How Many Times A Day Should You Meditate? Here's What Experts Recommend (Guest Post)
Pexels Courtesy Photo by Elina Fairytale |
Guest Blogger from Enhanced Meditation, Khushboo
Meditation has become a widely utilized practice for managing stress and enhancing overall health. However, for those just beginning to explore meditation, it can be difficult to figure how frequently to meditate. How many times a day should you meditate? What should be taken into account when deciding the frequency? What do professionals advise? Here, we provide answers to all these inquiries and more.
How
Many Times A Day Should You Meditate?
There are a few
things to consider when deciding how often to meditate, like your lifestyle and
what you're hoping to get out of meditation. For example, if you're looking to
reduce stress, you might want to meditate more regularly than if you're aiming
to sharpen your focus. Don't forget to factor in the other parts of your life,
too, such as work, family, and leisure - a balanced approach is key!
It's easy to start spending more time meditating than doing other things once you get the hang of the deeper meditative state. Meditation itself can become like an addiction once you reach higher states in this practice.
Factors to Consider When Deciding How Many Times A Day to Meditate
You will need
to take these factors into account when thinking about how many times a day to
meditate. Let's look at what these are:
If you are living a busy
lifestyle and you do not have a lot of time, then you may want to meditate a
lot more than you usually do. On the contrary, if you spend more time resting
and a slow pace lifestyle, then you might not need to meditate as much.
There are so many types of meditation that can be used to
achieve different aims and goals. If you are meditating to reduce stress,
improve focus and cultivate more compassion for yourself and others, then
meditating more frequently throughout the day will help you more.
You need to take your mental
and physical health into account, especially when you are thinking about
meditating more often. If you are not physically healthy, you should be
meditating only as much as it makes you feel good. If you are growing through a
rough patch when it comes to mental health, you can meditate more which
can help you improve more.
4. Your environment and surroundings:
Here, need, and wants are two different sides of a coin, and you can meditate even if you don't need to meditate. But you must always meditate when you need to meditate. Why, you might ask! The reason is when you absolutely need to meditate, you might actually feel more like avoiding it.
What
Experts Recommend
Experts
generally recommend that beginners meditate for 10-20 minutes, 2-3 times a day.
This is a good starting point for those who are new to meditation. However,
it's important to note that everyone is different. So, it's important to
experiment and find what works best according to your needs and circumstances.
According to research, it's recommended to do mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for 45 minutes each day. MBSR shows effective results over a period of 19 weeks.
It is definitely difficult to dedicate that much time to one meditation session. Meditating 2-3 times a day in different chunks of minutes can be equally beneficial. So it's we can assume that meditating twice a day for 20-25 minutes each day is best for getting the most out of meditation.
It's also extremely essential to remember that the frequency of meditation practice should not interfere with your daily activities or sleep schedule.
How
Long Should You Meditate Each Time?
Now the question is how long each meditation session should
be! That also depends on a lot of factors, similar to how often you should be
meditating.
Pexels Courtesy Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko |
If you are extremely busy and overwhelmed with work and stress, then you should meditate for a longer period of time than you usually
do. It can be between 30 minutes to an hour.
In case you are full of energy and feeling good then you might not need to meditate a lot. A 5-to-10-minute meditation can fill you up with even more positivity and energy than you already have.
Different
Types of Meditation and Recommended Frequency
Different types of meditation can be used to attain
various objectives. For instance, mindfulness meditation can be used to abate
stress and enhance consciousness, while loving-kindness meditation can be
employed to foster empathy.
The frequency of meditation that is suggested depends on the kind of meditation that is being done. Mindfulness meditation is normally done for a span of 10-20 minutes 2-3 times a day.
Tips for Incorporating Meditation Into Your Everyday Life
If you're just starting out in meditation, it can be tricky
to make it a part of your everyday routine. So here are some ideas that can be
of help:
●
Start off slow. If you're feeling daunted, try
meditating for a mere 5 minutes each day. As you become more accustomed to
meditating regularly, you can slowly increase your practice time.
● Set attainable
objectives. Don't set goals that are out of reach, such as meditating for an
hour a day. Instead, focus on realistic, modest goals.
● Locate a cozy
spot. Make sure to find a spot where you'll be comfortable meditating - it
could be a tranquil area of your home or a peaceful place outdoors.
● Include
breathing exercises. Incorporate breathing exercises into your meditation to
help you unwind and concentrate.
● Don't be too
hard on yourself. Meditation is not about being faultless. Don't be too hard on
yourself in case you make mistakes or can't stay focused.
●
Just keep practicing, and eventually, you will
start seeing results.
Benefits
of Meditation
Meditation can
provide many benefits, such as reducing stress, improving concentration, and
increasing self-awareness. Regular meditation can also improve your mood and
help you cope with difficult emotions. Let's look at all the benefits you can
get by meditating twice a day.
Managing stress and anxiety becomes easier:
It will be a
lot easier to tackle shares and inside when you are meditating twice a day.
Meditating in the morning is the best for setting intentions for a great day
ahead. Meditating in the evening can improve the quality of sleep, and it can
act as a barrier between your work and home life.
Enhanced pain tolerance:
Meditating
every day can incredibly enhance your pain tolerance level. It can also help reduce migraine-related headaches. Or at least
migraines will feel less intense when you have higher pain tolerance.
You become emotionally stronger:
Meditation
significantly increases the level of clarity in our heads. That level of
clarity results in stronger emotional balance, and you become a lot calmer in
day-to-day life.
Conclusion
Meditation can provide a huge amount of benefits other than
just stress reduction. But, if you are just starting out with meditation, it
may seem tricky to figure out how often you should do it. Questions such as how
many sessions you should have each day, what you should take into
consideration, and what the experts say? are all valid.
It's also important to keep your meditation practice in alignment with the other parts of your life, like work, family, and recreational activities. Learn more about how to meditate properly and start incorporating it into your everyday life. With regular meditation practice, you can reap many benefits and improve your overall well-being.
Migraine
headache: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10865-008-9159-2
MBSR:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25818837/
Recommended resources from author:
1.Types of meditation: https://enhancedapp.io/meditation/10-types-of-meditation-and-how-you-can-pick-the-right-one-for-you/
2. How to meditate: https://enhancedapp.io/meditation/how-to-meditate-correctly-and-6-signs-your-meditation-is-working/
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