Meditation - Advice for the beginner
Maybe you've heard about the wonderful benefits of meditation; "It will relax you, center your thoughts, allow you to escape from your stressful day". Why wouldn't you want to take part in such an activity?
The truth is - most people never reap the considerable rewards that a quality meditation session can offer. After a few unsuccessful attempts, these individuals give up and conclude "meditation doesn't work". If you don't believe meditation can work for you, I'd like to offer you a bit of perspective via the following exercise:
Go to a music store that sells pianos (if you can play piano, substitute this instrument with one you've never played before). Sit down at a piano and play some beautiful music. What, you can't......? But I've heard that a person can play beautiful music on a piano. Maybe try a few more times. No doubt, if after three or four attempts you are not producing exquisite sounds from this instrument, you will come to the conclusion that "pianos don't work".
We all know that the piano is capable of producing music, so why are you not able to get it to work? It's because, in order to play the piano successfully, you must take the time to learn how to the instrument works, and then spend many hours practicing.
Meditation is not a practice that will "work" the first time you try it. It took you awhile to learn how to ride a bike. You probably couldn't catch a ball the first time you tried. Most likely, your first few meditation sessions won't be very successful either. Instead of giving up, read some literature on meditation, research the subject on websites, and try to practice once a day for a month. Your local library probably has some meditation audio recordings or videos that you can borrow. Try a variety of meditations to find an approach that works well for you. With a bit of effort, you will get results from your meditation sessions.
About the author: Mark Altman is the webmaster of www.soundsleeping.com, a website containing free relaxing music, sleep-aids, stress reducing tools, relaxation advice, and an active discussion.