Stage 1: Settling the Body

Written by Tobi Warzinek

Are you wondering how to meditate? Would you like to achieve good results within a reasonable time? I have decided to put a little free Meditation course to help everyone seeking to start an authentic meditation practice. In this article we are focusing on Stage 1: Preparation & Settling the Body. This series hopefully inspires you with quality guided Meditations, authentic background information, sources of inspiration and everything you need to get started and develop your mind on this beautiful path based on the Buddha’s Teachings.

Preparation

Sit down in a comfortable posture while making sure to keep your spine erect and suspend the head from above. This should be upright but comfortable – let go of the temptation to stress out about your posture. You can sit on a chair, on a meditation cushion, or on one of these nice little meditation benches. And before you ask, YES, you may also levitate… but make sure it’s comfortable and upright!

Once you are seated, don’t jump into the practice just yet. Settling the body takes a little while. Just be there for a minute or two – allow everything to be as it is. No need to control or change anything at all, which is nice, right? Of course it is – so why not smile a little if you feel like it?

Settling the Body

Relax your body deeply, because that’s how it all starts. This first technique is so crucial you won’t even believe it! You want to spend a lot of time practicing and perfecting this important foundation, since everything you will do later is based on this step – so make sure you have mastered it well.

Feel your legs as you inhale. Relax your legs as you exhale. You want to soften, relax or melt your legs as you breathe out. Imagine how your legs melt, dissolve or release tension in whatever way you want, see if it feels be a bit more comfortable each time. You could even experience your entire body as if it was made out of smoke

Repeat this for 15 to 20 breaths. Make sure it feels comfortable and nice for you. Don’t force your breath into a direction that feels unnatural or tense.
Feel your belly as you inhale, relax your belly as you exhale. Ahhhh that’s better!
Feel your heart and your chest as you inhale. Soften your heart and melt your chest as you exhale. So Nice!
Feel your arms and shoulders as you inhale. Release tension of your arms and shoulders as you exhale.
Feel your brain and your head around it as you inhale. Let your brain melt as you exhale – feel every muscle in your head melting.
Feel your whole body as you inhale. Let your body dissolve and relax deeply as you exhale. It feels so good, doesn’t it?
Spend about 15 to 20 breaths with each body part, while really learning to discover the joy in this. Melt, soften and relax deeply. And this is just the beginning!

Guided Meditation

Preparation & Settling the Body | Tobi Warzinek
Time: 30 Minutes

Concluding your Session

This is another very important part of a good meditation session. Ending your session with a fault-finding, negative attitude is actually teaching your brain to build a neuronal pathway that supports this sort of habit. Following this path would eventually lead you to the point where you don’t want to meditate anymore.

Instead, create a positive attitude – celebrate the fact that you just sat down to cultivate relaxation. You’ve been kind to your body and mind. That’s great! Now stabilize your mindfulness and rest it on your body while creating a firm intention to remember and maintain your relaxed body awareness until you sit down to meditate again next time.

What you could tell yourself: “Ah! That was great! I gave myself a well deserved break and relaxed as good as I could. I am now on the path of meditation and I absolutely love it, furthermore, may I maintain this relaxed awareness throughout the day and remember often to feel and relax!”

How to Practice this Meditation

If you are practicing the above technique at least twice daily for about 30 minutes you will notice a significant change within yourself during the first week! The only thing that I recommend is that you need to do it regularly and consistently. You also should do the formal practice and try to maintain and cultivate bodily awareness in between the sessions. Make sure to practice based on the following three points and results will be showing:

Set aside a special time for your formal practice.
Do the complete practice twice daily.
Remember to cultivate the specific body awareness at least one time between your sessions.

Benefits of Settling the Body

If you follow above guidelines, you will start to notice a few wonderful benefits. And I believe it’s some of these known benefits that got you here in the first place. Have a look:

Your stress levels will start to reduce.
A new sense of calmness and confidence will awaken in you.
Increased body awareness will greatly help with Yoga and other types of exercise.
You will start to sleep better and feel more rested.
Feel more happiness and contentment.
Circumstances won’t be able to control your inner state as much.
Greater physical health and strength.
And much more benefits…

Next Step of the Meditation Course

This was the first step of the practice. You could do this particular exercise for an entire month, following the above guidelines, and let me know in the comment section below how this is working out for you. I want to know – since I wrote this article for you!  I hope that this tutorial on how to meditate will help you to get a more solid practice of meditation, because it’s such a wonderful thing to learn! And I am very happy to be putting this out there for you.

Stage 2 is about Present Moment Awareness. In the meantime I hope you can really start your practice with this article here. Seriously – what’s holding you back? There’s a world of joy inside of you and you can discover and share it with your friends! So let’s do this together!

More Lessons

Tobi Warzinek

Tobi Warzinek

Tobi Warzinek

Tobi Warzinek

Tobi Warzinek - Meditation Teacher

About The Author

Tobi Warzinek has been working as a spiritual guide and mentor since 2009. His journey started in early 2002 when he entered the Tibetan Buddhist monastery of Rabten Choeling. He spent approximately 7 years in the community and studied the Tibetan language, mind-training and various meditation methods. Additionally he trained in traditional monastic debate and Buddhist philosophy. In 2011 he subsequently began practicing within the “Forest Tradition” in Thailand. Altogether he has dedicated his life to the exploration and refinement of introspection throughout the past 18 years.

The Comment Section

We hope you enjoyed reading the article. Feel free to leave some good comments (Everybody can benefit from your skillful contributions!) I will simply delete Self-promotion (e.g. “I love your article. Please check this link to my own site.”). I might post your links if they are truly relevant and contribute to the readers experience though. We are open for meaningful discussions and hope that this article serves as an inspiration for you.

14 thoughts on “Stage 1: Settling the Body”

  1. Thank you for this Tobi. I am very grateful. After three days of practice I can feel my body much better. I cannot wait to go for the next step but first want practice further as this is the foundation.

    I can recommend everyone who is starting meditation to follow this guide. By creating a positive attitude towards feeling your body and really feeling your body, you will implement more presence and happiness into your life.

    Reply
  2. After four classes with you in chalong I already felt some changes in myself. I am about to start my meditation journey and I am excited. Thank you Tobi, I shall keep you updated

    Reply
  3. Thank you for the clear instructions and encouraging advice! I am about 2 weeks in and really enjoying the practice. How important is it to meditate twice a day? Mornings are great, but I find it harder to practice in the evening, as I will often be tired and fall asleep in the middle. Is it possible to instead do a longer morning routine?

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  4. I’ve just begun Meditation Technique for Beginners, and I’m already feeling a sense of calm and release from tension. I am grateful for this GIFT you have given to me. On a related note, after the session I thought about my own four years living in Thailand many years ago — beautiful memories of the scent of jasmine and the twinkling light of a krathong floating on the water.

    Reply
  5. Hello Tobi,
    Today is my first day, I have tried to do this on my own in the past and never seem to get anywhere. i have a good feeling this time and would like to thank you in advance! Have a lovely day x

    Reply
  6. Thank you very much for this meditation. Even the early beginning feels so good. I was almost levitating. Can’t wait to experience the results of a consistent practice. Many many thanks

    Reply

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