Ask Inna Miretski: 3 Meditation Techniques for Beginners
After hosting an in-office morning meditation with the Muse team, we had the chance to sit down with Inna – the founder of UTKATA Yoga. She shared 3 meditation for beginners tips.
She answered three fundamental meditation questions:
- What does meditation mean to you?
- What’s the No. 1 piece of advice you’d give to people who struggle with meditation?
- What are three techniques a beginner meditator can do to build a meditative practice?
1. What does meditation mean to you?
Inna: For me, meditation is a restart button, it’s something that keeps me grounded.
Whenever too many things happen, if I’m overwhelmed, stressed or I want to feel better, I turn to meditation for refuge.
2. What’s the No. 1 piece of advice you’d give to people who struggle with meditation?
Inna: My no. 1 advice is “Don’t Give Up“. There are so many techniques out there that are suitable for everyone. If something doesn’t work, even if people are telling you “that’s the best technique” or “this is the easiest or most popular technique” go try something else.
3. What are three techniques a beginner meditator can do to build a meditative practice?
Inna: There are a few that come to mind:
1. Concentrate on your breathing. You can listen to your breath, think about its temperature and pace. You can also count to ten again and again and try to count further.
2. Concentrate on your body sensations. Feel the palms of your hands on your knees. Sense the temperature of your hands v.s. your belly, notice your feet against the floor, anything like that.
3. Concentrate on an object – this helped me greatly when I was a beginner. For example, you can focus on a candle, looking at the flame in a dark room preferably. Just look at the candle and think about what it looks like, what it feels like, what do you smell and hear. If you don’t have a candle, imagine looking at an object that is neutral to your feelings.
- Don’t look at a picture of a person who may stir positive or negative feelings.
- Don’t choose an object that reminds you of something or gets you to feel in a certain way.
- Try to focus on a rock, a leaf, a piece of fabric, even some foods which you can look at the texture or smell – (unless you’re hungry which stirs up an appetite so don’t do that).
Build Your Practice With Muse
Stay tuned for Muse’s Monthly Guided Meditation Release where we’ll be launching Foundations of Mindfulness, by Mark Coleman on the Muse app. This course is perfect for beginners and will introduce you to the basics of mindfulness & meditation, and teach you how to apply it your everyday life. You’ll learn how to be more self-aware, present, and focused as well as how to skillfully meet life’s ups and downs with compassion, joy, and wisdom.
