Seven Simple Secrets to Successful Meditation

People think that meditation is hard and that you need to be a full time monk to be able to meditate properly.

That’s simply not true.

Absolutely anyone can learn how to meditate quickly and easily. You don't have to go through an elaborate ritual to be able to meditate. Put simply, meditation is way to get in touch with your inner self.

Here are some tips to make your meditation even easier:

1. Choose the right teacher. Whether you are learning meditation with an online course or in a local group, pick a teacher you get on with and one who is teaching the kind of methods you get along with.

2. Learn to relax your body. As a typical tensed up westerner, this may be the biggest skill you need to learn. But once you learn how to relax, you'll find meditation so much easier. By the way, don't stress yourself about learning to relax either!

3. Take it easy. No-one is going to give you a SATS test on meditation. It doesn't matter if you take longer to learn meditation that someone else. It’s absolutely fine if you take your time to learn a technique. Everyone has their own speed of learning.

4. Respect yourself and others. Treat yourself and others respectfully. If you find yourself attracting negative people, change the signals you're sending out (meditating regularly will help with this).

5. Get rid of distractions. Turn off your cell phone while you are meditating. Close down that chat window. Turn off the television (that's good advice anyway, whether for meditating or not).

6. If possible, join a meditation group. Meditation is much more fun in a group and you'll find that others are finding the same learning curve as you are. Groups generate their own energy – the sum of the whole truly is greater than the sum of the parts. Joining a group can widen your circle of friends and can be a booster to your confidence. Depending on the group's aim, you may also learn about different meditation techniques as the group progresses.

7. Simply let go. The word "meditation" means trying to let go. Go with the flow. Allow what is happening to happen. Don't fixate on exactly what your meditation experience should or shouldn't be.