Meditation can help you achieve many things.
It can help you relax, reduce stress, help you be more productive, and much more.
However, there are still many misconceptions when it comes to meditation.
Let us see if we cannot alleviate some of these misconceptions about how to meditate so that you can use this powerful concept to your advantage.
You have probably heard that when meditating, one has to sit in impossible positions and chant "ohm", either by voice or by thought.
You have probably also heard that in order to meditate you must stop thinking, which is nearly impossible.
These misconceptions cause many people to shun away from meditation altogether, which is a shame because meditation is a very powerful method that can provide you with great benefits.
Fortunately enough, neither of the above "rules" is really necessary in order to learn how to meditate and perform meditation.
Meditation is actually much easier than all that, and once you grasp how powerful meditation is and how easy it is to learn how to meditate, you will understand how much good meditation can bring you.
You can literally learn how to meditate in the few minutes that it takes you to read this article.
So, here is an easy step-by-step way to learn how to meditate:

1. Choose a time when you will not be interrupted, preferably closer to bedtime, or early in the morning.
   
2. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position.
   If you are tired, it is best that you sit since if you lie down, you will simply fall asleep.
   
3. Loosen your clothing or any restrictive jewelry and make sure that nothing is applying pressure to your body (such as a belt).
   
4. If sitting, make sure that you sit on a comfortable but supportive chair with a straight back so that your spine is straight.
   Let your hands rest on your legs.
   
5. If lying down, let your hands loosely rest by your sides.
   
6. Close your eyes and take several deep breathes.
   Inhale deeply so that you feel your stomach rise, and exhale deeply, feeling your stomach fall again.
   
7. Now, this is the key to learning how to meditate right here.
   Many think that you have to stop thinking at this point.
   But it is extremely difficult to stop your thoughts, and it is not really necessary.
   All you achieve by forcing yourself to stop thinking is that you lose all enjoyment from meditation, and turn it into a personal war between you and your thoughts.
   Instead of forcing yourself not to think, or thought stopping, you can use a much better, more enjoyable, and more productive method of thought release.
   The way this works is as follows: instead of trying to stop thinking, imagine that your thoughts are some kind of a physical and fleeting thing such as clouds in the sky, leafs in the wind, bubbles in a stream of water, or anything else that suits you.
   Imagine that every thought that comes to your mind goes by without affecting you.
   So, instead of actively fighting your thoughts, you passively acknowledge them and let them go by.
   For example, if you imagine your thoughts as clouds, imagine these clouds simply passing by you or above you.
   You look at them, but you do not focus on any specific cloud.
   

Using the above approach to learn how to meditate will greatly simplify and at the same time empower your meditation experience because now you are focusing on the actual process of meditation instead of just battling with your thoughts.
You can meditate as much as you like as there are no limits or a set time frame.
Usually, 10-15 minutes a day is plenty, but even if you meditate less than that, you will still feel the relaxation, stress relief, and other benefits of meditation.