Some may believe meditation is only for the ones who have the time to sit around and do nothing for hours at a time. After all, you have a high-pressure workload, your coworkers and boss are counting on you to deliver everything in time, you have a house to manage, and even personal hobbies you want to keep alive despite everything you’re doing already. It may seem like you simply cannot make time for something that seems as trivial as meditation.
However, once you make it a part of your daily routine, meditation will have immediate as well as long-lasting effects on not just your mind, but your overall health as well. It may seem hard to get started, but once you decide to make it a daily habit and stick with it, you may be surprised at how easy it is to bring about a change in your mindset and your lifestyle.
One of the greatest advantages of meditating daily is, of course, how it helps you deal with the stressful events and feeling in your life. There are several different kinds of meditation, and you can pick one that works best for you. The end goal is to lead you to find peace within yourself and be able to tackle the challenges modern life has to offer you.
While Starting Out
There are several daily meditation routines you can try, but for beginners, you don’t need to worry too much about how or how much. Just focus on 2 minutes a day. Start from there, and work your way up to whatever feels comfortable to you. 2 minutes is a seemingly short time to commit to, and it will help you get started.
When you start out, don’t worry too much about what you’re going to do. Just pick a time, or if you prefer, pick one activity that you want to associate with the time to sit down and meditate. It can be after your first cup of morning coffee after you’ve arrived home from a long day and changed your clothes, or even something as exact as 7:00 a.m. sharp in the morning, if that’s what you prefer.
Start out by simply finding a quiet enough spot in your home that you do not get disturbed and sit in a comfortable position. It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting cross-legged, or completely stretched out, so as long as you feel at ease. The most important part is that you want this to become a habit, so start with a small and non-challenging number. This way you don’t feel pressured to skip out on it, even on the days you feel busy. You can increase the time as you manage to do it successfully in consecutive days, but start out small enough to not feel pressured.
Now, you can pick the kind of meditation that suits you the best. You may choose to go for focussing on your breath as a form of meditation. Start out with bringing your awareness to your breathing without altering it. Focus on the movement of air through your nasal passages, down into your lungs, feel the air fill your body, and feel the warm breath gently leave your nostrils. If you feel your mind wander, gently bring it back to the task at hand.
Concentration Meditation
This is a very simple practice. Concentration meditation involves focusing on a certain detail, such as your breathing, the repetition of a simple word or a mantra, or even focusing on the sound of a repetitive gong. This kind of meditation helps clear your mind and bring you in the now. If you’re practising for a small amount of time, this is an easy form of meditation to get into.
Mindfulness Meditation
Another form of meditation is mindfulness meditation, where you observe the thoughts as they drift through your mind. You have to be careful to be a passive observer, and not get actively involved with any train of thought. If you find yourself getting involved with any thought, gently detach yourself and come back to the place of the observer. It is important to remember to always be patient and forgiving with yourself, as things like this come with practice, and getting frustrated will not help your cause.
This kind of meditation is great for self-reflection and is a great form of meditation to practice if you want to be more aware of your mental processes. It can also help you trace your lines of thoughts, and the kind of emotions each though invokes. If you’re someone who has been feeling anxious or constantly stressed recently, this may help bring light to the reason why you are feeling this way. It makes you aware of the kind of thoughts that may lead to stress and negative feelings. Mindfulness is a great thing to practice every day to become more aware of your own mind, and it’s working.
There are quite a few other meditation techniques you can look into, and never be afraid to experiment once you get into the habit of meditation. You will find that regular meditation practice will help you become a calmer, and more empathetic and relaxed individual, who is ready to tackle the challenges of any day, no matter what comes their way. This daily habit will help you become a much better person in the long run, and is definitely something you should consider trying out.
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