If you've ever wondered how to meditate with crystals when you suck at it, you're not alone.

I think we can all agree that meditation can be a hard practice to get in the habit of. I mean sitting still, trying to be all calm while your mind is racing a million miles a minute is hard.

Yet, it is an important practice to bring on your journey to spiritual growth. Meditation has so many benefits like:

• Increases self-awareness

• Reduces stress

• Lessens anxiety

• Brings self-esteem and self-acceptance

• Improves your memory

Those are just a few benefits, but there have been scientific studies on how adding meditation to your life is super bueno.

The hard part, as we know, is having the discipline to use meditation on a regular basis. That's why I'm sharing tips with you on how to meditate with crystals that anyone can use to be a master of meditation.

Find A Way That You Like To Meditate

There is no "right way" to meditate. You should always rely on your intuition. If you find someone who tells you that you must sit cross-legged on a wood floor, facing to the North with drum music from an ancient tribe playing in the background while balancing a crystal on your head and a singing bowl in your right hand you're probably not going to do it. Nor would I.

When you find a way that you can meditate easily, adding other elements to your meditation will just happen. Like many things in life, there's not just one way to do it. Find what resonates with you and start there. 

Start With Just 2 Minutes

A meditation practice doesn't need to be 900 minutes long. It doesn't even have to be 20 minutes long but you may find that you find yourself building up to that because of how you feel during your meditation time. 

You can set the timer on your phone for two minutes just in case you're not sure how long two minutes is and you tend to get a bit antsy. Although, you probably want to pick a calmer alarm sound so you're not jolted out of your peaceful state with something that sounds like a 1940s phone.

Meditate The Same Time Every Day

Some people love to meditate first thing in the morning. I don't because I've got to get ready, get my kid out the door, get my Starbucks crack, etc. I prefer to do it later in the day. Whatever works for you is perfect, but to get in the habit to begin with you might want to make an appointment on your calendar to get you in the habit.

Practice Makes Perfect

Even though no one is passing out gold stars to people who are experts in meditation, know that when you push through the resistance of adding this practice into your daily routine, you will get more comfortable with it. You'll even start to look forward to it. With meditation, you'll start to feel the benefits and that will be a cue to your brain that you want to do it again. It's just like with anything new that you learn, practice makes perfect (for you).

Get An App

If you're scared to go it alone, get yourself an app with someone guiding you through. Search for "meditation" and you'll find plenty of apps. I enjoy the guided meditations of David Ji that you can listen to here. Many of his meditations go longer than a couple minutes, but you might find that you enjoy them so much to hang in there for the 15 minutes.

How To Meditate With Crystals

If you only have a few crystals, you can pick one from your collection. If you'd like to build yourself a crystal meditation toolkit you'll want to have clear quartz, amethyst, rose quartz, carnelian, black tourmaline, and selenite to start off your collection.

1. Pick a crystal.This can be one that you intuitively pick up or one that has specific healing properties that you'd like to work with.

2. Pick a quiet place. Trying to meditate when the kids are running around or watching another episode of SpongeBob will make meditation hard. Leave your phone somewhere else (or put it in airplane mode) and find a calm place in your home. You can sit in a chair or lay down. If you choose to lay down, you may fall asleep so don't meditate laying down unless you've got nothing else to do later.

3. Turn down the lights. Nothing kills your chill vibe than bright lights. The room doesn't need to be pitch black, but a dimly lit room works.

4. Hold your crystal. You can hold your crystal however you'd like. When you get further into working with crystals, you may want to hold your crystal in your left hand (which is your receiving hand) to draw in the healing properties. Here's the good news. You can set the crystal in your lap or even right in front of you on the floor. As long as the crystal is within 4 feet of you, you're good to go with receiving the healing benefits of the crystal.

5. Light a candle. I found that closing my eyes filled me with anxiety when I first started to meditate. I found that when I lit a candle and could focus my eyes on the flame, it made a world of difference to ease me into a chill state. Lots of us find it easier to concentrate on a thing, in this case, the flame, than focus on our breathing with our eyes closed. 

Here's why focusing on the candle flame actually works when you're learning how to meditate with crystals: You're looking at a flame. As the flame burns, your brain then knows there is nothing new to learn or process. Your peripheral vision will start to fade and block out everything else besides the flame. It's simply a candle flame and your mind will calm down.

6. Take 3 deep breaths. Inhale deeply through your nose and let it out through your mouth (without blowing out the candle). I like to think that when I breathe in that I'm inhaling the healing white light of all that is good and exhaling all which doesn't serve me. 

Whatever you're called to focus on is okay.  You may have something else that you'd like to think about like sending love to others or forgiving yourself.

You may want to repeat affirmations to yourself like:

• I am free of stress

• My mind is focused

• I am at peace

• My mind is at ease

• I let go of all worries

• I release tension from my body

7. Do it as long as you want. If you had your alarm set, then you can get up and go about your day. If you didn't set an alarm, whenever you feel relaxed you can slowly flutter your eyes and relax back into reality.

Learning how to meditate with crystals is easier than you think. As with any new practice, it takes time to get into the rhythm of it. Also, remember that there is no right or wrong way to meditate. I find that if the process or ritual is too complex I know I'll never do it more than once. That's why you must follow your intuition when it comes to starting and continuing with a meditation practice.