6 Tips For Starting a Daily Meditation Routine
Meditation is a wonderful tool for practicing mindfulness, calming your mind and managing stress, among many other benefits. Some people find they can easily begin meditating, while others may find it difficult to get started. Here are six tips for starting a daily meditation routine.
1. Determine the Best Environment For You
While the classic idea of meditation is sitting alone in a room in the lotus position with your eyes closed, this is not the only way to meditate. With the internet, you can easily access information about different meditation styles, techniques, and environments. Consider questions such as what does red light therapy do, can a meditation routine be done in a group setting, and what is the difference between moving meditation and progressive relaxation.
2. Begin with a Guided Meditation
Because meditation can be so deceptively simple, some people have trouble knowing where or how to start. Guided meditation can be helpful in these circumstances. There are meditation apps, podcasts, and videos available online with a variety of tools to assist you. Some people may find a narrator guiding their meditation helpful. Others may instead want someone to help count their breaths. If you don’t want to hear another person’s voice, there are also options for calming music or ambient sound and visual tools instead.
3. Start Small
Keep in mind that you don’t need to immediately start meditating for long periods of time every day. Doing so can feel like an impossible task when you’re getting started, and many people simply don’t feel they have the time to dedicate to lengthy sessions every day. Remember that it’s fine to start small. Start by taking five or ten minutes every day, preferably at the same time each day, to just breathe and focus on organizing your thoughts. Over time, you can build up to fifteen or thirty minutes a day if you wish to.
4. Go Slow
Some people begin a meditation routine with the intention of practicing general mindfulness and wellness, while others begin to help deal with stress, anxiety, depression or other issues and pressures. Whatever your reasoning, you should remember that meditation isn’t going to provide immediate results. Instead, it’s a tool for helping you better handle and deal with various stressors and events in a healthy way. Remember that the benefits of your meditation practice will slowly and subtly develop over a lengthy period of time and you won’t notice drastic changes in your outlook or peace of mind right away.
5. Let Yourself Be Comfortable
You may have heard that you shouldn’t let yourself get overly comfortable when meditating or else you’ll risk falling asleep or otherwise losing your focus. This simply isn’t true. If you want to avoid getting too comfortable, that’s fine, but there’s no reason you need to force yourself to sit up straight if you don’t want to. Instead, try different positions, including lying down, sitting up in a chair, standing or kneeling. You can even meditate while walking or doing other types of gentle exercise, such as yoga. Comfort doesn’t just apply to your position, either. You can also set up your meditative space however you like, by incorporating candles, cushions, soft fabrics and soothing music or scents.
6. Try Different Options
You should remember that there are as many meditation methods and strategies available as there are people and attitudes toward practicing meditation. When choosing a practice, think about your goals. If you’re looking for ways to deal with stress, for example, you may benefit more from a moving meditation or a breath-focused style than from a spiritual meditation. It’s ok to try different options at first and figure out how they make you feel and what works for you as you develop your routine.
Conclusion
The most important thing to know about meditation is that it isn’t a one-size-fits-all practice. There are many different styles and methods. You can also access a plethora of tools to assist you in your practice and make changes to your routine as needed.
