How Long Should I Meditate Everyday?

A common question I get asked a lot is "how long should I meditate every day?". The answer depends on WHY you meditate and what you're looking to get out of it. In this talk, I go over some of the different lengths of time people meditate daily such as 30 minutes per day, 1 hour a day, 2 hours a day, 3 hours a day and 4+ hours per day, and the pros and cons for each length chosen.

Transcript

Hey,

This is Ish and one question I get asked a lot is how long should I meditate per day?

So honestly the answer to this question really depends on what you're looking to get out of meditation Because understand that everyone has their own goals and purposes for meditation so some people for example would like just to experience a slight break or gap in their day from their working day and Just a period of time where they can just let their thoughts go and then go back to work So to them meditation is kind of like a massage or something relaxing that you do before you go back to your day and then for other people they really like the The mental effects of meditation like the health benefits and how they feel so they do it more from a health aspect Because there are a lot of studies shown on how meditation can positively impact your brain So they might have a different purpose other people like would want to reduce their attachments to their their their daily life So it's more of like a bigger thing now,

So they're trying to Now push away that external world and find happiness from within so that's going to take a lot more practice and Other people would like to become Bodhisattvas and help other people from suffering liberation So obviously there are different levels to this and it's also like going to the gym.

For example,

Other people have goals Some people would like to go to the gym just to for maintenance and we have any injuries Other people would like to go to experience the health benefits of getting stronger and more fit other people would like to get as muscular as possible and other people are actually Competing and training and becoming the best versions of themselves in the gym Competing on tournaments and bodybuilding competitions.

So there's different methods there and But let's just start to define some general guidelines for meditation so I can help you So the Zen master Harada Sogaku He said that for beginners an adequate time to sit is about 30 minutes at a time and I generally agree that this amount of sitting is Perfectly the perfect amount at a minimum that anyone should be meditating per day Because this 30 minutes can provide you a nice Gap where you can just really tune inwards and get that Relaxation you need and I feel that if you meditate less than 30 minutes,

You're really not getting any benefits from it It's kind of like,

You know going to the gym for 10 minutes or reading a book for 10 minutes Sure,

You can do it but you're not gonna get as much as you would if you just sat for at least 30 minutes and I think 30 minutes a good start for most beginners out there because It's long enough where you can just sit Meditate and not feel burnt out and you'll experience a nice little gap in your day and feel pretty good So that's a perfect start Then I the next step up is doing an hour a day and I think that this is ideal for most people And most people should strive to do at least an hour a day Because when you're doing an hour a day you create that nice space and time in your day where you can just meditate you'll also notice that You when you're in that deep introspective state your external attachments are now starting to go away a lot Stronger than if you did if you just did like 20 minutes here and there so an hour is perfect And I think this is the best amount and then two hours a day is my personal Sweet-spot and this is what I personally do and you'll find that when you do two hours a day of meditation You have less attachment.

So it grows even more so you aren't as moved by external things around you and you get this really deep spacious feeling and this is I guess a point where your day-to-day as hard as described but Your day-to-day activities are now starting to come from an inner perspective an inner space rather than you being Reactive the world around you so this is where your actions are coming from within And this is the nice amount where you're starting to notice this And you feel a little bit more joy and more lightness in your body when you do two hours a day Now you can also do three hours a day.

And I think this is in my opinion this is a limit for most everyday practitioners because You'll start to notice that when you start to do three hours a day You are now neglecting other things in your life that you could be doing and you know That's really fine If you want to go down a meditation path or you want to experience more deeper experiences within But if you're just doing meditation as just kind of like an activity rather than a way of life and the way of being Then this wouldn't really relate to you because let's just say you have an eight-hour workday then you have three hours of meditation after it doesn't really give you time to work on your side business or Just work on other things.

So when you're doing three hours a day,

This is kind of the limit where you are sacrificing other things,

But The inner space and inner spaciousness that you will experiences can arguably be argued as more Fulfilling than doing those other things anyways,

Right and in when you do meditate three hours a day you feel this really really deep blissfulness and silence and your life kind of takes on a more slower pace in nature and that's what I've personally noticed when you do three hours a day And then any time after that,

So if you do like four or five hours,

This is usually in a Monastery or monk like meditation setting where you're actually like living there or doing like a retreat for a long time So,

Of course,

There are like meditation retreats where you'll just go and meditate for ten hours a day for a couple of days But I'm talking more so like on a daily practice when you're doing more that's Usually because you are in a Zen like actually living there in a monastery or you're really getting into the Zen practice So,

You know the Zen monks at Antaji which is a very famous Zen monastery the the monks there meditate five hours a day and if you tally this up is actually Results to about like almost a thousand eight hundred hours per year.

So they're actually getting a lot of meditation hours in per day and When they do this their their life otherwise is very simple Because they're dedicating such a concentrated amount for their meditation their other tasks are Their whole point their whole world is centered out of meditation.

So their other tasks are carried out with Simplicities and are like solving like complex like math problems or anything like that Because I think if you meditate for that long you don't really have interest in that and I firstly noticed that when you're very high states of vibrations and you stay there for long periods of time such as on a retreat or you're just You know going to long like meditation in the settings.

You just won't have the need to To engage with the external world as much as you thought you did.

So before if you were had this like big goal of Owning your own bakery or becoming like this awesome business businessman or woman After a couple hours of meditation per day like doing like four or five hours You just really don't feel like it because your focus now becomes more on the internal experiences So it's kind of like a spectrum.

So on the very low end when you're just doing 30 minutes a day,

Maybe an hour a day Meditation is more so like a break or something A spaciousness that you experience while you go about your everyday and then as you go deeper and deeper in your meditation practice Your meditation becomes your focus.

So your inner experience becomes your focus and then the external things are just cherries on top So there's just something that's like nice And as you go really deep into the deep end you doing like five hours a day it upwards then meditation and inner experiences is completely your your go-to experience and The external world like catching a movie or you know going to a bar or something like that is just something That's a little sprinkle here and there so very opposite to the other one.

So kind of flips at the end so those are just my recommendations and Feel free to try it out I recommend if you're just a brand new beginner doing 30 minutes a day But eventually working away up to an hour to two hours a day But let me know if you meditate login then how you feel.

Thanks

Reviews

Very interesting. Good lessons and advice. Thank you.