Perhaps you have already read or heard several times already that meditation is a super effective way to relieve stress and reduce anxiety. However, you are intimidated by it because you feel that it’s too new age for you. Well, this article will teach you how to meditate in a very simple way that you can do whenever you could use some unwinding.
Do you know how to count from 1 to 100? Then that’s it — you have the skill needed to meditate. It’s referred to as the counting meditation, and it’s perhaps the simplest form of meditation on the face of the planet.
There is no need for you to have a previous meditation experience just for you to carry it out. Also, there is need for you to install a meditation app on your smartphone just for you to perform it. All that you will ever need is your mathematical ability to count from 1 to 100 which you probably acquired back when you were just a mere first grader.
What’s so nice about counting meditation is you can do it no matter the time of the day or day of the week. It’s something that you can do while you’re on a bus, train or an airplane. So in other words, you can calm your mind and body regardless of where you are or what you are doing using the counting meditation.
No, there’s no need to sit on the floor like Buddha resting on a lotus flower. No, there’s no need for you to pose your hands or fingers in seemingly mystical ways (they’re called mudras, by the way). No, there’s no need for you to vocalize “om” every now and then that will surely make heads towards your direction.
When doing the counting meditation, you simply have to close your eyes and count from 1 to 100 in your mind — yes, there’s no need to say each number out loud.
Another wonderful thing about this form of meditation is it won’t consume much of your precious time. In fact, you can do it from start to finish in just about 5 minutes.
You may be wondering: “5 minutes? I can count from 1 to 100 in 30 seconds or less!”
Well, if you count from 1 to 100 at blinding speed, that doesn’t count as meditation — that’s just counting from 1 to 100 as fast as you can. It won’t provide you with any relaxing or calming benefit.
Doing the counting meditation requires you to take your time. Actually, you might want to want to count a little slower that the clock. The longer the interval between each number, the better the results. The goal is for you to take your mind away from everything around you and focus on counting from 1 to 100 in an unhurried manner.
While counting from 1 to 100, some thoughts may pop in your mind like what’s for dinner later on or who just sent you a text message. Some things may call the attention of your senses like a chilly gust of wind or a barking dog from a distance. But that’s alright. Just take your focus back to counting from 1 to 100 ASAP.
Here’s an expert tip: the closer you get to 100, the slower your counting should be. For instance, the numbers from 70 to 79 should be about 3 seconds from one another, the numbers from 80 to 89 should be about 4 seconds from each other, and then the numbers from 90 to 100 should be about 5 seconds from one another.
If what you are trying to battle is anxiety, try counting from 100 to 1. Counting backwards can help divert your attention to what you are doing, allowing you to really forget those anxious thoughts that you are having.
