15 Easy Ways to Know if You’re Meditating Right – Questions, Checkpoints, and Tips

Meditation is like a powerhouse player sitting on the bench. In fact, only about 11% of Americans meditate at all. It might be intimidating to start, especially if you don’t know if you’re meditating right.

Meditation can have huge benefits, both physical and mental. It improves concentration, focus, and learning ability while reducing stress and anxiety. Meditation also changes the brain for the better, leading to physical changes that improve the mind. 

Here are 5 questions you can ask yourself, 5 checkpoints you can make during meditation, and 5 tips for helpful, healing meditation for your benefit!

15 Ways to Know if You’re Meditating Right

Without further ado, here are the questions, checkpoints, and tips you need to help you on you meditation journey today!

5 Questions to Ask Yourself

Here are 5 questions to ask either before, after, or during a meditation! Use them to guide you along the mental journey.

• What kind of meditation do I want? Focused attention, chakra, visualization? Check out the list here.
• What are my intentions for this meditation? Do I want to visualize something? Am I interested in becoming more compassionate?
• What do I feel like before the meditation? What do I feel like afterward?
• What are my thoughts doing during the meditation? Am I positive or negative in my default view?
• What would I like to improve on emotionally, mentally, or spiritually?

5 Checkpoints to Pause at

Remember, meditation is like exercise for the brain. You can use these checkpoints to notice key moments during the brain workout!

• Notice the room around you. Where are you, are you comfortable? If not, make an adjustment now.
• Check-in on your breathing. Are you breathing fast, or slow and deep? Start deepening your breath if possible, filling your lungs completely.
• Check-in with your senses. What do you smell, hear, taste, touch, and see?
• Check-in with your attention. What are you thinking about now? Return your attention to the present without judgment.
• Notice your thoughts. Are they wondering, or are they calm?

5 Tips to Know if Your Meditating Right

Here are 5 tips to make sure you’re meditating right! Fun fact, meditations are hard to do wrong. It is about being present without judgment. The checkpoints and questions above can help you progress, but don’t worry too much about the semantics.

• Use your breath to physically calm the mind and body. Deep breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the body responsible for reducing anxiety, stress, and fear.
• Make it a habit by doing it daily, even if it is for just a couple of minutes!
• Make sure you are comfortable. Be in a comfortable place, wear something comfortable, and sit in a comfortable position. Make sure you are able to hold the position, either sitting or laying down for about 15 min.
• Start small and work your way up. As you meditate more you are going to want to meditate longer and longer! Meditation changes the brain, improving concentration, higher thinking, memory, ability to learn, and emotional control.
• Leave judgment at the door. There’s no right or wrong way to meditate. Even wandering thoughts can come into your mind, but you need to focus on letting them go.

Bonus Meditation Visual

For a meditation, especially if you are a beginner, it is easiest to focus your attention on something, your breath, a picture in your head, the sound of a clock, etc. Here’s a visual:

Imagine you are floating on a river, feeling peace and tranquility, thinking about nothing at all. Maybe focusing on that imagine rush of water, birds chirping, the sun peaking through the leaves. Focus on this peaceful scene.

If any thought comes to mind, think of it as a leaf on your journey you can notice and brush away gently. Let your mind rest and reset.

The Takeaway 

Take these tips, checkpoints, and questions to guide you on your meditation journey! Meditation is an incredible tool that is heavily underused. It can improve self-awareness and reduce stress and anxiety.

Plus, meditation can literally change the brain, increasing the hippocampus (memory center of the brain), increasing the prefrontal cortex (responsible for higher thinking), and reducing the amygdala (responsible for fear).

This means with meditation comes better decisions making skills, decreases negative emotions, and increases memory and learning. The more you do it, the more you’re gonna want to do it!

Remember that wellbeing is a journey that encompasses many aspects, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Take care of your mental health with meditation, breathing, and self-care. Work on your physical fitness with workouts for heart health, strength, and flexibility. Check-in on how you are emotionally and nurture yourself.

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