Meditation - a HOW to Guide

The HOW of Meditation

Today I want to speak a little bit about the HOW of meditation. I have other content about meditation that takes a more general approach. Here I’m going to speak more directly about exactly what you can do to start or refine your meditation practice.

Why Meditate?

First, let’s answer the question of why. If you’ve clicked on this blog post, I imagine you're at least in the contemplative phase of a meditation practice. I’m here to help get you to ACTion (see what I did there).

In my opinion, meditation is the most powerful self-help tool you can implement for your overall health. The benefits are many. They include improvements in immune function, a decrease in chronic disease markers, social anxiety, general anxiety, depression, and pain. We see improvements in areas of both physical and mental health (Jamil et al., 2023).

Meditation is also a foundational tool for many behavioral coping tools. Think of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) STOP skill, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) thought stopping, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) defusion, ACT acceptance, and DBT Mindfulness skills. The list goes on.

Further, suppose you have any interest in exploring psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Anecdotally, I find meditators have more success in achieving a meaningful and insightful psychedelic journey. This helps propel the effects of the psychedelic beyond the chemical benefits, like an increase in neuroplasticity. Check out my writing on neuroplasticity to learn more.

Where to Start?

The follow-up question from clients who are not seasoned meditators after I give them the hard sell on it is always, "What do I do?" So, let’s get to the meat and potatoes.

I’m going to break down meditation into three levels. We’ll start with the most basic and advance into the most difficult and complex – in my opinion.

Level 1: For Those New to Meditation

As stated in the subject line, I don’t want you to think about Level 1 meditation as less good than the other levels. It’s not. The benefits we see from meditation are still here.

I think as I explain further, you’ll understand why I started here. Start with a Body Scan. My recommendation is for people to start with a simple guided body scan meditation. This is a mindful variety that ranges from a few minutes to 15 minutes.

Typically, they are bite-sized. You can often do this type of practice as a daily practice or as part of your sleep routine (for those NOT internally preoccupied). Body scans often start with a few deep breaths and move into a review of your body.

Many times, starting from your head or your feet, you’ll check in with each body part. Observe any tension, sensations, or feelings that might exist. We focus on breathing into the relaxation of that body part.

Another variety of this is the DBT skill of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. My favorite body scan is spoken by Ayla Nova on her channel Yoga Nidra and Beyond, Episode 74. This is my nightly go-to as part of my sleep routine.

Level 2: For Those Seeking to Explore Uncomfortable Emotions

Level 2 is the ACT Acceptance Meditation. Found on YouTube, ACT acceptance starts with a few deep breaths and then walks through a quick body scan.

After you finish the body scan, you’re going to hone in on the part of the body where you’re feeling the feeling most intensely. We’re going to observe the feeling as if you’re a curious scientist who has never encountered anything like it before.

We’re going to label the feeling as an object. Is it inside or outside? Hot or cold? Rough or smooth? What shape is it? Then, we’re going to seek to breathe into and around the object. We will expand around the object and accept it.

We don’t have to like it or fight with it. We’re going to just breathe and notice any urges we have to push it away. Then we’re going to further objectify the emotion. If you could put your hand on it, would it be squishy or hard? Is it opaque or transparent?

After that, we seek to understand this feeling is normal. It tells us we are human and have things in our lives we hold dear. The feeling comes when there is a gap between what we have and what we want. The larger the gap, the more intense the feeling.

We’re going to love that object. We’re going to love it because it is there to tell us we have values and wants and needs. It’s our protector.

With this acceptance process, we seek to BREATHE, EXPAND, ACCEPT, and find SELF-COMPASSION. But we don’t go further to understand what lies beneath. That’s level 3.

Level 3: For Those Wanting to Get in Touch with Your Parts

Level 3 goes one step beyond ACT. If you’re paying attention, you might have realized these can all be done together in sequence.

First, do your basic body scan. Then go ahead and accept the most uncomfortable emotion. After that, we’re going to take the next step. We’re going to view the emotion as a trailhead that will lead to a cluster of parts.

So go ahead and follow that emotion down into your psyche. Speak to whoever might be hanging out there. At first, this might seem a little silly or even schizophrenic. But speak to the part(s) that are bringing you that emotion.

Who are they? Do they have a name? What is their purpose? Who or what are they protecting? What I’m asking you to do here is a focused, open meditation. Oxymoron, I know, but I think it’s the best way to explain it.

I say focused because we’re first bringing our attention to a specific part. We’re going to access our Self qualities of curiosity, compassion, clarity, and courage to speak with the part(s) that are beyond the emotion.

It is VERY hard to explain this, so go ahead and give it a try. I’m usually surprised and grateful anytime I make the effort to get to Level 3.

My Practice

I think it is often helpful for me to explain what my practice looks like so you have an example. Please, do not view my practice as the “right way.” This is what works for me, and something else might work for you.

I start with a guided meditation, either the longer NSDR I mentioned earlier or a more brief mindfulness meditation on the breath. I do this so that I can relax the body and access the Observer mind. Sometimes I ask parts that want to take over the meditation to step back and allow the Self to come forward (IFS seeping into meditation practice).

By the end of the mindfulness work, I’ll typically feel like I’m in a good place. I let a Spotify playlist move directly from the mindfulness work into a Binaural Beats track. For me, Binaural Beats sets a good backdrop for me to project upon.

It is very nondirective and unemotional, so I find it lets my mind do all the work. As the binaural beats track starts, I bring all my attention to the third eye center at the center of my forehead (home of the Pineal Gland) and allow my third eye to open.

Then I check in with the part I feel closest to. I check out a trailhead or even just call to a group of parts I have already met. Then I just step back and converse with my parts, internally.

I approach with compassion and curiosity. I thank my parts for allowing me to visit with them, and I tell them I love them (self-compassion). This process usually takes a lot longer than I think it did.

45 minutes ZIPS by, so I don’t go for this when I’m looking for a quick coping tool or reset after a hard workout.

Conclusion

I hope this has helped give you a place to start on your meditation. If you’ve come this far and can spare 5 more minutes, spend 2 minutes searching the internet for a brief body scan meditation. Then spend 3 minutes engaging in the meditation.

I had a client ask me once, “What’s the best meditation practice?” The answer is the one you can do consistently.

Happy Meditating.

If you are interested in any of the tools I talked about above, I cover my favorite behavioral tools in another blog post.

1. Jamil, A., Gutlapalli, S. D., Ali, M., Oble, M. J. P., Sonia, S. N., George, S., Shahi, S. R., Ali, Z., Abaza, A., & Mohammed, L. (2023). Meditation and Its Mental and Physical Health Benefits in 2023. Cureus, 15(6), e40650. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40650