Wednesday, January 18, 2023

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 MeditationKhushboo


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:

 

1.    The lifestyle you live:

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.


2.    Your aim of meditating:

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.


3.    Your mental and Physical health:

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:

 If you are living with a toxic family or working in a toxic work environment, it will be better to meditate more often. Meditation will provide you with the support and the calm you need. If you are living in a perfectly happy, healthy environment and the people around you are supportive, then you might not need to meditate as much.


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.

Research links:

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/








* Courtesy Photos from Pexels:







No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment.