“There’s no substitute for the practice of meditation” Wayne Dyer
Hopefully you’ve taken our advice from our earlier post “Meditation demystified” and have begun to feel the inspiration behind Wayne Dyer’s quote.
If you haven’t, we’d encourage you to take 10 minutes and get started now – you’ll need 5 mins to read the post and another 5 mins to give meditation a test run. Trust us, you’ll never look back!
You should already be familiar with the many benefits of meditation which include a reduction in stress, depression and anxiety, and improved mood, energy, sleep, attention, resiliency just to name a few. We’ve also previously highlighted the different types of meditative practices and a brief how-to-guide for each which covered focused attention, open monitoring and self-transcending meditation.
In this post we’re going to share the lessons learned, barriers to overcome and tips on how to get the most out of meditation based on the experience we’ve picked up along the way.
Timing matters
One of the first things to consider is the impact of timing. This relates to how long you meditate for, at which times of the day you meditate and how regularly you do this. We’d be lying if we said there’s an ideal timing for everyone and much of it depends on the daily routines you have which typically prescribe when you have time available and how much of it you have. However there are a few fundamental views that are a good place to start.
Firstly the preventative and restorative benefits of meditation are best felt as often as possible and can’t be overdone. As such, it’s recommended that finding time every day to slow down and balance your mind through meditation is the ideal regularity. In fact, many experienced practitioners’ spruik the benefits of meditating multiple times per day as a way to amplify the benefits.
In terms of how long to meditate for 20 minutes seems to be the most common length prescribed. We personally see this creating a barrier for people short on time so our advice is to do whatever you can squeeze in. We’ve personally felt the benefits of meditating for as little as 1 minute and think aiming for 10 minutes per session is a good place to start.
Finally the timing of the day is important depending on what your objectives are. Common times to meditate are upon waking, in the late afternoon / early evening or just before bed and each will have slightly different affects. Naturally your daily schedule may dictate what’s feasible and what’s not so our advice would be to do whatever works best according to your situation as long as you’re doing it at some time.
How does this look in action?
Personally we meditate twice-daily, upon waking and again just after lunch for 10 minutes at a time. We find meditating upon waking up a great way to get in the right headspace and prepare for the day ahead whilst our after lunch practice is great for shaking off the stresses from the day so far and recharging for the rest of the day ahead.
Location, location, location
If you thought real estate was the only time when location mattered, trying meditating in a busy supermarket or open plan office. You’ll soon find the supermarket loud and distracting and whilst the open plan office might be quieter, the discomfort of the gazes of the people near you will be enough to have you more anxious and stressed than you were before. These examples are obviously extreme but highlight the importance of getting the location right.
The best location in our experience is somewhere quiet, private and a place where you can be uninterrupted. This might be harder said than done for some people but these places can be found.
Contrary to popular misconceptions you don’t need to be on a tropical island, be sitting on the beach and chanting to meditate. Sitting on a couch, a chair or even the floor are perfectly ok. Lying down is another popular option although for some people can lead to falling asleep – this probably isn’t a bad thing as we could all use more sleep however sleep affects the brain differently than meditation so getting the best of both worlds would be the ideal.
For us, we meditate on the couch or the balcony at home and in an empty meeting room at work. Might not be textbook locations but they get the job done.
Am I getting better?
One of the aspects we struggled with when beginning was not knowing whether we were meditating the “right way” and whether we were getting better over time. It turns out we’re not alone and these are common questions doing the rounds.
With experience we’ve begun to realise that their isn’t really a right or a wrong way to meditate and it’s not something that you can measure for improvement over time. Ultimately you want to give your mind the chance to slow, quieten and relax and whether you achieve this by sitting upright and breathing intentionally, lying down and focusing on the sounds around you or by doing handstands it largely doesn’t matter.
Equally you’ll finish some sessions completely relaxed, refreshed and thinking you’ve mastered the technique. Other times you’ll find it really difficult to quieten your mind and feel like you’ve achieved nothing at all. Like anything, with practice you’ll find it easier to focus your attention and control your mind however there’ll always be times in your life where you just can’t get to the depths of relaxation as you will at others. This doesn’t mean that you’re not getting better and that it’s not worth the investment.
We’ve personally found that meditation feels more natural with practice and more often than not we can get to more relaxed states than when we first begun. However we absolutely have sessions where we finish up having not been able to slow our mind and focus our attention whatsoever. Even in these times we figure going to a quiet place and spending a few minutes gathering our thoughts is still a very worthwhile activity.
We’ve shared the lessons we’ve learnt and highlighted things you should consider when attempting your own meditative practice. Above all else we can’t speak highly enough of the benefits you’ll feel to your mind, body and soul by introducing this into your daily routine. We hope this is inspiration enough to take the next step so you can feel and live this for yourself.
Action for the week:
- You can get started by setting aside 10 minutes for some focused attention (or another form) meditation. Schedule it in your calendar or even better, do it now!
- Consider how you can make it work best for you. Focus on get the timing and location right for your own situation.
- Keep at it regardless of the barriers you come across. Even your worst meditation sessions are better than not doing it at all.
We’ve shared our own experience with meditation and can confidently say it’s been one of the most profound changes we’ve introduced in our life within the last two years. It’s made that big of a difference to our mindset, energy levels, mood and resiliency. We genuinely hope more people can be open-minded enough to try it and begin to reap the unavoidable benefits that will come their way. Failing that, we always remind ourselves that if it’s good enough for Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman and others, then it’s worth a few minutes of our time too!
In a recent post “Exercise your choice” we highlighted that exercise selection matters and that different people would benefit from different forms of training. A common theme within this advice was weight training due to the almost universal benefits it provides regardless of individual differences. Given the misconceptions of the effects of weight training, the unnecessary complexity that surrounds it and that not everyone is familiar with or comfortable in a gym, our next post will cover the fundamentals of weight training and tips to get started in a little more detail.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on meditation, what has or hasn’t worked for you, and any other comments or questions you have. Please reach out to us at any of our social media channels.
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