Do you ever get sick and tired of your mind turning
into a race track every single time you attempt to be still? You are not the
only one, millions of people experience a jumpy, tightened and worried mind all
the while. Fortunately, the mind could be trained through regular practice of
meditation, which helps one to be alert full time. Meditation is a way to spark
a process that will eventually help you reduce the noise in your head and
become more in control of them, just spend 5 or 10 minutes every day and start
with closing your eyes and concentrate on your breath.
Turning Meditation into a Routine
The procedure of applying meditation in the daily
routine is not an easy thing and needs a lot of dedication, time and effort, as
well as being a very sensitive process which demands consistency. Exploring and
implementing the strategies and practical tips on meditation can assist in
placing this practice at the top of your agenda. This prompts looking for more
ways on how to incorporate them in one’s schedule and having the drive to
practice every day as well as being able to come up with ways and means of
minimizing interference. But in spite of this, Meditation can be made into a
practice and for this many benefits that accompany it to be experienced one has
to be consistent.
Features of Daily Practice
When one is planning to carry out a daily meditation
practice, they are bound to gain a lot when it comes to their health. Daily
mindfulness just for five minutes helps to decrease stress, increase
concentration, and develop emotional coping strategies. Science has also
revealed that exercising meditation also helps in bringing down the blood
pressure, enhancing the immune system, and diminishing the signs of anxiety and
depression. It can also be established as a habit and this can assist one to be
more conscious while dealing with a certain issue in the day to day activities.
Daily meditation practice also brings changes in the
emotional sphere: the person becomes calmer, and her/his emotions are more
stable. It assists in the development of the conscious attitude to your
emotions and thoughts, while not getting entangled with them. By cultivating
this kind of awareness, you get to know your areas of sensitivity and what you
can do on how to handle situations that annoy you.
Thus, if you just spend 10-15 minutes in a day and
close your eyes and try to think about your breathing or a word then one tends
to encourage the mind to stop thinking negative and adverse things and one
begins to get a peaceful feeling. This inner peace can mean improved ability to
face and overcome such challenges, since one begins to deal with problematic
issues with relative calm and steadiness.
Meditation doesn’t matter if you are a new comer or
you have been a meditation for years- Spending some quiet time for reflection
make a lot of difference in ones life.
Some Strategies That Will Help to Practice Daily
Meditation Emmanuel Raphael Nkhahle:
It is great to build a daily meditation practice and
become a meditation practitioner; however, it may be rather challenging to do
so. Thus, if you incorporate all these recommendations into your strategy of
creating the daily practice, you will observe that you can adhere to it in the
long term and gradually accumulate all these advantages and bonuses.
1. Start Small
Do not feel like you have to sit for hour at a time to
meditate because that is a bad idea – start off with 5-10 minutes maximum. This
will make you feel that you are already successful and easier to set into a
certain routine. Finally, it is also necessary to add that the duration of
meditation should be gradually increased as the person gains more confidence in
such exercise.
2. Be Consistent
It takes time to develop any habit meaning that to
embrace a new concept, one must be consistent.
Pick one particular time of the day that you will be
in a position to practice and try and stick to this time every day Practice
meditation at the chosen time of the day including early morning or before
going to bed. Many believe that daily practice helps the patient to improve his
results and enter a new level of meditation.
3. Make Your Home Environment Quieter And Cozier
Practicing should take place in a quiet and serene
environment so that disturbances are not forthcoming. One effective way for a
person to create this environment is to set up a space in his/her home where
they would associate that area with meditation. Ensure that the environment and
some of the surroundings can be comfortable for the two of you without any
interruptions. It is advisable to incorporate items that can be used to
establish a relaxing mood such as cushioning, lanterns, fragrant smoke or lamp.
First of all, there should be a desire to make one’s surroundings friendly and
comfortable to help him establish a practice.
4. Incorporate Rituals
The implementation of the aspects of rituals when
practicing meditation may make it easier to stay committed because the routines
may be familiar. It is recommended that before you begin, you might like to
light a candle, burn some incense, or ring a bell, singing bowl or gong. These
sensory stimuli can help to reach the certain signals to your head that it is
high time for you to get relax and stay in the moment. The point is to try
various things and find in what exactly they are enjoyable for you to diversify
your meditation.
5. Explore Different Techniques
Chose one from the different types of meditation like
mindfulness meditation or loving-kindness or focus on gratitude, body scan or
breathing. Trying out the different ways can assist you in discovering what
really works for you and Keep it Fun and Interesting! As far as the types of
meditations, guided practices may be especially useful to the novices as they
offer instructions.
6. Listen to Your Body
When practicing, one should avoid straining his or her
body into certain positions or getting involved in certain activities.
In this context it will be better to choose a chair or
a bed rather than a simple stool and despite various examples that can be found
in different religions, one should not sit in the lotus position. If you have a
problem with immobility during meditation, you can engage in walking or
standing mediation.
7. Accept Distractions
It is critical to note that deep down, every beginner
in the area of meditation will have to deal with a number of distractions. Do
not get angry at these distractions; instead, accept them and softly bring your
attention back to your inspiration or the chosen object. As well as effectively
helping you to enhance your practise, it allows you to learn patience and
acceptance that are rather useful in everyday life. Your thoughts will stray,
and that is perfectly all right, it is natural for them to do so while
meditating. The concept is to kindly bring the attention back to the breath or
chosen object and do so without criticism.
8. Experiment with Different Times
Experiment with the timing of your practice and come
up with a schedule that is suitable for you in relation to other activities.
Whether it can be done during lunch, during a simulation of the workday, before
going to bed, choose the proper moment.
9. Make Use of Technology
There is a variety of such apps that contain features
like guided daily meditations, nature sounds, breathing exercises, podcasts,
and other additional tools. There are many applications for the iPhone, for
instance, Calm, Headspace, Buddhify, and Insight Timer all contain highly
diverse guided sessions.
10. Reflect on Your Practice
Pay attention to how you feel every time you finish
the activity and occasionally compare it with how you feel at different times
in the day or week. Evaluation of the practice assists one in learning the
areas of difficulties that may be facing and how to overcome these
difficulties. This way, you are creating the stability of a habit while keeping
an eye on the progress and analyzing any potential changes one need to make in
their practice.
11. Recognize Benefits Gradually
In this case, it is not always apparent that making
time for meditating will prove fruitful, but in most occasions engaging in the
practice will steadily cause improvements in the recommended areas of
mindfulness, and control over feelings.
12. Seek Professional Help If Needed
If such is the case, then one should seek professional
help from a doctor, or a mental health specialist.
In case you discover that meditation increases your
levels of anxiety or depression, it is best to speak to a therapist since they
can give suggestions that are specific to mental health issues.
13. Integrate it with Other Morning or Evening
Exercises
Meditation can be best practiced in the morning before
other activities are commenced; hence it can be easily incorporated into the
daily practice. It’s recommended to practice mindfulness in parallel with
coffee break, or stretching, or when writing in a diary. This may assist you in
developing a healthy pattern to start or finish the day with a beneficial
impact on your physique and psyche.
14. Set Clear Intentions
It is advised that before starting the act of
meditation, one should set a goal for that particular session. Whether one is
practicing mindfulness, seeking to cut on stress or the main objective is to
improve on the emotional health, then having a good reason can help to take
your practice to another level and ultimately will assist in sustaining it.
15. Connect with a Community
Having a group or a community of other meditators can
also prove beneficial since members are not only motivated by the activity
itself but by other people who are likewise into it. Being part of a forum on
the use of mindfulness or a local group, or a class that is conducted once a
week in a yoga center, one is able to learn from the experiences of other
people, get motivated and encouraged and also learn some new tips on how to
carry out the practice.
Overcoming
Common Challenges
Some people experience some push-backers when they
want to create the habit of meditating always for example, they might claim
that they do not have enough time, energy or concentration. These issues are
mostly solved with innovative measures and with a focus to dedicate more time
to the practice.
• Lack of Time: To address this
challenge, getting meditation incorporated into the current schedules is a good
strategy. For instance, practicing meditation before going to work or before
retiring to bed makes it possible to incorporate into the daily busy schedule.
It is recommended that one practice before going to
work or spend some portion of the lunch break practicing.
• Lack
of Motivation: By motivating people with tiny but attainable targets and
rewarding them before they can achieve the bigger goal can go a long way in
motivating people. One has to fix one’s eyes on the gain that is in a position
to be derived from the practice of meditation including; stress reduction among
others in order to sustain the spirit of practicing meditation. You may also
get a friend willing to practice with you this may help in increasing your
chances of practicing and also motivate you to do it.
• Lack
of Focus: If you find it difficult to stay fully aware during practice some
tricks that can help are taking three slow breaths in and out in order to
soothe the nervous system and bring the mind back down to the body.
Biologically, external sounds can be wiping off your concentration; in such
cases, play some music, or embrace the use of a white noise machine. If
concentration becomes a problem during practice, it is recommended to follow
guided meditations or to use mantra meditation.
• Low
Energy: If you find that you are falling asleep during your meditating
sessions, it is advisable to locate your meditation practice time when you are
most likely to be awake full, for instance, in the morning after arising from
bed or after a short walk. You can also perform mild warm-up exercises like
shaky leg or deep inhale exercise before you meditate to boost energy.
Furthermore, ensure that you have adequate sleep to enable you have a proper
time for meditation.
• Discomfort
or Restlessness: Whenever you feel that discomfort starts to rising or you
start restlessness then one must start practice with ethical considerations
even with deeper ignorance. They should try out different postures or place
cushions and some other props to aid in supporting the body and diminish the
feelings of restlessness. Moreover, paying a lot of attention to these
sensations and accepting them as they are without any rejection and further
turning the clients’ attention to the breath can also provide involvement in handling
the aforementioned difficulties.
Final thoughts
It may seem a bit hard to integrate meditation into one's
routine at the beginning, but with determination, perseverance, and effective
techniques, it becomes part of daily routine with many benefits. That way,
since you begin in a small way, are consistent, and aim to make a comfortable
place to practice, you have put in place a right foundation. Switching between
activites, allowing oneself to be distracted and utilization of technology can
make the practice more interesting as well as refreshing. Bear in mind that the
positive effects of meditation such as a decrease in stress, an increase in
concentration, and the ability to handle emotions are processes that take time,
yet, are very beneficial all the same. Take this process with the attitudes of
acceptance and flexibility and learn to appreciate the little wins.
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