You’ve heard that meditation is good for you but haven’t managed to actually start meditating. Perhaps you feel like you don’t know how to meditate, so you’ve never given it a shot. Or maybe you’ve tried and your mind wanders. Regardless of where you are, today I am breaking down how to start meditating and build it into your daily routine.
There are five steps to adding meditation to your daily routine.
- Know the basics.
- Start small.
- Carve the time into your daily routine.
- Extend meditation time.
- Add more meditation times to your day.
I had tried meditation a couple times in the past. When I was younger, I usually meditated when I went to bed, then I would drift off to sleep. Over the years I stopped doing it. Then, I started meditating again a little over a year ago. It was more intentional this time, with the intent being to get guidance each morning. I didn’t really know what I was doing at first. It quickly went from something I never gave a lot of thought to something I now consider an essential part of my day. So, how did I go from never meditating to meditating multiple times a day, every day?
So, to get started with meditation and build it into your daily routine, here are five steps.
- Learn the basics.
While meditation is not complicated, there are some basics to get the most out of it. First, you need to find a quiet place to meditate where you won’t be disturbed, for at least five to ten minutes. Get in a comfortable seated position, or you can lay down if you prefer. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Inhale to a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of four. Breathe out to a count of four. Repeat. That’s it. Those are the basics of meditating. - Start small.
Like all new habits, it takes time to establish them and you are more likely to make it stick if you start small. Start with five to ten minutes each day that you will dedicate to meditation to start. - Carve the time into your daily routine.
If you are going to add meditation to your daily routine, then you will need to carve the time into your day. For me, this meant getting up a little earlier to add it to my morning routine. What can you carve five to ten minutes out of? - Extend your meditation time.
Once you have consistently included meditation in your daily routine, it’s time to extend the meditation time. If you started like I did, then you started with five minutes. So, now that you have been doing five minutes of meditation each day for about a month, it’s time to extend your meditation time a little longer. I would say a good upper limit is 10-15 minutes. You generally won’t need more than this each time. - Add more meditations to your daily routine.
Similar to adding more time to your meditation, you also want to aim to add one or two additional meditation times each day. By now, you’ll know it doesn’t take much and how helpful it is for calming the central nervous system and connecting to yourself. So, once you are consistently meditating once a day, aim to add one more meditation time o your day. Start following the same steps.
So, these are five steps for getting started with meditation. Meditation is a great way to connect to yourself, connect to God, and manage stress. I hope you find these tips helpful for getting started with adding meditation to your daily routine!
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