autopilot.

You may go even go over ten, or  lose track completely. Start over or try again later. Your only goal with meditation at this point is to make a “perfect ten”, a slow count of your breathing with no distractions.

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE YOUR EXPERIENCE

There are many different things you can do to begin understand what it feels like to have a quiet mind. If you’ve never experienced mindfulness before, this might be the hardest step. You may ask yourself, “Am I doing this right?” If you are trying, you are meditating. That’s the rule, so don’t worry.

To first learn how to direct the mind, focus on a constant sound.

As you close your eyes, stretch your awareness out around you. Perhaps there is the hum of an air conditioner, a fan, or even the wind. If it’s dead silent, listen to that (it’s insanely beautiful). You can even hum a single note. You’ll notice how your brain calms down for just a few moments when you start listening. Extend those moments.

Pretend you are a mountain, and thoughts are clouds passing by.

The goal of meditation for beginners is not necessarily to never have an interrupting thought. The goal is to let those intrusive firings of random neurons in your brain to pass right on by, just like a cloud. Just say, “no thank you” and move on with your meditation.

This is a practice, not a skill. That’s an important difference.

Some days, you will sit down and have a horrible session, where you just can’t calm down. That’s okay, that will pass. Some days, you will have an amazing meditation session. That’s okay, that will pass too. Your only goal is to practice, not perfect.

MOVING FORWARD

You now have a one-minute method to meditation for beginners you can use anywhere, anytime. No more excuses. Meditate on the bus, during hourly work breaks, or when you feel yourself getting angry. Once you feel comfortable with the perfect ten method, start setting timers for a few minutes, and just breathe. An excellent goal to reach for is 10-20 minutes of meditation at a time, once or twice a day.