-
10 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness Today
As a follow-up to my blog post, What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes, I’m giving you 10 effective ways to cultivate mindfulness as you become more conscious of your thoughts and start living in the present moment. The best part? Most of these are simple practices you can start doing at home today.
10 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness Today What is Mindfulness?
In my recent blog post, What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes, I gave you my definition of mindfulness, the three components of mindfulness, and a list of powerful quotes from prominent thought leaders on the practice of mindfulness.
To recap, I define mindfulness as non-judgmental, conscious awareness in the present moment.
One of my favorite definitions comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School:
“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
When we think about mindfulness, it’s likely that the next word that comes to mind is meditation. And while I think meditation has been my most powerful tool in helping me to cultivate mindfulness, you absolutely do not have to meditate in order to live a mindful life.
In fact, anyone can begin a mindfulness practice today, no meditation required. And while you may feel like you’re too busy to start a new mindfulness practice, many of the methods on this list take almost no time at all – just a couple seconds of your conscious thoughts in the present moment.
Below, I’ve written about 10 ways to cultivate mindfulness today. While you definitely don’t have to do all the items on this list, I encourage you to try out as many as possible to see what works for you. To help you out, I listed these in order of practices that take the least amount of time to ones that take the most.
And if you have any questions, don’t forget to post them in the comments below!
Method #1: Phone Notifications/Reminders
The irony isn’t lost on me here. While most of us would say that a little less time on our phones is one of the best ways to cultivate mindfulness, I’m starting out by telling you to spend more time on your phone.
But let me backtrack.
I’m not actually saying to spend more time on your phone; I just think that instead of always focusing on the bad things associated with cell phones, we should focus our attention on the good services they provide.
And one of my favorite ways to use our cell phones for good is to set up positive and uplifting notification reminders that pop up during the day to remind you that you’re doing a great job, that you’re worthy, that you’re capable of doing incredible things – whatever you know you’ll need to hear when you’re in the middle of a chaotic workday.
So how can we use these notifications as a way to cultivate mindfulness?
By setting up reminders to pause in the middle of our day and breathe. These don’t have to be anything dramatic. One of my favorite gentle reminders?
“Breathe.”
Some other reminders you can set up to help you cultivate mindfulness:
- Pause. Breathe. Be.
- Notice your surroundings.
- Pause and look around you. Then, look within.
- Inhale. Exhale.
- Where is your mind right now?
- Where are your thoughts right now?
- Come back to this present moment. Don’t judge. Just be.
At most, these notifications may take a minute or two to set up, but once you have them stored in your phone, you can set them to pop up for you as many times as you want during your day.
Method #2: Post-It Notes
Essentially, post-it notes work in the same way as reminders on your phone, but if you don’t like to look at your phone during the day, this might be a less intrusive method for you. (Or, if you don’t want to choose, do both!)
You can use some of the same reminders I wrote above on your post-its. (Or index cards, scrap pieces of paper, napkins . . . anything you want to write on.) Then, place them in spots you know you’ll see them during the day.
Some suggestions for placement:
- Near your work station
- On your bathroom mirror
- In your wallet
- Near your phone charging station
- Next to the coffee pot
- In your pocket
- Next to the car radio or drink holders
The most important thing with the post-it method is not to get so used to them being there that you ignore them. Set the intention to read the post-its when you see them. Switching out the message weekly and/or using bright colors might help with this.
Method #3: Set Daily Intentions
One way to cultivate mindfulness is to set the intention to practice mindfulness throughout the day. I’m big on having a morning routine (more on that below!), but if you don’t have time for a longer routine, spend just one to two minutes every morning setting a purposeful intention.
Now, this intention doesn’t have to just be, “I will practice mindfulness today.“
To mix it up, you can focus on some of the different components of mindfulness each day.
Here are some examples of daily mindfulness intentions:
- Today, I set the intention to practice non-judgment.
- I will step back from my work once an hour to take three deep breaths.
- Today, I pledge to live in the present moment. When I find my mind wandering to the past or future, I’ll gently bring it back to right now.
- I will observe my internal world with objective awareness.
- I will observe my external world with objective awareness.
Again, the key here is to come back to your intention throughout the day. As you start this practice, phone reminders or post-it notes might benefit you. Or, if you have a whiteboard in or near your work space, you can simply write on it, “Remember your intention.” Let those words bring you back to the present moment.
Method #4: Follow Social Media Accounts that Teach, Discuss, and Encourage Mindfulness
Yes, I know.
Social media is just as bad as phones.
But again, I think we can use social media in this instance for good, not evil.
Do you have Instagram? Twitter? Facebook? Do you find yourself checking your social media once, twice, three times or more a day?
While social media detoxes are good for all of us every once in a while, we don’t have to cancel all of our accounts in order to practice mindfulness.
There are a lot of really amazing people on social media talking about mindfulness every day. These people are using their platform to teach and share their knowledge and experiences.
So let’s let them teach us.
We often open our social media apps on autopilot, not thinking twice about what we’re doing, so a powerful practice is to be mindful every time we open up one of our social media accounts. Notice (with objective awareness . . . no judgment) when you’re clicking that little square on your phone. Are you bored? Sad? Avoiding bad or negative feelings? Again, don’t judge yourself here. Just notice.
Then, when you have that account open, add accounts to your feed that talk about mindfulness. This doesn’t mean you have to unfollow your friends or favorite celebrities. Just find a few accounts that speak to you (you can search the hashtag #mindfulness and go through some of the popular pins to get started), and follow them. Every time you open your app, make sure you read through their images and captions.*
I know this one might sound silly or stupid to some, but I think there’s power in seeing examples, thoughts, ideas, and definitions about mindfulness every day.
My Mini-Disclaimer
*To be clear, I very much believe in listening to what other people have to say about a subject and then forming your own opinions and truth. If you follow a mindfulness blogger who says something that doesn’t feel right to you, question it. You don’t have to blindly accept anything that anybody (including me) tells you, especially if it doesn’t feel right.
Method #5: Breathing Exercises
Not sure if you want to start a meditation practice? Or you already do meditate, but you want to enhance your practice? Breathing exercises are a perfect tool to increase mindfulness, and the best part is you can do them anytime and anywhere.
While there are many variations of breathing exercises, your practice can be simple and straightforward.
For example, breathing from your belly, inhale for four seconds. Hold your breath at the top for another four seconds. Then exhale for four seconds. If you’re comfortable, you can try a variation of this, where you inhale for four seconds, hold your breath at the top for seven seconds, then exhale for eight seconds. You can breathe through your nose or mouth, whatever is most comfortable for you.
Even if all you can do is take a couple seconds for a few slow, conscious inhales and exhales, that’s okay.
The key to using breathing exercises to cultivate mindfulness is to focus on your breathing, grounding yourself in this present moment. And when we are continually able to return to the present moment, we allow mindfulness into our experience.
Method #6: Lean Into Frustrating Moments
This one is tough, but if you stick with it, it can be the most worthwhile.
It’s likely that nearly every day, you encounter experiences that cause you to feel annoyed, frustrated, and maybe even a little angry. Your heart rate increases. You feel a tightness in your chest. Or maybe it feels more like heat pulsating through your veins. Whatever it is, it’s uncomfortable and you don’t like it very much.
To cultivate mindfulness, don’t suppress or pretend these moments don’t exist.
Instead, lean in.
I’m not saying, “Let yourself get so angry and upset that the negative energy overcomes your entire body.”
What I’m saying is this: get curious.
To start, set an intention to recognize your moments of discomfort and/or frustration throughout the day. If you already know that your morning commute is going to make you want to smack your head against the steering wheel, decide to approach the commute a little differently today.
Now, you’re stuck in traffic. The cars aren’t moving. Or maybe someone cut you off. To be clear, you definitely don’t have to like these moments. Allow yourself to feel whatever emotions are rising within you.
And then, simply notice.
Now get curious. Ask yourself questions: Why am I frustrated right now? Why does this experience cause me to feel this way? What do I see in my surroundings right now? What would I change if I could?
Become an objective observe of yourself. That means no judgment. Just notice, probe, observe. Let yourself stay grounded in this present moment.
Now, see if you can do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after that. And then see if you might be able to have this same mindset when an unexpected frustration pops up during your day.
It won’t happen overnight, but if you do this consistently day after day, with time, you’ll see a shift in your mindset and how you view your present experience.
Method #7: Get Outdoors
I can’t quantify how much time this will take during your day. It may take seconds. Maybe minutes. Maybe an hour or more. But if you can make time for 15 minutes to go outside, you’ll experience huge benefits to your mindfulness.
Let’s say you have a 15-minute break during work, and you choose to step outside and take a walk during that time. Or maybe you decide to take a short walk outdoors after dinner. Whenever you can fit in this time, set the intention to stay in the present moment as you walk.
Now, as you’re walking, notice your surroundings. Take note of what you see and hear. How does the air feel on your skin? What sensations do you feel in your body? Is there tension in your muscles? Tightness in your chest? How do your feet feel in your shoes, walking against the ground?
Whatever your answers are, don’t judge. There is no right or wrong, no good or bad. And when you realize your mind has drifted away from the present moment, gently bring it back to right now.
The goal here isn’t to keep your mind from drifting.
The goal is to notice when your mind has strayed and to gently return it back to the present, over and over again.
If walking isn’t your thing, you can also perform this mindfulness exercise when gardening, mowing the lawn, or raking leaves. If the weather permits, you might also choose to do it while stretching outside.
And finally, whatever you decide to do, remember to breathe. Anytime your mind strays, remember that you can always return to the breath.
Method #8: Establish a Morning Routine
Depending on your available time, these last three practices can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour. (And you might also be able to combine them with other practices on this list.)
I’m a big proponent of having a morning routine that isn’t just about hurrying to rush out the door. Personally, I like to journal for 30 minutes first thing after I wake up. I do this when the house is quiet and it’s still dark outside. For me, this is my time to write, create, reflect, and uncover my own feelings, ideas, and thoughts. I also usually work out in the morning, either by running, HIIT exercises, yoga, or light stretching on recovery days.
So how exactly does any of this cultivate mindfulness?
A couple ways.
For one, you might choose to add specific mindfulness practices to your morning routine. You might choose mindful journaling, which entails writing about your thoughts, surroundings, and present experience with objective awareness. You can also add other practices on this list, like daily intention setting and breathwork.
I believe there’s also something powerful about having an intentional and conscious morning routine, no matter what it entails. It means that instead of just unconsciously going through the motions, you’re choosing how you greet the day. And when you start the day by consciously choosing your experiences, you’re more likely to continue this practice throughout the day.
Morning Routine Template
Below is the morning routine template I created for my post, How to Design a Morning Routine for Manifestation. If you don’t have time for journaling, utilizing a template such as this one is a powerful way to set your intentions for the day.
Morning Routine Template Possible Components of Your Morning Routine
- Journaling
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Intention Setting
- Daily Affirmations
- Breathwork
- Reading
- Exercise
- Morning Walk
- Gratitude Practice
Method #9: Meditation
If you’re looking to start a mindfulness practice, it’s hard to find anything that will serve you better than meditation.
First, let’s dig into some myths about meditation.
Meditation is not “clearing your mind of all thoughts.”
And “not thinking” is not the goal of meditation.
Rather, in meditation – mindfulness meditation, specifically – one simply breathes in the present moment, notices when they have a thought with objective awareness, and gently releases it, returning to the present moment.
For instance, imagine you’re laying on the ground looking up at a perfectly blue sky, and a cloud passes above you. “Look, there’s a cloud,” you think. Then it floats out of your vision, and you let it go without attachment.
These clouds are your thoughts. Notice. Release. Come back to the present, over and over again.
If you’ve never meditated before, starting a meditation practice may seem overwhelming at first. To help, I’ve created 7 Meditation Practices for Beginners, which gives you suggestions for how to start as well as links to guided meditations using the Insight Timer app. (No affiliation.)
Just know that even if someone on a podcast says they meditate for two hours a day, or an Instagram influencer swears by meditating for twenty minutes twice a day, you don’t have to start big. When I started meditating, I pledged just ten minutes a day. Sometimes, five. And even now, I often meditate for no more than ten to fifteen minutes.
You can definitely cultivate mindfulness without meditation. The walking exercise I described in the “Get Outdoors” section is a great way to start. But I believe meditation has been my greatest teacher in cultivating mindfulness. If you’re open to it, pledge to meditate for ten minutes a day, ten days in a row. Start small, then see how you feel after that.
Method #10: Yoga
Yoga is another powerful practice that may take ten minutes, an hour, or somewhere in-between. If you’ve never tried yoga before, this one might be even more intimidating than meditation. So let’s make it a little less intimidating by talking about why yoga cultivates mindfulness and how to gently step into a new yoga practice.
First, like we did with meditation, let’s debunk a myth about yoga:
Yoga isn’t about getting into a pose and holding it as long as possible until you can no longer stand the pain.
The beauty of yoga (in my experience, at least) is in the flow: the gentle awareness of the energy flowing through my body. Yoga is when my mind and body become one, and I simply exist in this present moment. The greatest lesson I’ve learned from yoga isn’t to become more flexible; it’s to become one with my breath.
Yoga cultivates mindfulness because it allows us to be in this present moment, at one with our breath, simply noticing the sensations and feelings in our body with non-judgmental awareness.
If starting a yoga practice seems intimidating, YouTube might become your new best friend. There are thousands of videos online dedicated to beginner’s yoga. If you’re not sure where to start, I highly recommend Yoga With Adriene’s Foundations of Yoga series. This series is comprised of 45 separate five to twenty-five minute videos, each dedicated to helping you explore a different yoga pose. I love these because you can take your time with each pose and go at your own pace.
If you want to learn a little more about yoga and mindfulness, here and here are a couple articles that dive a little deeper into the connection between your body and your mind.
And there you have it: ten ways to cultivate mindfulness today. Remember that you don’t have to include all ten practices into your life today. Start small. Choose a few that feel right to you. And if one of those methods doesn’t click, choose again. And remember that every moment in our lives provides us with an opportunity to practice mindfulness. Even right now. Notice the thoughts, sounds, sensations, and feeling of the present moment. No judgments. Just observe.
Other Posts You Might Like
- 10 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Meditation
- A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding and Unblocking Your Chakras
- 25 Epic Morning Affirmations to Create a Beautiful Day
10 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness Today 
Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
-
What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Quotes
In this post, I’ll go in-depth on the three components of mindfulness, plus provide you with 15 life-changing quotes about mindfulness that will change the way you think. Be sure to check up my follow-up post, 10 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness Today, where I provide you with ten simple and effective practices you can do today to cultivate a more mindful life.
What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Quotes Mindfulness
This word has been gaining recognition and popularity over the past several years (for good reason), becoming more than just a concept reserved only for experienced meditators and skillful yogis. From mindfulness coaches to mindfulness bloggers (*raises hand*), we see reminders to be mindful all over social media, blogs, and news sites.
But what exactly does this mean?
I’ll be the first to admit that when I first heard the term mindfulness, I had no idea what it was actually referring to. From what I knew of the word mindful, I had some guesses: it probably had something to do with awareness and maybe having respect for yourself and others, such as to be mindful of your words or to stay mindful of somebody’s personal space. That didn’t seem too difficult. From that fuzzy and uncertain definition, I was pretty sure I already had a solid foundation in mindfulness already built up for myself.
Spoiler alert: I was wrong.
I’m not sure I ever actually sought out an actual definition of mindfulness. Rather, the practice found me, and as I opened myself up and made space for it in my life, more resources and guidance came to me to help me in my journey.
While meditation has been my greatest teacher in helping me discover mindfulness, you absolutely do not have to meditate to cultivate mindfulness. We begin cultivating mindfulness the moment we return our awareness to this present moment (and when our minds inevitably stray, gently bringing it back to the now, over and over again).
In this post, I’ll break down what mindfulness really means, including its three core components, as well as give you fifteen powerful quotes from past and present thinkers and visionaries on what mindfulness is, what it does, and why it’s important.
What Is Mindfulness?
This morning, as I was applying my makeup, I noticed that I chose the exact same eyeshadow from my eyeshadow palette that I’ve been unconsciously choosing for probably a week straight. I pointed my brush right at the little rectangle and dipped it into the neutral, beige-ish powder without even thinking about it, probably just as I had yesterday and the day before. Today, though, I paused for a second. Then I looked at the other colors on the palette. I recognized what I was doing, made the conscious decision to keep using that same eyeshadow again, and then applied my eyeshadow.
As small and seemingly inconsequential as this moment was, this is an example of mindfulness.
We all have unconscious behaviors we engage in every single day. And that’s okay! We don’t need to fight or avoid these unconscious behaviors. To be honest, it’s kind of nice to go on autopilot every once in a while and perform actions that don’t take tons of thought.
Mindfulness is, in many ways, the art of noticing. In my example, choosing the same eyeshadow color I’ve been picking for the past week was an act of simply noticing. I was able to pause in the middle of my unconscious act and simply observe myself.
Going Beyond Just Noticing
Now, if we deepen our definition of mindfulness, we see it as a little more than just noticing: it’s non-judgmental awareness in the present moment.
Here are two reactions I could’ve had when I noticed that I picked the same eyeshadow color for the umpteenth time:
- “Good God, Zanna, what is wrong with you? You should’ve been paying better attention. You’re not mindful. You’re just going through the motions again!”
- “Huh. That’s interesting.”
Mindfulness does not mean you notice and then berate, bully, and judge yourself for your thoughts and actions.
Mindfulness means you notice and observe without any judgment.
(But if you realize that you are judging yourself, that’s okay. This is my absolutely favorite thing about mindfulness: we can stray as many times as we want and always come home to ourselves. So if I had chosen that first reaction above, I could’ve observed my own judgment and then thought, “Huh. Okay. I’m judging myself. That doesn’t align with who I am. I think I’ll choose again.” The important thing is not to let this become a domino effect. If you notice yourself judging, try not to judge yourself for judging. Instead, choose again. Choose differently. Be gentle with yourself. Just the act of recognizing and choosing again is going to be of far greater service to you in your journey than being a perfect mindfulness student all of the time.)
Defining Mindfulness
My favorite descriptor for our individual roles in a mindfulness practice is to be an objective observer. This means I have the power to step outside of myself in the present moment and notice my thoughts and actions without judgment or criticism. And when I see that my thoughts are returning to stories of the past or future, I can gently guide myself back to this moment right now. And I can do that again and again and again, as many times as I need.
So here’s my personal definition of mindfulness:
Mindfulness is non-judgmental, conscious awareness in the present moment.
And to be mindful is to be an objective observer of oneself.
And that’s it. Of course, we can continue to dive deeper as we explore and discuss mindfulness, but for a definition, it’s truly that simple.
The 3 Components of Mindfulness
So from my definition above, we can break down the concept of mindfulness into three components:
- Conscious Awareness: To recognize your thoughts, words, and actions as you’re thinking, speaking, and acting. This is the opposite of the “autopilot” mode we all fall into once in a while. Conscious awareness is taking a step back, recognizing the autopilot mode, and choosing how you think and feel in this moment.
- Lack of Judgment: Autopilot mode is normal. So is letting our minds wander to the past or future. So is anger, fear, sadness, pain, anxiety, worry, boredom, and all kinds of emotions that we label as good or bad. The key to mindfulness is to not judge ourselves for our thoughts and emotions. Simply notice. Observe. Choose again.
- Returning to the Present Moment: I think about the past a lot. I also think about the future a lot. And that’s okay. I can also recognize that the only real thing in the world is this moment right now. We can think about the past and future, but don’t live there. Live in this moment. That’s what mindfulness does for us; it allows us to honor and recognize the beauty, value, and importance of this moment right now.
15 Powerful Quotes
“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” – James Baraz
Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness Quote “What would if be like if I could accept life – accept this moment- exactly as it is?” – Tara Brach
“That’s life: starting over, one breath at a time.” – Sharon Salzberg
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” – Amit Ray
“Wherever you are, be there totally.” – Eckhart Tolle
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh
Mother Teresa Mindfulness Quote “Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.” – Sylvia Boorstein
“Pure awareness transcends thinking. It allows you to step outside the chattering negative self-talk and your reactive impulses and emotions. It allows you to look at the world once again with open eyes. And when you do so, a sense of wonder and quiet contentment begins to reappear in your life.” – Mark Williams
“We spend a lot of time judging ourselves harshly for feelings that we had no role in summoning. The only thing you can control is how you handle it.” – Dan Harris
Rasheed Ogunlaru Mindfulness Quote “Whatever state I am in, I see it as a state of mind to be accepted as it is.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Learn to slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself and those around you.” – Tim Ferriss
“Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that – thoughts.”- Allan Lokos
Want to Learn More About Mindfulness?
Check out these awesome resources!
- mindful.org
- UMass Memorial Health Care Center for Mindfulness
- Awakening Joy
- Short animated video by Happify: Why Mindfulness is a Superpower
If you’re thinking about starting a meditation routine but aren’t sure where to begin, be sure to check out my post, 7 Types of Meditation Practices for Beginners. And if you have any questions about mindfulness or meditation, leave a comment below or connect on social media! I’d love to hear from you!
What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
-
Chakras for Beginners: Unblock Your Chakras Today
Looking for a guide to understanding chakras for beginners? I’ve got you covered with all the essential details you need to know to start understanding, activating, balancing, and unblocking your body’s important energy centers today.
Chakras for Beginners: Unblock Your Chakras Today Discover More About Chakras
Chakras
If you’ve recently started a new meditation or yoga practice, you’ve likely heard the term chakras used by teachers, speakers, and guides. I still remember when I began listening to guided meditations and hearing terms like third eye chakra and crown chakra being used for the first time.
As a meditation beginner, I had a vague, fuzzy idea of what these words meant, but I wasn’t entirely sure on the specifics.
Depending on the teacher’s wording, I wasn’t always sure if my third eye chakra was between my eyes or higher up on my forehead, or if the crown chakra was actually on my head or above my head.
Each chakra has its own intricacies that you’ll want to understand, but before diving into the complexities of the individual chakras, it’s helpful to start with a solid foundation of the basics.
In this post, I provide you with a guide to understanding chakras for beginners. This guide contains a discussion of the seven main chakras and their roles as well as their colors, locations, and other significant details about each energy center.
I also provide you with affirmations related to each chakra, methods to balance and unblock your chakras, and links to some great meditations to help you activate your energy centers.
Chakras for Beginners: Overview
As I mentioned in the intro, there are seven main chakras. Each chakra has its name as well as its Sanskrit name, a specific location in the body, an associated color and symbol, and distinct roles and attributes. (Note that when I say they have specific locations in the body, a chakra is not a physical, tangible thing. Rather, it’s an energy center in the body. More on that in a minute!)
But this isn’t all. Going even deeper, you find that each chakra also has associated foods, gemstones, mantras, body parts, animals, and even essential oils.
But before we get into the details, let’s start with the most fundamental question: what exactly is a chakra?
The word chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or disk. So when we define what a chakra is, we often go back to this translation: a chakra is a wheel of energy in your body.
Think of it like a vortex of energy within you:
While chakras are often depicted in images as bright, colored light, we can’t actually see these energy centers in our body. Rather, we experience them through feelings and sensations. You might also call it an inner knowing or intuition.
Understanding Chakras: The Flow of Energy
Energy is meant to flow, and ideally, this energy (or prana) is always flowing within you. When our chakras are open, energy is flowing and we feel in alignment with our highest selves.
But when a chakra is blocked, the energy stagnates, and we become misaligned. Often, this manifests in physical, emotional, mental, and/or spiritual blockages. If one chakra is blocked, we may also overcompensate by causing another chakra to become overactive.
For instance, if your root chakra is blocked (your root chakra is associated with helping you feel grounded, steady, and stable), then your solar plexus chakra might become overactive (which could cause you to cling to perfectionistic tendencies and/or a desire for control).
There are seven main chakras that each have their own distinct roles, but it’s important to remember that they act as one whole system. It might help you to think of it like the physical organs inside your body. Even though each organ has a specific role and function, they all work together to keep you in optimum health and alignment. When one organ isn’t functioning correctly, this often negatively affects other parts of your body.
This is the same with chakras: when one chakra is blocked, this affects the energy flowing through our other chakra points.
The 7 Main Chakras & Their Roles
Below is a guide to the seven main chakras and their distinct roles and attributes. You’ll notice that I start with the root chakra and work up through the spine, ending at the crown chakra. If you hear someone refer to first chakra, second chakra, third chakra, and so on, they usually are referring to the root chakra as the first chakra, the sacral chakra as the second, continuing to move upward.
The details below will provide you with a helpful baseline to better understand each chakra as you discover where your energy centers are located and how they function.
Root Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Muladhara
- Location: Base of the spine
- Color: Red
- Balanced Attributes: Grounded, safe, secure, stable, centered. Like the roots of a tree, this is your foundation. You’re firm in your place in life, and your basic needs are being met.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Anxious, insecure, fearful, excessive negativity, depressed. Energies feel scattered and disorderly. Disconnected and restless.
- Mantra/Sound: LAM
- Gemstones: Onyx, smoky quartz, bloodstone, hematite, obsidian
- Affirmations: I am grounded, centered, and stable. I am rooted and secure. All is really well. I have everything I need. I feel safe in my body.
Sacral Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Svadhishthana
- Location: Lower abdomen
- Color: Orange
- Balanced Attributes: Creative, joyful, prosperous, sexual, sensual, passionate, energetic.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Withdrawn, tense, insecure, needy, irritable, controlling, manipulative.
- Mantra/Sound: VAM
- Gemstones: Orange calcite, jasper, carnelian, red tiger’s eye
- Affirmations: I am open to the flow of creativity. I am creative, passionate, and inspired. My emotions flow freely in a balanced and healthy way. I live a creative, passionate, healthy life. I deeply respect and honor my sacred body, and I honor my own divine sensuality.
Solar Plexus Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Manipura
- Location: Stomach/below the chest
- Color: Yellow
- Balanced Attributes: Confident, positive, high sense of self-respect and self-esteem, joyful. This is your source of personal power; you have drive, a positive self image, and feel aligned with your purpose.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Low self-esteem, lack of ambition, lack of purpose, fear of rejection, sensitive to criticism, low energy. If overactive, can also become manipulative, domineering, power-hungry.
- Mantra/Sound: RAM
- Gemstones: Citrine, topaz, yellow tiger’s eye
- Affirmations: I am powerful, strong, and confident. I can achieve anything I set my mind to. Today, I confidently welcome new experiences. I am competent, capable, and strong.
Heart Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Anahata
- Location: Heart/center of chest
- Color: Green
- Balanced Attributes: Loving, peaceful, compassionate, unconditional love for yourself and others, generous, kind, empathetic.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Depressed, jealous, defensive, judgmental, spiteful. May excessively self-isolate from others. Fearful of intimacy.
- Mantra/Sound: YAM
- Gemstones: Rose quartz, jade, green calcite
- Affirmations: I am loved, loving, and lovable. I love myself unconditionally. My heart is open, loving, and pure. I give and receive love effortlessly and unconditionally. I love and accept myself just as I am.
Throat Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Vishuddha
- Location: Throat/center of neck
- Color: Light blue
- Balanced Attributes: Able to express yourself verbally and speak your truth. Communicates clearly and effectively. Calm, honest, peaceful.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Shy, withdrawn, dishonest, critical, moody. If overactive, you may interrupt others or not allow others to speak.
- Mantra/Sound: HAM
- Gemstones: Blue lace agate, turquoise, sodalite, aquamarine
- Affirmations: I am able to calmly and effectively speak my truth. I live an honest, authentic, wholehearted life. My voice matters. I express myself clearly and openly. I find creative ways to communicate my self-expression.
Third Eye Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Ajna
- Location: Center of forehead/between the eyebrows
- Color: Indigo
- Balanced Attributes: Intuitive and connected to your inner knowing. Imaginative, perceptive, openminded, insightful, mentally strong.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Lack of intuition, unimaginative, fearful, unable to focus, close-minded, holding onto limiting beliefs.
- Mantra/Sound: OM or SHAM
- Gemstones: Lapis lazuli, opal, sapphire
- Affirmations: I listen to my inner knowing in the face of uncertainty. I see and think clearly. My mind is strong, open, and clear. I trust my intuition to guide me to making good decisions.
Crown Chakra
- Sanskrit Name: Sahasrara
- Location: Top of the head
- Color: Violet (White is also often associated with this chakra.)
- Balanced Attributes: Spiritual, enlightened, connected to a higher power, connected to oneself. Divine peace and a sense of inner wisdom. Able to surrender to a power higher than oneself. Connected to your soul’s purpose.
- Imbalanced Attributes: Cynical, close-minded, disconnected from yourself, disconnected from a higher power. Lack of faith. Unable to connect with others.
- Mantra/Sound: OM (or silence)
- Gemstones: Selenite, clear quartz, amethyst, diamond.
- Affirmations: I am always divinely and lovingly guided. I release the need to control my life and surrender to a higher power. Today, I trust the path in front of me and allow myself to let go and surrender. I trust my intuition and listen to the wisdom of the universe.
Unblocking and Balancing Your Chakras
Now that you have an understanding of where each chakra is located and their distinct attributes, how exactly do you unblock a chakra?
As you may have guessed, there is no scientific answer here. We all have different methods of unblocking chakras, and what works for one person may not work as well for the other. But at the foundation of these practices, it’s most important to set an intention, lean into the process, commit, and believe.
Also remember that it’s very likely and totally normal to have more than one chakra blocked or unbalanced at a time. While each chakra has a separate location and role, they’re all intertwined and function as one complete system.
Consider this example: If your root chakra is blocked, you may be feeling unstable, insecure, restless, and possibly even unsafe. The root chakra is your very foundation, and without it being open, it would be nearly impossible to feel creative and joyful (sacral chakra) or confident and positive (solar plexus chakra).
Below is a list of several ways you can start balancing your chakras today.
Methods of Balancing Your Chakras
Yoga
There are specific yoga poses associated with each chakra, such as the mountain pose for the root chakra or child’s pose for the third eye. If you want to focus on balancing a specific chakra, you can center your practice on only those poses associated with that chakra. For a more balanced practice, incorporate poses that include all of the chakra points. If you’d like, you can also begin or end your practice repeating the mantra for one of the chakra points. (See the list of Chakras above for each one’s associated mantra/sound.)
Meditation
There are several ways meditation can help with unblocking chakras. You can use a visualization meditation to visualize the energy centers (in each chakra’s corresponding color) brightening, swirling, and glowing. You can also do a mantra meditation in which you repeat the mantras associated with each chakra to clear any blockages and imbalances. See the next section for some links to some powerful guided chakra meditations!
Chakra Affirmations Repeat Affirmations
You can use the affirmations I’ve written for each chakra above or come up with your own powerful affirmations. One of the best things about affirmations is that you can recite them anywhere. Repeat them in the shower, during your morning commute, or even standing in line in the grocery store. You can also combine affirmation practices with other methods on this list, such as meditation, journaling, and even dancing!
Essential Oils
Each chakra is associated with various essential oils that can help calm or stimulate that specific energy center. For instance, you might use cedarwood for your root chakra, lemon for the solar plexus, or peppermint for the throat. To use essential oils to help balance your chakras, apply a small amount of the oil to the chakra point. (While essential oils are generally safe, I would definitely recommend making sure you use a high-quality brand and following the guidelines of the manufacturer before applying anything to your skin. Depending on the type, some oils may require dilution. Definitely do your research and follow up with a health expert if you have any questions before applying.)
Colors
Solar plexus chakra feeling blocked? Wear yellow. Eat a banana. Paint with the color yellow. Make your own homemade lemonade. Find all the yellow items in your home and put them in your line of sight.
Journal
One of my favorite practices is to combine affirmations into my journaling. If you have 10 to 30 minutes to sit down for journaling, write down affirmations that focus on one, multiple, or all of your chakras. Another great practice is to visualize and describe your highest, truest, and most authentic self – the highest version of you when all of your chakras are aligned. The key here is to write in the present tense! Instead of writing, “I see myself as . . .” or “I will be . . .”, write, “I am . . .” Embody that version of your highest self and become that person as you write.
Dance
Dancing is a beautiful way to express yourself and enhance the flow of energy in your body. If you can, try to involve the body part related to any blocked chakras into your dance. For instance, if your heart chakra feels blocked, incorporate more chest movements into your dancing. You can also incorporate colors here as well! Remember to have fun, don’t take yourself too seriously, and surrender to the flow!
Immerse Yourself in Nature
Walk barefoot in the dirt (root chakra, associated with the earth; go swimming (sacral chakra, associated with water); have a (safe) bonfire (solar plexus chakra, associated with fire); take a cleansing walk as you focus on breathing in the fresh air (heart chakra, associated with air). If multiple chakras feel blocked, getting back to your foundations (nature and the earth) is one of the best ways to clear any blockages.
Food
Eat a food associated with the color of the chakra (i.e. a red apple, green spinach, orange carrot). Try to aim for something healthy, unprocessed, and nutrient-dense.
Crystals
You can use crystals associated with each chakra to activate that energy center. Some simple practices are to hold the crystal over the chakra point for three to five minutes, lay the crystal on the body for an extended amount of time, or to meditate with the crystal by either holding it or laying it on the body (if you’re laying down). If you want, you can even place all seven crystals on each chakra point at once while you’re laying down.
Express Your Creativity
Embrace ways to express your creativity, such as drawing, painting, dancing, singing, working with clay, writing poetry, or however you like to unleash your inner creative!
Chakra Meditations
The following meditations can all be found on the Insight Timer app (no affiliation). This is a free app that offers over 55,000 meditations and music tracks (all completely free). You can read more about why I choose this app as well as learn about different meditation practices for beginners here.
- Chakra Waterfall Meditation by Jessie Arielle Smith (6 minutes)
- Chakra Balancing by Kiran Chugani (8 minutes)
- Personal Transformation: Energy Centers Chakra Discovery by Dexter and Alessandrina (12 minutes)
- Guided Chakra Healing Meditation by Healing Haus (19 minutes)
- Sacral Chakra Therapy by Cory Cochiolo (19 minutes)
- Chakra Tune-Up by Gemma Clarke (21 minutes)
And that’s a a guide to chakras for beginners! Be sure to check the links at the top of this post to learn more about the individual chakras. Have any questions about chakras? Or have you discovered any practices that have helped you activate and balance your chakras? Leave a comment below to ask a question or share your experiences!
Chakras for Beginners: Unblock Your Chakras Today Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
-
Meditation Practices For Beginners
Want to start a meditation practice but unsure where to begin? Here, I list 7 types of meditation practices for beginners, including mindfulness, body scan, visualization, and chakra meditations. I also provide you with links to guided meditations you can try at your home today!
7 Types of Meditation Practices for Beginners Meditation
If you’ve never meditated before, the thought of starting a meditation practice can feel kind of daunting. How do you start? When’s the best time to meditate? How are you supposed to sit, and what the heck do you do with your hands?
Here’s my overarching answer to all questions about starting a meditation practice: Start where you are with what you have.
There will never be a perfect time to start meditating, and yet, it is always the perfect time to start meditating. You don’t need any special equipment. You don’t need to wait for a certain time of day. And you definitely don’t need to cultivate the special superpower of being able to clear your brain of thoughts. At most, you just need yourself and a few minutes of quiet.
Below, I’ve listed seven of the best types of meditation practices for beginners who are new to meditation. While you can definitely choose any of these in any order, I’d recommend starting with mindfulness meditation, as that lays the foundation for so many other types. At the end of each section, I link to associated meditations in the Insight Timer app. Please note that I have absolute no affiliation with the Insight Timer app, or any other meditation-based apps. I objectively chose Insight Timer to highlight for the following reasons:
Insight Timer Features
- It offers over 55,000 guided meditations and music tracks for meditation completely free. You can purchase a paid subscription to receive access to courses, but this is not required for meditations. You have total access the 1000s of meditations they provide for free. They also support over 3,000 meditation teachers on their app and website. This page offers great perspective into why I personally use and believe in this app.
- Because it offers 1000s of free meditations, once you’ve tried your first few meditations, you can freely and easily explore other meditations. You can also bookmark ones that resonate most with you.
- On top of meditations, it includes music, talks, and a timer feature that allows you to time and track your own unguided meditations. The app also lets you download meditations for offline use.
- There’s a social media element that allows you to see others who meditated at the same time as you. You can even send them a short message, such as, “Thank you for meditating with me.” But if you don’t like this feature, you can alter your settings and remain private.
- There’s also several categories broken down by benefits (sleep, healing, health, happiness) and practices (mindfulness, visualization, gentle repetition). Finally, there’s also Beginner Kits to help you when you’re just starting out. (Still, all free.)
While I’ve linked to the meditations on Insight Timer’s webpage, I’d definitely recommend downloading the app on your phone for easier access.
(Of course, if you find a different app that you want to use, go for it! You can even try multiple apps and see which one you like best. Also, you don’t need an app to meditate, but it’s definitely helpful when first starting out.)
Meditation FAQs
Now, before I get into the different types of meditation practices for beginners, here are some answers to a few more common questions that you may have:
What time of day should I meditate?
When I first started, I thought I needed to meditate as soon as I woke up because that’s what I had read in articles and blog posts. Meditating first thing in the morning is a great practice. But so is meditating an hour after you wake up. Or two hours later, at lunch time, before dinner, after dinner, or before bedtime. Basically, anytime you want. So the short answer: There is no right or wrong time to meditate. Do it when you have time and when it feels right for you.
How should I sit when I meditate? And what do I do with my hands?
In many of the guided meditations, the teacher will give you some instructions on how to sit, usually giving you a couple options. If you’re on the floor, you can sit cross-legged with your hands on your knees and your palms facing up or down. If you’re on a chair, you can sit with your back straight, hands on knees, legs uncrossed. And it may seem weird, but often, you can lay down as well. It took me a while to try a meditation laying down, but it truly gave me a different and enriching experience. Now, I’ll choose different positions depending on how I feel and what kind of meditation I’m doing.
What if I can’t clear my mind of thoughts?
This is one of the biggest misconceptions of meditation and why many people believe meditation isn’t for them. If you listen to just about any meditation teacher, they’ll tell you the same thing: Meditation is not about clearing your mind of thoughts. If it was, I’m not sure any of us, not even the most advanced meditators, would ever succeed. The last thing we want to do is suppress or evade our own thoughts.
At its heart, meditation (especially practices rooted in mindfulness) is about non-judgmental observation, conscious awareness, and gently rooting ourselves in the present moment. When you’re meditating and your mind strays, don’t berate or speak down to yourself. You are not “wrong” for having a thought. Simply notice. When I first started, I’d use the phrase, “Ah, I’m having a thought.” I imagined I was observing something curious and interesting but that I didn’t need to hold onto. Allow yourself to become an objective observer of your own mind and accept that thought. Then, gently guide your brain back to the present moment.
Below, I’ve written about seven different types of meditation practices for beginners. I’ve also included associated Insight Timer guided meditations (all 10 to 14 minutes long). Feel free to check them out or find your own meditations, using any of the great apps that are available. But again, you absolutely don’t need an app for meditation. I think they’re extra helpful for beginners, but the only thing you truly need to start meditating today is yourself.
Mindfulness Meditation
What exactly is mindfulness meditation? First, let’s look at the word mindfulness. Have you ever gotten lost in thought? Do you find yourself thinking about an event in the recent past and going over all the details? Do you replay old scenes over and over again, getting pulled into those past emotions? Or what about making up scenarios and obsessively playing out scenes of the future that haven’t even happened?
In one of my previous jobs, as I got ready for work in the morning, I’d think about all the things my boss had done recently that upset me. Then, I’d make up things I imagined he’d do to upset me even more. I was angry, frustrated, and upset—all before even stepping foot out the door!
Now, can you imagine living a life where you’re always living in the past or future – never in the present?
(Read More About Mindfulness: What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Quotes)
This is where mindfulness comes in.
Mindfulness is conscious awareness of the present moment through an unattached, objective, and unemotional lens. Mindfulness allows you to notice when your thoughts have strayed and to gently return them to this present moment. The key here is that you don’t judge yourself for your straying thoughts; it happens to everyone. You can simply notice that you’re having a thought and then release it without judgment.
A common analogy is to think of it as clouds passing over you in the sky. Imagine you’re laying on the ground looking up at a perfectly blue sky, and a cloud passes above you. “Look, there’s a cloud,” you think. Then it floats out of your vision, and you let it go without attachment.
In mindfulness meditation, you’re not trying to rid your head of thoughts; you simply notice with objective awareness when you’re having a thought, and then you let it go and return to this present moment.
So how exactly do you stay grounded in this present moment?
Most often, it’s through your breath. In many mindfulness practices, you simply keep your focus on your breath coming in and going out of your body. And when you find your thoughts going astray, you return your focus to your breath. In the beginning, it might help you to use numbers or a counting system. For example, for every inhale, you may think a silent one, and for every exhale, you think two. Or you can count to ten: every inhale is an odd number and every exhale is an even number. When you get to ten, you return back to one and start all over again.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
Kate James’ Mindful Awareness Meditation (just under 10 minutes) gently guides you through the act of bringing mindful awareness to your present experience. This is a really wonderful meditation for guiding you through the process of becoming an objective observer of yourself.
Laurie J. Cameron’s Mindful Breathing With Compassion is a beautiful 10-minute practice that combines mindful breathing with a loving-kindness practice.
Body Scan Meditation
Body scan meditation is an extension of mindfulness in that it allows you to consciously notice how different parts of your body are feeling in the present moment without judgment.
In a body scan meditation, you start at your feet and make your way up, paying attention to the way each body part feels. (If you prefer, you can start at your head and move downward.) Are you carrying tension in this particular body part? Are there any feelings or sensations? Don’t attach any value to your answers. For instance, if you’re feeling tension in your shoulders, don’t label this as bad. Just notice.
Now, there are differing beliefs on what a person should do next. For some, the act of simply noticing is the goal of this meditation. The reason is that this grounds you in the present moment and cultivates a sense of mindfulness. Others go one step further by consciously releasing the tension they perceive. One way to do this is by breathing into the tension. As you exhale, visualize the tension leaving your body and evaporating into the air. Another technique is to actively tense up your muscles and then relax them. You might also visualize a wave of relaxation flowing through your body.
While a body scan meditation can be done anytime, it’s especially beneficial in helping you to relax at nighttime. If you find yourself laying in bed at night unable to fall asleep, don’t try to suppress your thoughts. Instead, simply redirect your thoughts. You can do a body scan meditation right there in your bed. Simply relax your muscles and release the tension from each part of your body.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
Wendy Chan’s Mindful Body Scan (just under 11 minutes) is a simple but powerful meditation that gently guides you through noticing the different sensations in your body without any judgment or labeling the sensations as good or bad.
Tara Brach is one of the most well-known meditation teachers both on and off the Insight Timer app. Her Basic Body Scan & Breath Awareness (11 minutes) is a perfect meditation for beginners.
Loving Kindness Meditation
Loving kindness meditations have become one of my unexpectedly favorite types of meditations. Why unexpected? To be honest, when I first read about the concept, I didn’t really get it. So I’m just supposed to wish goodwill for others? Of course that’s something I want to do always, but couldn’t I just inherently do that outside of meditation?
It took actually experiencing my first loving kindness guided meditation to truly understand the gentle power in this practice.
What is Loving Kindness?
The goal of a loving kindness meditation is to extend kindness toward yourself and others in your life. In my first loving kindness guided meditation, I was instructed to visualize I was standing in front of myself. I looked myself in the eyes, and I repeated these words:
May you be well . . . may you be happy . . . may you live with ease . . . may you know you’re always loved.
Then, I was instructed to picture someone I loved and cherished deeply standing in front of me and to recite those same words. Next, I visualized someone who I sort of, kind of knew but who I didn’t have any positive or negative feelings toward, such as a grocery store cashier or a neighbor down the street. Again, I envisioned looking them in the eyes and repeating those words. Then, I was guided to envision someone I felt negative feelings toward, to look this person in the eyes, and to recite these same kind and loving words as well. And finally, I extended these words to the entire universe in which I am connected.
There are many variations of a loving kindness meditation, but at their core, they all promote feelings of love and compassion. Like most types of meditation, I’d advise not to focus on this as the end goal, though. Don’t try to feel love and compassion. Just allow yourself to follow the process and open yourself up to whatever arises. Don’t place any judgement or value on your feelings. Just be.
Beyond the Meditation
One great thing about this practice is that you don’t have to be sitting alone in a dark room to practice loving kindness. If you’re a beginner, it helps to do a few guided loving kindness meditations to understand the process and follow some of the different variations of this meditation. Soon, though, you may find different opportunities to engage with these practices.
For instance, when you’re getting ready in the morning and find yourself feeling stressed about the day ahead, you can look at yourself in the mirror and repeat words of loving kindness. If you have a boss who causes you to feel negative emotions, you can visualize looking them in the eyes and repeating these same words. This doesn’t mean that you agree with or accept the things you may not like about them. What it means is that you have the power to realign with your highest self and to choose love over resentment, anger, or pessimism.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
I love Vanessa Michele’s Loving Kindness For Yourself & Others (10 minutes) to cultivate a sense of love and compassion for yourself and the world around you.
Camilla Sacre-Dallerup’s Loving Kindness and Compassion (10 1/2 minutes) meditation is a beautiful variation of a traditional loving kindness meditation.
Visualization/Guided Imagery Meditation
In a visualization meditation, you focus on a specific visual in your mind’s eye. If you’re doing a guided meditation, your instructor will gently guide you through a series of visuals that you follow in your mind. At its foundation, visualization meditations are still rooted in mindfulness. When you’re practicing a visualization meditation, you may find your mind wandering, thinking about the day ahead or noticing the very loud garbage truck outside your house. (I use that specific example because it happens to me nearly every Monday morning!) It’s okay if your mind wanders. Just notice, then allow yourself to return to the visualization.
So in a visualization meditation, what exactly are you visualizing? This is where, if you’re someone who likes concrete directions and specific answers, you may get frustrated. Because the truth is, there’s an infinite amount of scenes you may visualize in your mind’s eye.
For instance, I’ve done a lot of manifestation visualizations. Some of these guide me through visualizing a perfect day in my dream life, while others have taken me to golden waterfalls where abundance is infinite and always flowing. I’ve also done visualizations where I’ve floated down a gentle river and allowed myself to flow effortlessly with the water, trusting where the water takes me. I’ve visualized journeys into my own heart where I explore all of the dark and light inside of me. And I’ve also visualized standing in front of a beautiful ocean and releasing all of my hopes and dreams into the sea, entrusting the water with all of my heart’s desires.
There are so many visualization meditations available to you, and so many different goals and reasons for why you might perform a visualization meditation, it’d be impossible to list them all here.
The Key to Visualization
A key for many visualization meditations is to not only see these scenes playing out in your mind but to experience them with all of your senses. If you find this to be difficult at first, it’s okay. This doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong or that you’re not “cut out” for this type of meditation. I encourage you to open yourself to the process and simply let it be whatever it is. It doesn’t have to be a big or overwhelming thing; I’ve experienced many incredible guided visualization meditations that were only ten minutes long.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
Carrie Suwal’s Attracting All That You Desire (10 1/2 minutes) is a powerful meditation for manifestation that includes both visualization and affirmations.
My overall most-played meditation on the Insight Timer app is Rishika Anya’s Breaking Through Limiting ThoughtForms (just under 11 minutes). This is a powerful visualization meditation to help you break through limiting thoughts that no longer serve your ultimate wellbeing.
Affirmations Meditation
Affirmations meditations are generally pretty straightforward. These are guided meditations in which a teacher recites a series of affirmations, and you repeat these affirmations, either silently or aloud. Often times, a meditation dedicated to reciting affirmations will focus on a specific topic. Some of the guided affirmation meditations you may find include affirmations for abundance, self-love, worthiness, and health. You can also find morning affirmations specifically dedicated to cultivating a positive mindset for the day ahead. There are even affirmation meditations dedicated to specific topics such as childbirth.
Usually, the teacher will advise you on how to follow along with these affirmations. Sometimes, instead of repeating them, you simply breathe into each one and feel them into your being.
Note that you may encounter affirmations in other types of meditations as well. For instance, in a guided visualization meditation for manifestation, the teacher may include affirmations to affirm your worthiness of beautiful abundance in your life.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
Liza Colpa’s Manifestation & Affirmation Practice To Gain Confidence (12 minutes) is a perfect one for utilizing both visualization and affirmations to guide you in your personal growth. I absolutely love all of Liza’s meditations, so if you like this one, I’d definitely recommend checking out her others as well.
Karen Wang’s Words of Affirmation (10 minutes) beautifully guides you through a series of affirmations for self-confidence and empowerment.
Chakra Meditation
Chakras are your body’s spiritual energy centers. When our chakras are unblocked, energy flows freely within our body, mind, and spirit, and we feel a sense of alignment and peacefulness. When a chakra is blocked, we feel imbalanced, and this often manifests in negative physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms (anxiety, creativity blocks, and digestive issues, for instance).
There’s truly so much to talk about when it comes to chakras, so I’ve created this beginner’s guide to understanding and unblocking your chakras. And if you want to learn more, here’s some further reading from one of my go-to sites, the Chopra Center.
Chakra meditation usually focuses on unblocking any blocked chakras so energy can flow freely. Some meditations will focus on increasing awareness and unblocking one specific chakra, while others do an overview of all the chakras. Below is a list of the chakras, their associated colors, and their locations within your body:
- Root: Red, at the base of your spine.
- Sacral: Orange, at your lower abdomen.
- Solar Plexus: Yellow, above your belly button, below the chest.
- Heart: Green, at your heart.
- Throat: Blue, in your throat area.
- Third-eye: Indigo, on your forehead, between your eyebrows.
- Crown: Violet, at the top of your head.
If this is your first introduction to chakras, I’d recommend starting with a meditation that guides you through all of the chakras and their different colors. Once you feel like you have a good foundational understanding of chakras, you can search for guided meditations that focus on unblocking a specific chakra.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners
Dexter and Alessandrina’s Personal Transformation: Energy Centers Chakra Discovery is a 12-minute guided meditation that leads you through each chakra in your body and its associated color. It’s a really great one for beginners!
Carrie Suwal, who I mentioned above in the Visualization Meditation section, has some beautiful chakra meditations that focus on trauma, depression, healing the heart, anxiety, and overall balancing. Note that most of these are a little longer than the others that I’ve listed, but if you’re drawn to gentle voices like I am, I think you’ll really love Carrie’s soft and tenderhearted guidance.
Mantra Meditation
Out of all the meditations I’ve listed here, I have the least amount of experience with mantra meditations. But I wanted to include it because it’s a great alternative to the standard mindfulness meditation. In a mantra meditation, you focus on a word or a single syllable (and sometimes a phrase) for the entirely of the meditation. If you focus on a word, this word has no meaning. You wouldn’t say something like love, kind, peace, or any other word you have a connection to. Often, this word may not even be in the same language you speak. Some common examples of syllables or words you may repeat include om and ram.
(Okay, because I’m one that doesn’t like labeling anything in meditation as “right” or “wrong,” I concede that there are mantra meditations out there that will use a word that holds meaning to you, such as love or peace, and while you may receive a different type of experience, there is nothing inherently bad about this!)
During your meditation, you’ll repeat your chosen mantra (or the one your instructor has provided for you) over and over again. There is no rush here. Keep a smooth, relaxed, even tone. Focus on the sound of the mantra, and when your mind wanders, bring yourself back to the sound, just as you would in a standard mindfulness meditation practice.
As in all of the types of meditation listed here, you’ll likely find variations of this practice depending on the teacher. I’d recommend starting out with a guided meditation for this one, but after a couple times, this is one type of meditation that you may feel more comfortable trying without guidance.
Insight Timer Guided Meditation Practices for Beginners:
One of the first mantra meditations I ever tried was Dexter and Alessandrina’s Ganesha Mantra Meditation for Removing Obstacles (14 minutes). I’d recommend trying out some of the other meditation practices I’ve listed above before this one, but when you’re ready to try something different, this offers a really unique and powerful experience.
Hannah Leatherbury’s Mantra of Peace is nine-minute meditation that uses a phrase in the Sanskrit language that translates to “Lead me from the unreal to the real; Lead me from darkness (ignorance) to light (wisdom); Lead me from death (limitation) to life everlasting (freedom).” She also has a beautiful five-minute Mantra of Wholeness.
This is the first of several posts I’ll be releasing on meditation practices for beginners. If you have any specific questions or topics you’d like to see addressed, feel free to leave your requests in the comments below or send me a note through the Contact form. Also, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates on new blog posts and receive an uplifting message in your inbox every Monday morning.
Looking for more tips and tricks?
The incredibly talented Liz from Liz in Lotus has put together an awesome in-depth and comprehensive guide to all the basics of meditation for beginners! Her post includes tips on how to start a meditation practice and links to guided meditations (and more!). Check out Meditation Basics For Beginners: Benefits And Ultimate How-To Guide at Liz in Lotus today!
7 Types of Meditation Practices for Beginners Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
-
10 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Meditation
Thinking about starting a meditation practice, or interested in finding out how your current practice is benefitting you? Read below for the science on 10 of the most significant health benefits of meditation. Includes links to over 25 scholarly articles!
10 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Meditation Meditation
When I decided to try meditating for the first time, I was skeptical. Like many others, I was filled with doubts about whether I could actually meditate.
No way can I empty my brain of thoughts.
I’ll try it, but I’m not actually going to be good at it.
So I’m just supposed to do . . . nothing?
But through my meditation journey, I’ve learned that the goal of meditation isn’t to empty my brain of thoughts; the goal of meditation (mindfulness meditation, specifically) is to objectively recognize when my thoughts have strayed and gently return to this present moment, over and over again.
Through this practice, I have learned how to become an objective observer of myself.
Which is a pretty big deal, after spending most of my life being a brutal self-critic.
To gently transform my default thoughts from inner bully to non-judgmental onlooker is, well, pretty incredible.
In fact, these days, when I step out of my objective observer role, it’s to bring out my inner cheerleader. You see, most of my thoughts about myself now revolve around my own inherent worthiness. I now know I’m capable and deserving of living the best and most beautiful life I envision for myself.
I never imagined this path for myself when I reluctantly meditated for the first time over three years ago.
However, I know that emphatic claims from family, friends, bloggers, and Instagram influencers can only go so far. Most of us need proof that meditation is so much more than just 10 minutes of sitting in silence.
That’s where the science comes in.
When I decided to tackle this subject, I had no idea what I’d find. Are there actually legitimate studies on the science-backed health benefits of meditation?
Yes, it turns out. Lots of them.
To say that I was blown away by the results would be an understatement; there are 1000s of studies and articles out there on the subject. (If you type in “meditation benefits” in Google Scholar, you’ll get over 280,000 results.)
Below, I’ve compiled a list of 10 of the most compelling science-based health benefits of meditation.* These benefits come from multiple peer-reviewed studies and scholarly articles. Links are included in each section!
*Please note that this content is for informational purposes only. It is not meant to substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any questions regarding meditation and your personal health, please consult your doctor.
Health Benefit #1: Decreases Stress
This is a big one, and I list it first because decreased stress itself results in so many positive health benefits: improvements to your immune system, sleep quality, and weight management, to name a few.
First, I actually want to take a step back for a moment and say this: a little bit of stress in our lives isn’t actually such a bad thing.
Not that long ago, stress prompted our ancestors to run from the saber-toothed tigers. And now in our current world, stress propels us to swerve out of the way from that ongoing car. At its foundation, stress is meant to keep us alive.
But our bodies aren’t wired for the persistent stress we encounter today in work and our personal lives. And that’s why stress has become synonymous with a four-letter word in western culture.
But meditation can help.
Numerous studies have produced findings showing that meditation has a positive impact on a person’s stress levels.1 2 3 Studies even show that the use of a meditation app on your smartphone can significantly improve one’s stress levels. These apps may also generate an overall improvement in wellbeing, job strain, and perceptions of workspace social support.4 (Note that Headspace offered free use of the app over the eight-week period in which the study occurred. However, they did not have any involvement in the actual study or conclusions formed.)
One study evaluated 351 full-time working adults with varying levels of meditation experience. The researchers found that those with more experience had higher levels of emotional intelligence, less stress, and better mental health.5
Health Benefit #2: Improves Mental Health
“Mental health” is a blanket term for one’s overall wellbeing, including our psychological, behavioral, and emotional states. Often, studies on the mental health benefits of meditation specifically focus on depression and anxiety.
One review that assessed 47 clinical trials and 3,515 total participants found evidence of improved anxiety and depression in patients over a period of just 8 weeks.6
Another study showed that meditation retreats resulted in reduced depression and anxiety as well as improved overall quality of life in its participants.7
Another two-year study followed 311 bipolar disorder II patients and found that meditation had positive effects on participants’ guilt, mood, and and feelings of helplessness.8
And lastly, another review found that meditation practices have been shown to be effective in reducing one’s anxiety symptoms.9
Health Benefit #3: Improves Immune System
A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that a mindfulness meditation practice can positively change immune function.10 Various other reviews and studies support these findings.11 12
One reason why meditation positively affects the immune system links back to #1 on this list: stress. Stress is known to suppress the immune system and can wreak havoc on the body. This results in chronic fatigue, metabolic disorders, and increased risk of heart disease, among other physical issues. By decreasing stress, a regular meditation practice can help your immune system work properly, just as it’s meant to.
Health Benefit #4: Enhances Brain Health
When it comes to our brain health, I discovered promising evidence showing that meditation can have a significant positive impact.
One study found that meditation increased overall brain network integration. 13 And good news if you’re a non-experienced meditator: another study found that non-experienced meditators practicing just 13 minutes of meditation every day showed increases in mood and focus as well as increased working memory and recognition memory. And to top it off, these short meditation sessions produced similar positive behavioral effects as longer sessions. 14
Finally, another review assessed 13 separate studies, which all reported evidence of significant increases in grey matter in meditators’ brains.15 Grey matter is the outermost layer of the brain. It plays a vital role in how we function normally every day. While there’s still a lot of research to be done, this is compelling and hopeful evidence that meditation may positively impact and even offset neurodegenerative diseases.
Health Benefit #5: Decreases Blood Pressure
Interestingly, transcendental meditation often gets the spotlight when it comes to showing positive impacts of meditation on one’s blood pressure. One study looked at nine clinical trails and found evidence that transcendental meditation could significantly reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a “clinically meaningful” way. 16 Another study found that a transcendental meditation practice can result in decreased blood pressure. The researchers noted these findings to be comparable to weight loss and exercise. 17
But it’s not just transcendental meditation that provides these positive results: another study found that non-transcendental meditation can also produce positive effects on blood pressure. 18
Health Benefit #6: Lengthens Attention Span
If you’re in school or have a highly attentive job, this one’s a big deal. One study found that a meditation practice helped to enhance nursing students’ attention span. It also reduced stress and increased mindfulness.19
There’s good news here, too, if you’re unsure whether you want to commit long-term to a meditation practice. Another study followed participants for just five days and found they showed significantly improved attention spans (as well as decreased stress) when they incorporated a meditation practice into their routines. 20
Health Benefit #7: Improves Chronic Pain
Multiple studies provide evidence that mindfulness meditation can improve a person’s chronic pain symptoms.21 22 Additionally, meditation has shown to improve the psychological effects associated with chronic pain. This includes depression and overall quality of life. 23
Side note: If you suffer from chronic pain, check out the meditations on the Insight Timer app specifically created for those who are experiencing constant and extreme pain. Often, the teachers who release these meditations have experienced or are experiencing similar hardships. I know it seems impossible that meditation can make this pain go away, but know that these teachers see and feel your suffering. They’re there to gently guide you to a place where this pain no longer becomes your identity, and you can live in a space of deep calmness.
Health Benefit #8: Improves Sleep Quality
If you’re someone who struggles with getting a restful night’s sleep, meditation may help. One study looked at adults with moderate sleep disturbances and found that mindfulness awareness practices produced better results in improving the participants’ sleep than sleep hygiene education and suggests that these practices could be used to help remediate sleep problems and thus improve overall quality of life. 24
If you experience more prominent sleep problems, there’s some promising news for you, too: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine released findings showing that a meditation practice can be an effective treatment for insomnia. 25
Health Benefit #9: Increases Lifespan
Researchers at UC San Francisco found evidence that meditation may slow the rate of cellular aging. 26 But how exactly does that work? First, we need to understand the function of telomeres. Telomeres are the cap at each end of a chromosome that protects our chromosomes from deterioration. Over time, telomeres shorten and cause our cells to age. This is where you might have heard the concept of biological aging. When you hear that a 50-year-old is biologically only 30 years old, this is because the length of their telomeres is more aligned with what you would typically expect to see in a 30-year-old.
Constant stress is known to negatively impact telomere length. However, the researchers at UC San Francisco found that certain forms of meditation can have beneficial effects on telomere length and increase positive state of mind, thus preventing factors such as stress and depression from shortening telomere length.
Health Benefit #10: Enhances Self-Awareness
While my personal experience is only anecdotal, this is one that I can wholeheartedly speak to. As I mentioned in the intro, meditation has helped me to become an objective observer of myself. Do I still have negative and self-defeating thoughts? Absolutely. But instead of letting myself become consumed by those thoughts, I’m able to step back and notice when they’re happening. And then, after I notice without judgment, I have the power to consciously redirect my thoughts to a more positive place.
The science on this topic suggests I’m not completely off-base for crediting this newfound self awareness to my daily meditation practice. There have been numerous studies and reviews that speak of the positive effect meditation has on one’s own self-awareness. 27 28 29 Another study shows that a mindfulness practice may help reduce “cognitive rigidity,” which allows for more creative problem solving. 30 By becoming more self-aware, you’re able to step back and see the bigger picture, thus allowing you to form different, more creative solutions rather than being blinded by your own past experiences.
Conclusion
While the list above includes ten of the most significant health benefits of meditation, there’s even more evidence out there showing that meditation has the potential to improve our overall mental, physical, and emotional well-being. On top of this (and something I can personally vouch for), it can also enhance one’s own self-image and self-worth. There’s still a ton of research to be done, but the research on the health benefits of meditation that has been done has been extremely promising and overwhelmingly positive.
What personal benefits have you experienced from a regular meditation practice? Submit your answers in the comments below! And if you want to chat more about meditation or have questions about how to get started, feel free to contact me or reach out on social media! I’d truly love to hear from you.
Discover More About Meditation!
- 7 Types of Meditation Practices for Beginners
- What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes
- A Beginner’s Guide to Chakras
10 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Meditation Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
-
9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future
Want to become the author of your life story? You already have everything you need inside of you to make it happen. In this post, I share nine powerful tools for manifesting your future. And the best part? They’re all completely free.
Pin this for later! 9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future Tools for Manifesting Your Future
What does your dream life look like?
Does it involve living in a beautiful home surrounded by a loving family? Or are you more of the vanlife type, wanting nothing more than to travel the country on four wheels? Is there a dream career you’ve always envisioned for yourself? Or maybe it’s not a specific “thing” you’re looking for. Maybe it’s a feeling: freedom, peace, joy, abundance, passion, love.
Whatever it is, there is no right or wrong answer. The “dream life” looks different for everyone.
For me, it’s always meant being a writer. For years, when people asked me what I did for a living, I politely and passionlessly spoke about my comfortable office job while internally wishing I could say, “I’m a writer.”
You see, I’ve had a dream of being a writer since I was seven years old, but for the past decade, I worked in jobs that left me feeling empty and unfulfilled because I didn’t believe I was worthy of living the life of my dreams. I knew I wanted to make a change, but I didn’t know how. That’s when I started learning about the Law of Attraction.
It seemed . . . interesting.
I liked the idea, but my inner skeptic had a louder voice than my inner believer, so it took some time for me to go all in. But as I slowly released the skepticism and doubt, I began practicing the concepts I learned about. And on this journey, I discovered the tools to help me quit my day job and start living the life I truly dreamed of—a life where I knew I was worthy of anything and everything I desired.
And the best part?
I already had every single one of these tools inside me. I just had to learn how to use them.
Below, I share nine powerful tools for manifesting your future. These are the practices I used for discovering my inner worthiness and creating my dream life. While you don’t have to do every single item on this list daily, I encourage you to keep an open heart and an open mind as you embark on this journey to manifest the life of your dreams.
Tool #1: Visualization
To create the life you desire, you first have to know what you want.
If there were no limits or constrictions, what would you be doing in your dream life? Where would you live? Who would be surrounding you? What primary emotions would you feel? What does your highest and most authentic self look like?
Perhaps there’s no greater example of the power of visualization than how it’s helped Michael Phelps to achieve Olympic glory. It’s no secret that Phelps put in many long hours of practice, sometimes without a single day off for years at a time. But what you may not know is his commitment to practicing visualization.
For months before a big event, Phelps spends two hours a day undergoing mental rehearsal to prepare for an upcoming race. He visualizes both the good and the bad, and he sees himself overcoming obstacles to win the race. By the time he actually dives into the pool the day of the race, he’s already swum it hundreds of times in his mind.
So why do elite athletes and performers commit so much time to visualization? It may have something to do with the way our brains work. You see, your brain can’t actually tell the difference between the powerful visualization and reality; it has the same activity whether you’re physically doing the action or envisioning it in your mind.
How to Visualize
You don’t need to be a world champion athlete to utilize visualization to enhance your life. Set aside ten minutes every day to close your eyes, and visualize yourself achieving your goals. What does it feel like? Joyful? Peaceful? Freeing? Feel those emotions. Utilize all your senses. See yourself living that dream life. Listen, touch, taste, smell. Like Phelps, you can even imagine some worst-case scenarios and visualize yourself overcoming these obstacles.
Once you start this daily practice, you’ll be amazed at the transformative effects it has on your life.
To illustrate the power of visualization, watch this Tedx talk by Ashanti Johnson on how her daily practice of visualization changed not only her life but ultimately the lives of her community through her work.
- You May Also Like: 10 Powerful Manifestation Tips to Create the Life of Your Dreams
Tool #2: Gratitude
I used to have a lot of “bad” days.
You know the ones: those days where you come home from work feeling completely drained and defeated. Every single bit of your mental energy is consumed by running through the terrible things that happened. And then you might even make up imaginary conversations between yourself and your boss or colleagues, just to upset yourself even more.
It was exhausting.
Thankfully, I found a powerful tool to help me get past this negative mindset and release my bad days:
Gratitude.
I learned to re-frame my default perspective from one of frustration and negativity to one of appreciation.
How to Practice Gratitude
The best thing about a gratitude practice is that you can literally do it anywhere and at anytime. You can have a gratitude journal if you want, or you can commit to finding things in your current experience to feel grateful for.
I don’t always succeed, but I try practice gratitude first thing when I wake up. It might look something like this:
Every morning, I wake up in a warm and safe bed with a healthy body. I have working lungs and a strong heart. I have the privilege of experiencing this world with all of my senses. I’m surrounded by family and friends who really love me. I have food in the pantry. My car runs. The air I breathe is clean. The water I drink is pure. I have a safe home.
Every single day, I can create an endless list of things to feel grateful for just by opening my eyes.
It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Choosing gratitude over suffering. But I’m here to tell you, it’s more than just nice. It’s life transforming. My daily practice of gratitude has become more than just a way to reframe my perspective.
The truly incredible thing is, I’ve found that the more I feel grateful, the more things flow into my life to feel grateful for.
When I look around me now, I don’t see things that are breaking; I see everything coming together. Even when something doesn’t go my way, I can instantly recognize it as an opportunity. Ten times out of ten, it just means my path is leading me to somewhere better.
Living the life of your dreams doesn’t start with external world around you. It starts internally. By changing your perspective and viewing your life through a lens of inherent appreciation and gratitude, you open yourself up to receiving even more opportunities, experiences, people, and things to feel grateful for.
If you want to start a gratitude practice in your daily routine, check out these 40 gratitude affirmations to love this moment right now.
Tool #3: Giving
All the good you put out into the world always comes back to you.
This is the concept that first made me want to learn more about the Law of Attraction. I’ve always believed in karma, though I usually associated it with the negative i.e. if you do something bad, it’ll come back to haunt you. I never really flipped that statement on its head and thought that the good stuff could come back to me, too.
It’s important to know that you don’t just have to give money, which is likely the first thing a lot of us think about when we hear the word giving. However, giving isn’t solely about finances.
When you think about what you can give, think about things that make you feel good.
Sometimes, the best thing you can give to another person is simply your presence. You want to know where I started?
With my smile.
I’m an avid runner, and I love running through the beautiful Boise parks. I used to never run without a baseball cap and sunglasses, even on a cloudy day. My sole mission was to avoid contact with people at every corner. One day, though, I consciously decided to take off the sunglasses and let myself be seen. When I crossed paths with another runner or a group of walkers or a family, I’d glance over, and if we locked eyes, I’d offer a smile. And you know what happened?
People smiled back.
Sometimes, they smiled first. Kids offered high fives and cheers. Other runners would share motivation and encouragement, and I’d share it back. I truly felt like I was part of a community, and it felt really good. The more I put out there, the more I got back, and this has extended to all facets of my life.
How to Practice Giving
Give what you can. Give what you want to give. Give what makes you feel good. And watch in awestruck wonder as all of the wonderful things you’ve given come back to you in magical and miraculous ways.
Tool #4: Affirmations
When’s the last time you told yourself you were worthy of something? When’s the last time you said, “I deserve ________”? That blank can be filled with anything: I deserve love. I deserve joy. I deserve to live the life of my dreams.
Does it feel kind of weird to say you deserve something?
I know it did for me. I felt like it was somehow the “wrong” thing to say, like I wasn’t being humble enough. In fact, in order to get over the icky feelings, I had to reframe it through the lens of people I cared about. It was easy for me to say that my best friend deserves joy or that my nieces and nephews deserve unconditional love. If I could say all these good things about people I loved, why couldn’t I say them about me?
How to Practice Affirmations
Affirmations are unbelievably powerful. For me, affirmations began as a conscious daily practice. I read through different affirmations and found the ones that resonated most with me. Then, I dedicated myself to repeating those affirmations in the car or while I was getting ready in the morning.
Affirmations are a way to reprogram the subconscious mind, so with time, we truly become the things we’re affirming. The key is always to use the present tense. It’s not, “When I get the [job/partner/opportunity] of my dreams, I’ll be worthy.” You are worthy. Right now. You don’t have to wait to affirm your worth. It’s the best and easiest thing you can do for yourself in this moment right now.
If you want help getting started on incorporating affirmations into your life, you can check out my free ebook, 400 Powerful Affirmations to Uplift, Inspire, and Empower Your Highest Self. You can also check out the Affirmations section in my blog. I’d also recommend starting with this blog post on how to use affirmations so they actually work.
More Manifestation Resources
- How to Ask the Universe for a Sign (A Complete Guide)
- 11 Powerful Crystals for Manifestation
- How to Manifest Someone (in 6 Simple Steps)
- Manifestation Challenge: Free 30-Day Manifestation Calendar
- 10 Powerful Manifestation Tips to Create the Life of Your Dreams
- How to Raise Your Vibration (in 30 Seconds or Less)
Tool #5: Meditation
You don’t have to meditate to create the life you desire. But for me, meditation has transformed my view of myself and the world in a way that I don’t think would’ve ever happened if I hadn’t started meditating.
Beginning a daily practice of meditation taught me how to accept and receive love, slow down, appreciate the seemingly negative experiences, affirm my worthiness, and witness and understand my own thoughts in a way I never had before. If you haven’t meditated before, I know it can seem intimidating at first. It was for me. Just remember, the goal of meditation isn’t to clear or suppress your thoughts.
All you have to do is sit, observe, and be present. One day at a time. One minute at a time. One breath at a time. Nothing more. Nothing less.
You don’t have to do or become anything when you meditate. You don’t have to try. All you have to do is just be.
To learn more about how to do a meditation specifically for manifesting your dreams, click here.
Awesome Meditation Apps
Tool #6: Habits
While it’s definitely possible to make big transformations and start living your dream life in a very short amount of time, the most transformative long-term shifts come when you cultivate daily habits.
When discussing major shifts and transformations, we tend to discuss that “one big thing” that happened and often gloss over the small, consistent improvements we make on a daily basis. But in his book Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement . . . They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.“
How to Begin Cultivating New Habits
When you want to build a new habit, start small. The easier you make it, the more likely it will stick. When I started meditating, I committed to just ten minutes in the mornings before work. With many of the other practices on this list, I actually found ways to combine them with things I was already doing in my daily life. For instance, I’d repeat positive affirmations while getting ready in the morning or driving to the grocery store. Same with my gratitude practice. It was nothing big or overly complicated—just subtle but powerful shifts in my conscious thinking.
You don’t have to wait for a big, life-changing event to start incorporating these practices in your life. As Clear writes, “If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound ten or twenty years down the line.“
Tool #7: An Abundance Mentality
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey characterizes an abundance mentality as the belief that there are enough resources for everyone to share.
This is opposed to the scarcity mindset, which is rooted in the belief that we’re all competing for a limited amount of resources.
A person with an abundance mindset will celebrate and rejoice in the successes of others, while a person with a scarcity mindset will feel bitter and resentful toward another’s accomplishments because they believe this decreases their own opportunities for success.
When you view resources as being limited, the feeling of competition arises. Because there seemingly isn’t enough to go around, you become reluctant to share your resources or knowledge to another for fear that someone else’s success means you will have less opportunities. When you see someone succeed, you see that slice of the pie getting smaller, and instead of feeling happy for their success, you feel resentful and envious.
It doesn’t sound pleasant, and it doesn’t feel very good either.
And there’s a reason it doesn’t feel good: because these negative feelings of scarcity aren’t aligned with who you really are. You are not a resentful, envious, bitter person. But this scarcity mindset has become so ingrained in our culture, it sometimes feels like it’s all we’ve ever known.
How I Developed an Abundance Mentality
By recognizing the limiting beliefs I’ve held around scarcity and gently releasing them from my consciousness, I’ve been able to cultivate a mindset of abundance and find true joy in other’s successes. I’ve learned that nobody else’s abundance can take from my own, and my abundance can’t take from anyone else. There’s true joy and freedom in living a life where resources are infinite and abundant rather than constantly trying to compete for what we perceive as a small cut of the pie.
To quote Covey, “When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.“
Related: How to Overcome a Scarcity Mindset: 3 Simple and Effective Practices
Tool #8: A Prosperity Mindset
Also could be called An Abundance Mindset, Part Two.
Okay, maybe that’s cheating, but I wanted to differentiate a Prosperity Mindset from an Abundance Mindset for a couple reasons. I view an abundance mentality as the belief there are enough resources for everyone while a prosperity mindset is a personal, strongly held belief you have toward yourself.
A prosperity mindset is the story you tell yourself about your own wealth and ability to create anything you want in your life.
A prosperity mindset is the belief that you are abundant now.
Developing a Prosperity Mindset
How do you develop a prosperity mindset? By not waiting for “one day” to get here. To be abundant, you have to feel abundant. Feel it now. Don’t wait until you get that promotion or job offer. Don’t wait until you have a million dollars in your bank account. Stop waiting for something to happen. Feel abundant today. Feel successful today. Feel joyful today. Feel peaceful, calm, free, lighthearted, exuberant, wealthy. . . whatever it is you’re working toward, feel it right now. That’s how you develop a prosperity mentality. Feel the feelings of having everything you want and believe you are that person.
Tool #9: Compassion
Honestly, I don’t think most people lack compassion. Humans are innately compassionate beings. We’re compassionate toward our loved ones and our pets. We’re compassionate toward other suffering beings. We’re compassionate toward this earth.
But when was the last time you were compassionate with yourself?
Finding the grace to be compassionate with myself has been one of my longest and bumpiest journeys. When I first learned about the Law of Attraction, I focused on perfecting all the tools I had learned about. I visualized. I cultivated a positive mindset. I made sure I had good thoughts and felt good feelings so all that positivity would come back to me. I was certain I was going to be an A+ student.
So what happened when I had a bad day or when a negative thought (or a stream of negativity) overtook my brain?
I became a mess.
I felt like a failure. I felt like I was now opening up a Pandora’s Box of terrible things to happen to me.
You see, my problem was that I was trying too hard to be perfect. I had dove straight into the water without a life vest, so I had nothing to keep me afloat when things went wrong. Eventually, I discovered that the life vest I needed was self-compassion. Self-compassion is allowing for and accepting your imperfections. Self-compassion is speaking to yourself with loving kindness, even when you don’t feel particularly good. Self-compassion is accepting and receiving love from yourself and others right now, just as you are, and knowing you don’t need to do or achieve anything to deserve that love.
You are always deserving.
Are You Ready to Start Manifesting?
While these nine tools for manifesting will help you to bring your dream into your reality, I want to highlight the most important link between all of thee practices:
Mindset.
Before anything else, you must believe you are worthy, deserving, and capable of living the life of your dreams.
And if you don’t get it 100% perfect all of the time, that’s okay. Be gentle with yourself. Go slow. Don’t try to pile everything into one day and be the “best” at everything. Allow yourself to enjoy the journey. Recognize that the seemingly bad moments are truly just opportunities to learn and grow and appreciate.
To be honest, I mess up a lot. Negative thoughts sometimes slip into my consciousness. I sometimes choose frustration over gratitude. And in these moments, #9 becomes even more important. Be deeply compassionate with yourself. Instead of repressing the bad and pretending it doesn’t exist in order to fit a false idea of perfection, recognize when you have a negative thought, gently probe its roots, and as you realize the thought no longer serves you, kindly release it from service.
And remember, none of us are doing this alone. Find your tribe, and if you don’t feel like you have anyone you can talk to, you have me. I’m here. I’m listening. I will be that voice of loving kindness and compassion on days you can’t find it within yourself.
I know it isn’t always easy, but never forget, you are worthy and deserving of living the life of your dreams.
For more resources on spirituality, meditation, manifestation, and all things self-love, be sure to connect with me on Instagram and Pinterest, where I’m posting positive affirmations and empowering quotes daily.
And to learn more about manifesting your dreams and desires, check out these posts!
- How to Manifest Money (A Complete Guide)
- Manifestation Not Working? Here’s Why (And How to Fix It)
- 10 Best Manifestation Books to Read This Year
- How to Manifest in a Journal (A Complete Guide)
Pin this for later! 9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
