How to meditate, starting with five quiet minutes
How to meditate as a beginner: how to sit, where to put your attention, what to do when your mind wanders, and how to build a few minutes a day into a habit.
Breath, meditation and rest
Plain guides to the quiet side of yoga: how to sit and meditate, a body scan from feet to head, breathing techniques for stressful days, and rest lying down.
You do not need to be flexible, calm or spiritual to begin any of these. You need a few minutes, somewhere to sit or lie down, and a willingness to notice what your attention does. Each page below is written for someone starting from nothing, with the safety notes up front.
If you would rather be guided in person, the slowest of my lessons, restorative yoga with bolsters and blankets, spends most of its time on the breath and on rest, and private yoga for stressful seasons often begins with a few minutes of quiet breathing.
Meditation
Body scan meditation, step by step
Body scan meditation, step by step: how to move your attention from feet to head in ten minutes, lying down or seated, and what to do when you drift off.
Breathing
Breathing exercises for stress
Breathing exercises for stress, step by step: box breathing, 4-7-8 and a simple long exhale, with the safety notes to read before you start.
Pranayama
What pranayama means, how the Yoga Sutras and hatha texts describe yogic breathing, common techniques today, and plain safety notes before you try it.
Rest
Yoga nidra
What is yoga nidra? A guided practice done lying still, led by a voice through the body and the breath. What happens, how to prepare, and who should wait.
Before you begin
Meditation and breathwork are not treatments for anxiety, depression or any health condition, and they are not right for everyone. If a practice leaves you more anxious or low, stop, open your eyes and move. The meditation pages carry the National Center for Mental Health crisis line, and the health disclaimer that covers every page here explains what a yoga lesson is and is not.
For the poses and the ideas behind the practice, the library of yoga guides and yoga philosophy in plain English sit alongside this section.
Questions
Where should a complete beginner start: breathing or meditation?
Start with the breath. A few minutes of slow breathing with a longer out-breath is easy to learn and easy to feel. Once that is familiar, the five-minute meditation on the how-to-meditate page builds on it, using the breath as the place your attention rests.
How is breathwork different from meditation?
Breathwork changes the breath on purpose: slowing it, lengthening the out-breath or counting it. Meditation usually leaves the breath alone and simply watches it, or watches sounds or the body, returning each time the mind wanders. Many people do a little breathwork first and then sit quietly.
Can I learn meditation in a private yoga lesson?
Yes, in a simple form. I can help you find a comfortable way to sit, and we can practise a few minutes of breath awareness or a short body scan at the start or end of a lesson. It is taught as part of yoga, not as therapy.
Contact
By appointment.
Not sure what you need yet? Message me first. Tell me what is going on and we will work out the right lesson together.
Viber +63 968 190 0429
Or email joahnnalee.hello@gmail.com