You’ve no doubt heard that meditation is good for you. It can help you feel calmer and has a host of other benefits. However, for many people, descriptions of meditation aren’t appealing, and it sounds like just another thing you don’t have time to do.
5 Meditation Tips for Beginners
5 Meditation Tips for Beginners
Articles
Here are five meditation tips for beginners that will help overcome the dual problems of lack of appeal, and it seeming too daunting.
1. Start small, with three to five minutes (or less).
Some great new data shows that most beginner meditators started with three to five minutes. Even three minutes can feel like a darn long time when you first start meditating, so you could even start smaller. For example, paying attention to the sensations of taking three breaths.
2. Understand what meditation can do for you if you have issues with stress, anxiety, irritability, or overthinking.
Meditation is a great way to increase your resilience to stress. If you have anxiety, it will help reduce your general tendency towards physiological over-arousal and calm your nervous system. Meditation can help with irritability partly because it helps you learn how to recognize you’re having irritable thoughts before you’ve blurted them out in ways that end up generating stress for you (e.g.. nitpicking your partner in a way that causes a fight).
3. Understand the principles of meditation.
Beginning meditators often think the goal of meditation is to get to the point that they can focus without becoming distracted. A more useful goal, however, is becoming aware of when your mind has drifted sooner.
Becoming aware of what you’re thinking is the basis of successful cognitive therapy. You can’t restructure your thoughts if you haven’t first developed the ability to identify your thoughts.
Another useful goal for meditation beginners is being able to redirect your attention back to your point of focus without criticizing yourself.
4. Do meditation your own way.
Since walking helps people concentrate and reduces distractibility, a meditation that involves walking can be a great place to start. 10 minute walking meditation involving 1 minute of paying attention to each of
- the feeling of your body walking
- the feeling of your breath
- the sensations of air or wind on your skin
- what you can hear
- what you can see
Follow this with five minutes of open awareness where you allow anything you can observe or sense to rise up into your awareness. Don’t go looking for things to hear, see, or feel. Just let whatever rises up into your awareness do that and be naturally replaced by something else, whenever that happens.
During the open awareness portion, if your attention drifts to past, future, or evaluative thoughts, briefly go back to one of the points of focus to stabilize your attention.
You can adapt these instructions however you want. Make your practice your own. You’re in charge! For example, do a walking meditation in which you focus on one of the above points of focus for three minutes, then do three minutes of open awareness.
5. Reduce all-or-nothing thinking.
Realistically, there are only a small amount of people who will be willing to meditate on a regular basis. Another approach is to do formal daily practice of meditation (such as the walking meditation) for a brief initial period, and then start just incorporating meditation into your day in informal ways.
Doing a sustained period of formal daily practice when you begin meditation will:
- allow you to try different types of meditation
- give you enough comfort and familiarity with meditation that you can restart formal practice if you’re going through a particular period of stress or overthinking
- develop enough understanding of meditation to come up with your own ideas for informal meditation practices
If you would like to talk, feel free to reach out to us. An LifeWorks therapist would be able to help.
Harpreet Saini
Consultant Psychologist - English, Hindi & Punjabi
CDA Licensed Psychologist - 13+ Years
Dr. Mohammed Fried Ahmed
Clinical Psychologist - Arabic
PHD Psychotherapy - 6+ Years
Khansa Abd Almalik
Clinical Psychologist - Arabic
PHD Psychotherapy - 6+ Years
Prerna Siroya
Counselling Psychologist - Arabic & English
CDA Licensed Psychologist - 4+ Years
Dina Alqedra
Clinical Psychologist - Arabic & English
DHA Licensed Psychologist - 6+ Years
Nuzhat Basheer
Consultant psychologist - English, Hindi & Tamil
CDA Licensed Psychologist, M.Sc. in Psychology - 10+ Years
Vidushi Sukam
Consultant Psychologist - English, Hindi & Punjabi
CDA Licensed Psychologist | RCI Licensed Rehabilitation Psychologist - 13+ Years
Olena Taleski
Counselling Psychologist - English and Hindi
Master Degree in Psychology - 13+ Years
Simrah Hamdulay
Consultant psychologist - English and Hindi
CDA Licensed Psychologist, MSc in Child and Adolescent Psychology - 3+ Years
Javaria Zahra
Counselling Psychologist - English, Urdu and Hindi
MD/ MS/ MPhil in Applied Psychology - 16+ Years
Fatima Altaf
Counselling Psychologist - Urdu, Hindi and English
Msc. Psychology - 8+ Years
Aarhie Kaushik
Clinical Psychologist - English & Hindi
Msc. Psychology - 8+ Years
Dr. Febna Moorkath
Psychiatric Social Worker - English & Malayalam
PhD & M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work - 10+ Years
Dr. Fatemeh Abdi
Clinical Psychologist - English and Persian
PhD. in Psychology - 20+ Years
Dr. Azizreza Ghasemzadehi
Counselling Psychologist - Arabic, Farsi & English
PhD in Psychology & Education of Exceptional Children - 20+ Years
Saima Khan
Clinical Psychologist - English, Urdu, Punjabi & Pashto
Ph.D. Scholar in Clinical Psychology - 6 Years
Kinan Ali
Counselling Psychologist - Arabic and English
PhD. in Psychology - 6 Years
Dr. Abdelaziz Osman
Consultant Psychiatrist - Arabic and English
MD, AB, Msc, Cert - 20+ Years
Naeema Ali
Psychologist - Arabic & English
Dr. Naeema Ali trained psychology and social worker students of UAE University. She is actively providing counselling support to cancer patients and their families. She launched an occupational therapy for cancer patients and cognitive behavioural therapy in Tawam.
Due to her continued support in oncology and ongoing support to cancer patients, Naeema received countless awards locally and international to recognize her achievements and skills. She has been invited to participate in various conferences and workshops around the world and invited as a guest speaker in various subjects that covers psychology.
She also joined Al Sayegh Medical Center as a Social Worker, providing comprehensive assessment and treatment services to children and families, in inpatient and/or outpatient settings, and communicates with referral sources as indicated by applying psychometric test, such as IQ Test, MMPI, Wechsler Test for children. Exhibit superior communication skills to uncover complicated mental health issues; develop and recommend treatment plans based on patient needs and diagnosis.
She continued working as a clinical psychologist providing counselling within the multi-cultural environment of the Emirates Airlines for the past 15 years. Her main task is providing mental health support to inflight and ground staff and addresses any problems, anxieties, or job-related stresses that they are dealing with. She uses her findings to help improve processes and behaviors of a patient to maintain a safe environment, to manage stress, overcome trauma, or avoid job-related conflicts. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the method Naeema is using to reduce the difficulties, anxieties, and stress that employee faces.
Naeema is also part of “ Shawer ”, the “Seek Our Advice”, and “We Listen To You” program of the Family Development Foundation of Abu Dhabi. The aim of the program was to promote family awareness and support a stable family life. It involves a group of community members who deal with family problems in a positive manner and provide individual and group counseling in social, psychological, and educational areas. They do so in a systematic way according to the needs of community members.
Besides “ Shawer ”, Naeema is also a volunteer of “ Friends of Cancer ” of Sharjah, supporting patients and their families to overcome the multitude psychological difficulties that they are experiencing due to cancer treatment as well as introducing some programs such as health education, self-care and some community programs wherein they can collaborate and share their experiences.
Area of interest:
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Psycho-oncology
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CBT
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Psychometric Assessments
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Children, Adults and Family therapy
Qualification and Membership:
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Psychology graduation from the University of Wisconsin
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Licensed by Community Development Authority
Graduation in Psychology, (Phd) - 30 Years
Dr. Mohammed Bardi
Consultant Psychiatrist - Arabic, English
Dr. Mohammed Bardi M.B.B.S, M.D (Psychiatry) has worked under different capacities in clinical and hospital setups in Saudi, USA, and UAE. He comes with over 15 years of experience in mental health. He specifically worked with cases relating to schizophrenic, bipolar disorder, dual diagnosis, major depressive disorder with suicidal risks, anxiety disorders, Intellectual disabilities, Autistic spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).
Area of interest:
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Mood disorders
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Anxiety disorders
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Improving life skills (social skills, self- esteem, decision making, coping with stress, problem solving, and time management)
Qualification and Membership:
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MBBS COLLEAGUE OF MEDICINE, KING SAUD UNIVERSITY 2003 (KKU).
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ARAB BOARD OF MEDICAL SPECIALTIES IN PSYCHIATRY 2007
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ANXIETY DISORDERS WORKSHOP (DIPLOMA), 2010
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ADDICTION FELLOWSHIP UCLA, USA, 2010-2011
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ADDICTION RESEARCH AND MATRIX TRAINING, ISAP, UCLA, LOS ANGELES, CA, USA 2014-2015
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BACHELOR’S DEGREE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY
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ARAB BOARD OF MEDICAL SPECIALTIES IN PSYCHIATRY
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ADDICTION FELLOWSHIP UCLA 2011, 2015
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BETTY FORD CERTIFICATE, ADDICTION PROGRAM 2010
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CDA) Licensed Psychologist
Therapeutic Approach:
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At LifeWorks Holistic Counselling Center Dubai, Dr. Bardi works collaboratively within our expert multidisciplinary team, in treating a wide array of psychiatric conditions including:
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Anxiety disorders
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Substance use disorders
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Mood disorders including depression and Bipolar affective disorders
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Psychotic disorders (Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders)
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Personality disorders
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Cognitive disorders including Dementia
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Learning disabilities (intellectual disability disorders)
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Child and adolescents’ disorders like Separation anxiety disorders, conduct
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disorders and ADHD
M.B.B.S, M.D (Psychiatry) - 15 years
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