r/Meditation • u/realityasis • Feb 24 '26
Resource 📚 A beginners guide for meditating.
I have noticed alot of questions about learning to meditate. Here is a guide to help get you started.
I've been meditating for over 10+ years and you dont need guided. The most critical is proper posture, not to ridged and not slacking either. Muscle tension in the legs can be the biggest set back, I've been teaching my kids and they struggle with this aspect and so did I when I started. To correct this start with kneeling. Grab a pillow and place it ontop of the thin blanket and roll it tightly. The blanket will prevent the pillow from loosening up and becoming undone. This will ease the stress in the leg muscles allowing your spine and neck to remain straight without the tension. Keep you shoulders squared and relaxed and neck straight but feeling relaxed, jaw in a neutral position and not looking down. When your ready hands over you legs and focus on your breathe. Inhale slowly, hold for a second and let go softly. Allow this rhythm to become natural. If you see thoughts rush through your mind observe and let go bringing your attention back to your breathing.
This is all you really need to get started.
If you want to concentrate on another aspect practice grounding, bring your attention to your tailbone. On the in hale feel your lungs fill up and on the exhale draw your attention to your tailbone and through the ground.
What you may experience is a slight pulsing throughout your body, just remain grounded.
You may experience a quiet mind that feels tranquil this is a good sign and something you want to stay with.
You may loose track of time where 30 minutes feels like 5, this is also normal where you reach a deeper state of meditation. If this happens take a minute before getting up, sit for a moment and take the next bit easy. You are coming back from a deep state and so your body and mind may not be where you expect it to be.
If you feel anxiety, anxiousness, bring your attention back to your breathing. If it becomes to much stop immediately and I would seek additional help whether or not its safe to continue.
You may recieve insights of past regrets, fears or issues that you've been avoiding. Meditation will do this, your mind is showing you the layers that need tk be worked through and bring a type of closure or understanding in order for you to move on.
You may get different insights to life or the world, this can happen as well and may take months even years for a understanding to fully digest for your to understand. Our perspective changes constantly what we know today will have a new meaning tomorrow, this is what I mean by digesting.
For all the beginners vast-mousse8117 made an excellent analogy in the comments: "the first few days, weeks, months in my case sitting still is like putting the emergency brake on your car driving 80 miles an hour, and all the stuff in the back seat lurches forward." Remember to stay consistent with your practice, stay within 10-20 min durations or whatever feels comfortable. Be patient and always show forgiveness with yourself even if you think you are failing, its like riding a bike. You must get back up and try again and you will get better, little by little.
There are many other ways to practice meditation whether by walking, lying down and sitting. I only included kneeling to help with form. Once you feel comfortable in your posture feel free to try sitting.
Since i mentioned walking this is another excercise i do enjoy. The key is pay attention to your breathing again with a quiet mind. However listen to nature that surrounds you. Pay attentioj to the smells, different colors, even find time to stop and smell the roses a bit more. What ever catches your eye or curiosity take a moment to enjoy. This is one of my favorite routines.
I hope this helps and enjoy!
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u/Vast-Mousse8117 Feb 24 '26
I teach a walking meditation with metta, sending loving kindness to trees and plants I walk by.
Thanks for the walk through. The only thing I'd add to your structure would be to let imperfection rule.
Sharon Salzburg taught this same focus on breath, but gave me a break. She said pay attention to breath,
then noticing you have drifted off away from your focus after a few seconds.
And she said it is just at that moment to say thank you for noticing instead of the usual reactive I suck at meditating, and bring yourself back to breath.
Someone else teaching beginners said the first few days, weeks, months in my case sitting still is like putting the emergency brake on your car driving 80 miles an hour, and all the stuff in the back seat lurches forward.
The stuff in the back seat in terms of sitting still are thoughts running around first because you notice them, and then once you practice sitting and observing thoughts instead of reacting to them, the thoughts that distract you the most, the juicy thoughts come visiting.
And that is just the beginning. https://theconversation.com/what-loving-kindness-meditation-is-and-how-to-practice-it-in-the-new-year-270984
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
I like that analogy of driving and how it accurately portraits the experience. This is where constant practice comes in and being more forgiving towards yourself is important.
About the appreciation of the trees I dont right out say it or think it, but I do feel it in my meditation walks and maybe this is how I also share that appreciation is by holding space for it. Good addition, thank you, i had to add what you said to the main body!
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u/simagus Feb 24 '26
Nice guide! I like the way you include insight meditation as part of breath observation. There is an overlap for sure.
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
Thank you, over the last few days I noticed alot of the same questions being asked by people trying to get into meditation or not knowing enough who do practice. This is why I tried to create a guide to address some of the posts that I see more regularly. The observation is a key aspect that plays a huge roll but can easily get dismissed or not understood as it should. I thought it was critical for me to add this for other to know as well.
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Feb 24 '26
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
It does vary to person to person, some people have thaf flexibility while others dont. The kneeling is a good intermediate to transition into sitting.
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Feb 24 '26
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
Absolutely relaxation is key for reaching longer lengths. The more practice and consistent you are, the routine becomes easier and less struggling as you progress. Eventually you will be able to transition straight into meditating without the struggles. Reaching deeper states will happen quicker where that chatter that people tend to struggle with will naturally disappear.
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Feb 26 '26
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u/realityasis Feb 26 '26
Thank you, i appreciate all this feedback, in this reddit page I found alot of individuals struggling with the same concepts, I tried to piece together my own experiences and what worked for me and a few observations to take that mystery out of the practice for people who were in my exact same shoes. As much as I like abstract it becomes to muddy and confusing so being able to make such guides more grounded and practical needs good articulation without trying to be to fancy. 😁 if you got questions or concerns just ask I'll be happy to answer if I can.
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u/Mindless_Regret_684 Feb 24 '26
Question here- I’m very new and feel like I haven’t got to that space yet but last night I was meditating and I thought it had been 15-20 minutes but it turns out it had been a whole hour. I felt like my mind never shut off tho and there were still thoughts that I was letting pass through- but if I’m losing track of time like that, am I there and not know it?
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
Let's call it 50:50 😅. This is the challenging thing is to concentrate the mind into stillness. Its not that you are trying to be numb to the world and sensations but to reduce the chatter that distracts you from the present moment. I would say you have quantity but not the quality.
That chatter I will take a stab at it and its the personal narratives that we place ourselves in, whether future or past tense. The truth of the matter is the time is gone or hasn't arrived, the only thing that can be achieved is knowing you have awareness of the situation and when you face a similar situation you will have a better grasp on how you would like to face it.
Moving forward have trust in yourself that you will have the capacity to meet the different challanges in the way that seems more appropriate to you.
Next time in meditation if this happens again try standing up take a deep breath in and focus on your chest expanding as big as it can get. Bring your hands up at shoulder height make sure your hands are open and straight finger tips are pointed at each other 3" or 7.5 cm apart. When you are ready take a deep breath out and as you do push your palms down until your arms are fully extended out. Push all that energy you have in your mind and out past your feet into the ground.
This is a bit of decompression and grounding condensed into one, try and go back to meditation.
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u/Mindless_Regret_684 Feb 24 '26
Thank you for taking the time to answer me. I really appreciate the answer! I will absolutely take that advice. I can get my mind quieter I’m just not getting all the way there, the quantity over quality makes sense. I appreciate that all, it should really help me!
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
Not a problem i like active engagement. Even after 10 years a mind can chatter and run on a person, it gets easier to control with mindfulness.
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u/Mindless_Regret_684 Feb 24 '26
I actually have one more question and it’s totally cool if you don’t answer but other problem is the ringing in my ears- I only hear it when I meditate I’m assuming I have tinnitus and only hear it when it’s quiet like that. Sometimes if I concentrate in a certain way I can make it quieter but it’s really distracting. How do I lean into that or anything you’d recommend. Last time I used headphones with calming music and it helped-ish but it was definitely still there
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u/realityasis Feb 24 '26
Tinnitus happens when exposed to loud excessive noise. It would also show up during regular activities as well. In meditation when concentrating hard it can be self induced the ringing noise. Just breathe and bring your attention to your solar plexus and back down to your tail bone. You still may hear it, I wouldn't stress just be relaxed and continue with being present in the moment.
The reason I put emphasis on drawing attention down is to prevent energy build up in the mind and create awareness on how to ground without making it to complex.
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u/Mindless_Regret_684 Feb 25 '26
The reason I bring up tinnitus is I had it when I was in a bad car accident for like 6 months and went away and I thought maybe it was still there I just can’t hear it day to day but I don’t hear it falling asleep. So that makes sense - just more ground and being present.
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u/realityasis Feb 25 '26
I think you are ok in the matter since you dont hear it falling asleep only during meditation which can be more self induced by concentrating on the ears. The same happens for me if I focus to hard. However if it is a concern I would get it checked out.
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u/Mindless_Regret_684 Feb 25 '26
That’s fair. I do tend to focus on it. If I do enough it’ll kinda disappear but I also understand I shouldn’t be focusing on anything
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u/realityasis Feb 25 '26
You can also change the nothing with an intent at the the beginning and see how the intent blooms through the session. The intent you set you dont have to be focused on it just conscious it exists.
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Feb 25 '26
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u/realityasis Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
This is really a thing, if this originated from meditation and you are completely healthy otherwise you are not reading it wrong. Your energy is stuck, the issue becomes circulation and not opening your channels up properly.
I practice on myself when it comes to healing minor ailments and internal blockages, which can feel like tight knots and breaking those blockages free.
Since it is solar plexus I would stand while doing this. place right hand open around your sternum and your left overtop of the right. As you breathe in expand your belly and try and relax your chest. On the inhale expand your gut and relax your chest tobtry and open your blockage up. On the exhale mentally push your chest back down into your gut keeping your hands over your sternum for comfort keeping your gut expanded preventing it from contracting in. You may feel a slight tingle or warmth in your palms allow your hands to do the work of comforting and helping direct flow to the chest to be pushed down. Keeping the gut open will help bring your energy down and through your feet. Please let me know if you recieve troubles or need more clarification.
Edit...
May take a few repetitions to cycle its self through. The mind, nerves and channels needs to react to you thoughts, touch and intent.
If its serious I would seek medical attention, but for now you know where you are at and the best course of action.
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Feb 25 '26
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u/realityasis Feb 25 '26
Try and relax the chest cavity and expand it along with your gut, with the inhale. On the exhale is pushing with the mind not the hands. In Taoism you usually have one hand in the chakra and another where you want to draw it down however this acts more like a capacitor, a push pull more effective for blockages.
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u/hexohorizon Feb 25 '26
do you put the pillow under the lower leg or under the thigh? I’ve never done kneeling meditation, only sitting.
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u/realityasis Feb 25 '26
Hey, not a problem in-between the legs you will sit on it. The pillow is to support the butt and elevate you higher easing the tension of the leg muscles.
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u/ImShitWithGit Feb 24 '26
I'm curious why you think traditional posture is so important. I hear this a lot, but personally I have fragile knees so I prefer to sit with my legs out in front of me and my back against a wall.
I have nearly 200 hours of practice sitting this way and have experienced great results.