Describe some important considerations in the teaching of meditation

I am really at the beginning of my own meditation practice, so I have got lots to learn to be well placed with teaching meditation.   When I running classes on of the most important things I consider is its needs as a whole and not to use the class as a place to demonstrate my personal knowledge and/or experiment with learning about meditation. 

Clearly during meditation the students are most vulnerable and open to suggestion and accordingly it’s essential to avoid negative images, instead use words that reinforce optimistic thoughts and emotions (Metcalfe, 1996).

Other important considerations for teaching meditation include:

• Length of time;
• Environment (lighting, noise, etc) - Setup a quiet place;
• Preparation for the meditation including any necessary explanations;
• Posture - Make your students comfortable by either sitting cross-legged on a large cushion on the floor, or upright on a straight back chair, with feet flat on the floor and hands resting lightly in your lap;
• Clarity of communication;
• Contraindications/precautions to practice of articulated;
• Engagement of students/class;
• Appropriate level of practice - Let your students know that they should not force their mind to concentrate, just let it rest without effort on their chosen focus. Just ignore any other thoughts and let them flow out again;
• Appropriateness of technique/style;
• Overall structure (intro. main body of practice, ‘coming back’;
• Quality of voice (pitch, volume etc);
  Ambience; and
• Use of appropriate language and words.