You have heard about mindfullness, meditation, even thought about trying Yoga. You have read a lot of self help books, tried downloading meditation apps and tried everything you could but you can’t stay with it and nothing seemed to help- the voice on the app was too distracting or the music was too loud, the app was full of ads and you couldn’t get it to load properly.

All of those are issues I had when I first started. So I started looking for blogs and sites to help, bought several magazines and in the end, stopped reading and started trying.

There was one daily Yoga app that helped, but I don’t like paying for apps unless they are truly gold- the beta only covered a few weeks and after those weeks, I lost touch. I tried buying a Yoga DVD, I have a yoga ball, bricks and a mat- the mat collects dust, we had to throw the bricks away and the ball was a play toy until we finally admitted it was too big for our house. Now it’s in storage.

You do not need tons of stuff- a mat could come in handy if you have hard floors. Mine  are carpeted, so I need nothing.

All you need to start a daily routine- yourself and the will to do it. Determine if you’re wanting to learn mindful meditation, Yoga or normal meditation. The next step is to just start- find a chart on Pinterest with beginner Yoga moves and start doing it.

Find some time in your day and just sit down, close your eyes and clear your mind. Clearing your mind isn’t as easy as it seems at first, when I can’t clear my mind for any reason, I start counting. It works well for getting me to sleep. If you can’t find a good time of your day, put yourself to bed, lie there and count. Start at one, slow yourself down and each time you inhale, count. Focusing on your breath is the first step and once you start feeling your lungs inflate, deflate, chest rise and fall and the air going in and out of your nose/lips it will clear your mind.

I already wrote a tried/tested guide to making meditation part of your everyday routine when you’re too busy to just sit down

All four of those methods are things I try to do on a regular basis because I’m not living a lazy, laid back life (although I’d LOVE to slow down a bit).

I’ll be writing more on the topics of Yoga and meditation, I’d like to know what types of advice would you give beginners?