For most people, day to day life can be full of tense and frustrating moments. These not only make you feel bad, but also contribute to real physical ailments. Stress can lead to your body producing extra cortisol which has been linked to many cases of heart failure. It’s also known to cause weight gain and balding. One of the easiest and cost effective remedies out there is to simply meditate regularly to keep your stress levels in check. Many believe that meditation takes years of practice and difficult to do. On the contrary, it can be pretty easy and calming once you know a few tricks.

Each of the methods that I will talk about can be done in 15 to 20 minute intervals. Longer if you wish.

Focus on your breathing.

One of the easiest ways that I know that can get you into a meditative state is to simply pat attention to your breathing. This is a method I picked up from the writings of Ekhart tolle. It’s best to put yourself in a quite environment where you can sit quietly with your eyes closed without being disturbed. You really have to listen to and feel the air going into your nose and out of your mouth. When all of your attention gets focused on this, you can’t possibly think of anything else. Your brain isn’t built to multi-task to that extent. This effectively clears your mind. If your mind ever starts to drift, all you need to do is gently guide your attention back to your breathing.

Focus on the present moment.

Another easy method to put you into a meditative state is to put your attention and focus on things currently going on around you. This puts you mind completely into the present moment. Here’s an example; try taking a walk at a park. Listen to birds in the sky, smell the grass around you, feel the warmth of the sun hitting your skin. As you put your attention on your current moment, you will start to get a blissful feeling. This will seem to happen out of nowhere, but it is a good indication that you have reached a meditative state.

Focus on empty space between sounds.

This is the only method I will talk about that require that you use some sort of prop. It’s a very powerful method of meditating. One I use on especially hard days. Here’s what you do:

Get yourself a metronome or a sound file that sounds like a metronome. A metronome is a piece of equipment that musicians use to help them stay on track with a particular beat. Set it to tick at slow intervals. Once you’ve set the pace, close your eyes and put your attention on the space between the ticks. When you focus on the emptiness between, you effectively clear your mind. This will put you in a deep meditative state fairly quick.

Meditation isn’t hard to do if you know some simple techniques. Try doing it daily for the next 30 days or so. Keep your sessions no shorter than 15 minutes long. You’ll definitely see a marked improvement in your overall mood. It could actually make you healthier too.