Many of you asked me for this one, especially in this New Covid era, where life is very complicated, most of you feel overwhelmed, tired and still worried with everything around us.

Regular meditation changed my life in many ways, mostly being able to run a very busy and quite uncertain life with lots of ups and downs, with a calmer and more peaceful approach. it helped me to keep me stay motivated, focused and compassionate towards myself and others.

In this course; my dear teacher and partner in BYA, the one and only Anne Macnabb will alternate giving the meditation sessions on Zoom at 7h00am Tuesday mornings for 6 weeks.

Kickstart your mornings with our meditation session and practice the technique throughout your week!

All sessions will begin with a 1-minute breath work. No need to show yourself on camera on Zoom, come as you are in the morning!!!

Join our Instagram live next Thursday, 20.01.22 at 20:00 pm CET, to learn the benefits of meditation and receive more details about our Meditation Discovery Course. Link in my bio!

Meditation Benefits Health -wise

Did you know that, regular meditation practice can help you to

• Increase your concentration in your daily life which many of us suffer
• Support willpower that can help you in your weight loss, healthier living, quit smoking, etc efforts
• Increase your patience, to deal with everyday issues especially with your children or at work!
• Reduce stress & anxiety
• Improve focus and memory
• Achieve emotional balance and happiness
• Strengthen the immune system against ageing and diseases

If these are good enough reasons for you, then lets start!

11 Meditation Tips for Beginners

1. Choose a Comfortable Place

Choose a comfortable, quiet place with the temperature you feel good (not too hot, not cold). If you mediate in the same place every time and maybe having some anchoring like same (comfortable) clothing, a small statue or candle, beads, a blanket or shawl will make you concentrate easier.

2. Make Sure You are Comfortable

Make sure you are comfortable in your position, being able to resist to temptation to move. You can use pillows, chairs, mats..whatever you need to make you feel steady for a while. Your back must be erect-tall, shoulders are relaxed. You can place your hands on your lap or knees and use some mudras if you know any. Make sure your feet are not squeezed by each other, otherwise you’ll have to suffer the pins and needles!! I first started sitting on a chair with a cushion behind my back. Then I moved to the floor with a cushion support against a wall. And finally I am doing it crossed legged in an easy sitting position.

3. Start with Relaxation

Start with a very short relaxation of your neck and shoulders, make it slow and with conscious breathing.

4. Close Your Eyes

Close your eyes (you can also use a blindfold) and bring your awareness to your breath, observe your breath in-out.

5. Breath Properly

Breathe into your belly for some extra relaxation. Imagine you have a balloon inside the belly and as you breathe in, the balloon gets bigger and so your belly goes outwards. As you breathe out, the balloon gets smaller and so your belly goes in. This way you’d be using your diaphragm in the correct way, letting lungs to get more air and oxygen and nervous system to calm down.

6. Focus on Breathing

If this is your first trial, try 5 minutes of just focusing on your breathing. This will help you to avoid the thinking part! If thoughts come back, make no judgement, just see them, be an obersevant and send them in a corner and tell them to wait until you finish your meditation. Only 5 minutes!

7. Set An Alarm

Set your alarm to 5 minutes so that you don’t have to think about the time.

8. Gaps are Important

In meditation, we are trying to find the gap between the thoughts and even between breaths. As you slowly breathe in-out, search-find and stay with that gap. As you inhale give a small pause before you exhale. And when you exhale give a small pause before you inhale again. You can imagine at this point a big and nice ocean wave. When you inhale the wave comes up and takes you up, you stay at the top without a breath and then the wave slowly comes down and you exhale with it, feel the bubbles of the wave gently caressing the sands and you stay there again, giving a pause before you inhale again.

9. Concentrate Well

If concentration on your breath is not enough to keep the thoughts away, you can visualise a simple object (like a ball) or something that relates to you, like an ocean, tree, mountain, sun, etc.

10. Mindfullness

Always remember that mediation is “non-doing“. You are neither in action nor inaction, it is not something you need to “do”. It is more of a “being”.

11. Wake Up Your Body

Coming back from the meditation, after you hear the alarm, slowly start moving your fingers-hands-feet; turn head side to side and gently wake up your body.Make a short stretching, doing the movements that your body needs (and for that, listen to your body).

Final Word: 11 Meditation Tips for Beginners

Give yourself the luxury of doing this everyday and as you get comfortable, increase the duration to 10-20 and as much you need. Remember that busy minds need a lot of time to re-charge!

Click to read my How to Start Meditation Guide: Starting Meditation

How to Start Meditation Well?

Meditation is simply about concentrating and being able to focus the attention to one point. You might think that it is very easy yet being able to sit or even lie down still and focusing on one point is such a challenge for many of us. However as my teacher Sanjeev Bhanot says, “everybody needs to do 1 hour of mediation everyday and if you are very busy then you need to do 2 hours”. During the meditation you reach to a place of “no thoughts”, a bit like a “gap” in the mind. And like everything in life, the mind needs that gap to recharge and re-energize itself.

“Meditation is an essential part of the yoga tradition…. Through meditation, the mind becomes silent, the illusory impressions fall away and the truth of our being naturally rises to the surface of the consciousness.” (Yogalife, Yoga Teacher Training Manual 2017).

Thousand of years ago meditation was identified as the path to ultimate enlightenment and those yogis who could stay in meditation for long looong periods (along side with other abilities), could reach the “Samadhi” the ultimate enlightenment. These developed meditation techniques take the practitioners to a higher state of awareness and a state of no-thought in order to gain spiritual mastery and intimacy with the Self.

Meditation Can Help You

You don’t have to go that far, lets start with 5 minutes!! But first, as I know we modern humans need some justifications and solid reasons to motivate ourselves, let me give you a few that helped me:

• Increase your concentration in your daily life which many of us suffer
• Support willpower that can help you in your weight loss, healthier living, quit smoking, etc efforts
• Increase your patience, to deal with everyday issues especially with your children or at work!
• Reduction of stress, improved focus and memory
• Achieve emotional balance and happiness
• Regular practice strengthens the immune system, helps you to build strength against ageing and diseases

If these are good enough reasons for you too, then lets start!

How to Start with Meditation?

There are many different techniques of meditation each with a different approach but with more or less the same result. You need to find the one that suits your character and background. It is advised to stick with that method until you really master it rather than changing it frequently. One very easy start is using the application for meditation. I have been using Headspace for while and very happy about the style-tone and techniques. It helps you to follow progress, choose different themes like stress, focus, creativity, sleep, etc. I also use the kids section for my 10 year old son for sleep. There are other applications like Calm. So please go ahead and explore it if you want to be guided at first. I think it is a good idea for beginners.

Join Our Upcoming 6-Weeks Meditation Discovery Course!

A course for beginners and for those who would like to re-initiate a regular meditation practice!

In this course; Ceylan and Anne will alternate giving the meditation sessions on Zoom at 7h30 Monday mornings for 6 weeks. Kickstart your Monday mornings with our meditation session and practice the technique throughout your week. 

All sessions will begin with a 1-minute breath work.  No need to show yourself on camera on Zoom, come as you are in the morning!!!

Click to sign up now: Meditation Discovery Course

Course Modules & Schedule

• 1 November 2021: GAP Meditation  ✦ Ceylan

Learn how to stay in the “gap” between the thoughts, where your mind rests and you can reach your true being. The purpose of this exercise is to shift outward direction to inward reflection, so that we can experience the essential nature of awareness itself.

• 8 November 2021: Trataka with candle ✦ Anne

Trataka meditation, also known as a tratak sadhana or candle-gazing meditation, is a meditation technique in which the practitioner centers his/her focus on a single visual point, usually a candle light. The idea is to allow the gaze to soften and rest gently on this point, so that the mind can relax. The eyes are also cleansed with this practice.

• 15 November 2021:  Intentions Setting Meditation ✦ Ceylan

Set your intentions for your day, week, month..to become more  focused and create clearer thoughts throughout your day and life.

• 22 November 2021: Mindfulness Meditation ✦ Anne

Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.

• 29 November 2021: Chakra Meditation ✦ Ceylan

Chakras are the energy centers combining our physical bodies, mental thoughts and emotions. In yoga there are 7 main centers and each has an important role in our lives. By focusing on chakras we can direct our energies to the areas where we feel depleted or in excess and bring balance to our body, mind and spirit.

• 6 December 2021: Power Mantra Meditation ✦ Anne

Creating your own mantra can bring power to your meditation.  We will spend 5 minutes on the creation of your personal mantra, one that speaks only to you and your life situation right now.  Then, using the breath, we will practice a mantra meditation.

Click to sign up now: Meditation Discovery Course