How to Meditate for Beginners
A Simple Introduction to Meditation
Many people are curious about meditation but are unsure what meditation actually involves. Does it mean sitting completely still? Emptying the mind of thoughts? Focusing on the breath? Or simply being more aware of what is happening?
There are many ways of describing meditation. Within Tergar, meditation is understood primarily as becoming familiar with awareness. Awareness is described as the essence of meditation, and the practice is about recognising what is already present rather than trying to create a particular state of mind.
This gives meditation a particular emphasis. Thoughts, feelings and sensations are not obstacles that have to be removed before meditation can begin. They are part of the experience within which awareness can be recognised.
What Does Meditation Look Like Within Tergar?
A beginner's meditation practice within Tergar is quite simple.
A session might involve sitting comfortably, bringing attention to the breath, and becoming aware of what is happening in the mind and body. The breath can provide a support for awareness, while thoughts, feelings and sensations are allowed to arise and change.
When attention becomes caught up in something else, the important point is recognising what has happened.
The practice is not about maintaining perfect concentration. It is about becoming increasingly familiar with awareness through direct experience.
Tergar describes this through the principle of "short times, many times". Instead of measuring meditation by how long we can remain continuously focused, the practice involves returning to awareness again and again.
Awareness Is the Starting Point
Awareness is central to Tergar's approach to meditation.
Rather than treating awareness as something that has to be created, Tergar teachings point to awareness as something already present within experience. Meditation provides an opportunity to recognise it and become more familiar with it.
This is why meditation is not about becoming a different person or achieving a particular mental state.
The emphasis is on recognising what is already there.
From this foundation, Tergar's Joy of Living path explores awareness, compassion and wisdom as interconnected aspects of the practice.
The Breath Can Be a Support for Awareness
Within Tergar, the breath is one of several supports that can be used in meditation, alongside sound, smell and other experiences.
The purpose is not to control the breath or make it behave in a particular way. Instead, attention can rest on the natural experience of breathing.
The breath provides something simple to notice. Attention may rest with it for a while, then become absorbed in a thought, sound, sensation or emotion.
When awareness of what is happening returns, the breath can once again become a support.
This process of returning again and again is an important part of the practice.
Thoughts Are Part of the Practice
One of the ideas that can change the way meditation is understood is that meditation does not require thoughts to disappear.
Thoughts are part of ordinary experience. During meditation, there may be planning, remembering, imagining, analysing or simply noticing that the mind has moved somewhere else.
Within Tergar's approach, these experiences do not need to be pushed away.
Instead, awareness includes knowing that they are happening.
The practice therefore isn't about creating a completely blank mind. It is about recognising awareness within whatever is taking place.
Noticing Distraction Is Part of Meditation
At some point during meditation, attention will move away from the breath or whatever support is being used.
You may become absorbed in a thought and only realise it some time later.
Within Tergar's approach, the moment you recognise that you have been distracted is significant. You are aware again.
There is no need to regard the distraction as a failure. The recognition itself is part of the practice.
Tergar describes this as a repeated cycle of awareness and distraction: aware, forget, aware, forget. The practice is to continue returning to awareness.
This is one of the more distinctive aspects of the Tergar approach to meditation. The wandering mind is not simply something that gets in the way of meditation. Noticing that the mind has wandered becomes part of becoming familiar with awareness.
Short Times, Many Times
Tergar places particular emphasis on practising in short, frequent sessions.
The idea is not to struggle to remain in awareness for as long as possible. Short periods of practice, repeated regularly, can provide many opportunities to recognise awareness.
Tergar's guidance describes short, frequent sessions as particularly useful when beginning a daily practice. The emphasis can then gradually extend beyond formal meditation into everyday activities.
This is also reflected in the broader idea of Anytime Anywhere Meditation, where meditation is not dependent on having a special environment, a particular amount of free time or a fixed posture. Awareness can be brought into ordinary activities and real-life situations.
Meditation Is Not Separate from Everyday Life
Within Tergar, formal meditation is part of a larger process of bringing awareness into everyday life.
The aim is not to create one experience while sitting in meditation and then leave it behind when the session ends.
Awareness can also be recognised while walking, listening, working, talking with someone or carrying out ordinary activities.
This principle is central to Anytime Anywhere Meditation, which was developed around the idea that meditation can be practised in the midst of daily life.
In this sense, meditation is not necessarily something separate from life. Everyday experience itself can become part of the practice.
What Does It Mean to Be Meditating?
It can sometimes be difficult to know whether meditation is actually happening, particularly when there are lots of thoughts.
Tergar offers a simple way of understanding this.
Meditation involves recognising awareness.
If you know that you are aware of the breath, awareness is present.
If you notice that you have become distracted, awareness is present.
If you recognise that a thought or emotion is happening, you are aware of that experience.
The important point is not maintaining one particular experience. It is recognising awareness itself. Tergar's guidance describes the sign of meditation as knowing what you are doing, whether that means knowing you are watching the breath or resting in awareness.
Is Meditation Religious?
The meditation teachings that form the basis of Tergar's approach are rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative tradition.
At the same time, Tergar's introductory Joy of Living and Anytime Anywhere Meditation programmes are presented in a practical way and are accessible to people regardless of religious or cultural background.
The emphasis in these introductory approaches is on exploring awareness through direct experience and bringing meditation into everyday life.
The Buddhist origins of the teachings therefore remain part of their context, without requiring someone new to meditation to adopt a particular religious identity.
Where Does a Beginner Start?
There is no need to understand every aspect of meditation before becoming acquainted with the practice.
A beginner's introduction within Tergar starts with something quite fundamental: recognising awareness.
The breath can provide a support. Thoughts and emotions can be present. Attention will move away and return. Short periods of awareness can be repeated throughout the day.
Over time, the practice is about becoming increasingly familiar with awareness rather than trying to manufacture a particular experience.
This is the foundation from which Tergar's meditation path develops. The Joy of Living progressively explores awareness, compassion and wisdom, while Anytime Anywhere Meditation introduces ways of bringing these principles into ordinary life.
Returning to the Heart of Meditation
Meditation is sometimes presented as a technique for making the mind calmer or quieter.
Within Tergar, the emphasis is somewhat different.
The practice begins with recognising awareness itself.
Thoughts can come and go. Feelings can change. Attention can wander. What matters is recognising awareness within the changing experience.
That makes meditation less about achieving a particular state and more about becoming familiar with something that is already present.
And that is perhaps the most useful place for a beginner to begin.
Email: christchurch@community.tergar.org
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