How To Build A Meditation Habit

Forming a consistent meditation practice can be tricky! This track will uncover some myths that are holding you back from starting a meditation practice and some practical solutions you can take to create a daily meditation habit. Keep in mind that initially with any practice it is a bit difficult but once you've established a daily routine, it becomes very easy to follow!

Transcript

Hey,

This is Ish and today I'll be talking about how to create a consistent meditation practice and this is directed more for beginners and also people who just don't feel like meditating and some solutions to overcome that.

So if you're first turning out,

I hear a lot of excuses from different people.

They often say,

Oh,

I don't have time to meditate or meditation is a waste of time or I just don't feel like it right now,

I'll do it later.

Of course,

It never happens,

Right?

So I'm going to address some of the excuses that I hear and provide some solutions and also some tips just from my own personal experience on how to create a consistent practice.

So the first excuse I hear is I just don't have time to meditate.

So this is something that can be done.

You can definitely fit in at least 10 minutes a day if you're super busy and I don't think everyone's that busy that they can't meditate for just 10 minutes out of their day.

We often spend a lot of just wasted time just sitting around or watching TV and that could be used just to start a meditation practice.

Another thing I hear is I just can't meditate.

I just can't do it.

It's just me personally,

Right?

And for that,

I would say just set up 10 minutes out of your day just to sit and watch your breath.

It's a very simple practice that anyone can do and you're just going to focus on your inhales and exhales.

And don't judge the quality of your meditation starting out.

So don't focus that,

Oh,

I only had maybe one minute of focus and the rest of the nine minutes I was swept away by my mind.

Rather,

You just want to commit yourself for the 10 minutes and just know that you're watching your breath in and out.

And if you find that your mind has started to wander,

Just bring your attention back.

Very simple practice.

You can do that just for 10 minutes a day if you're just starting out and you'll notice some progress over time.

The next excuse I hear is I don't feel well right now.

So I feel like crap.

I don't want to meditate right now.

And for this,

I would say that if you're feeling not,

I guess,

Not in a very positive way at the moment,

You can actually use that to help your meditation.

So in meditation,

We often use different types of anchors to go deeper into the practice.

So watching your breath is one anchor.

You can also be focused on an object,

Like a candle in front of you.

That's another anchor.

So if you're feeling very sad or angry,

Those are actual emotions and energy that you can feel in your body.

That can actually be a great gateway for you to go deeper into your practice.

So you can actually use whatever you're feeling like to go deeper into your practice.

So that's actually not an excuse at all.

Next would be meditation is a waste of time.

Not so,

Because you do gain a lot of benefits from the practice.

And if you tend to be more type A and you're all about accomplishing goals,

Meditation can actually help you accomplish your goals because you're more relaxed,

You're focused.

There's actually a lot of different studies that have shown that meditation can increase the neural network in your prefrontal cortex.

So these regions are involved with decision making and making executive decisions and focusing as well.

So these are all very good qualities that can help you if you feel that meditation won't give you the tangible benefits.

And of course,

There's way more benefits out there that I won't touch upon here.

And now if you feel that you have been doing the practice of meditation and nothing's just happening and you don't feel any benefits in your day to day life,

I would say that you're probably not putting enough time into meditation.

So if you're only doing,

I know I did say just do 10 minutes to start off at,

But if you find that you've been doing the 10 minutes for a while and you're just not noticing any differences,

I would say you need to increase the time a little bit more.

So if you're only doing 10 to 15 minutes,

I don't feel that it is a step up from not doing anything,

But I don't think it's quite enough to notice a very strong effect over time.

So likewise,

I mean,

You wouldn't go to a gym for just 10 minutes a day and work out,

Right?

So you would need at least maybe 20,

30 minutes,

But definitely start off as a 10 minutes at a 10 minute sitting just to start your practice and then over time increase the minutes spent.

Another thing is since we do,

Since we are so close to ourselves,

Right,

We don't notice the benefits day to day,

But you'll actually notice that other people will point that out.

So they'll say,

Hey,

You're actually,

I noticed you're a lot more calm recently.

So other people will actually point out the benefits for you of your practice.

And then now for some solutions,

Just from my personal life,

You want to make it meditation easy as a habit.

So if,

For example,

Going back to a gym analogy,

If you are trying to work out and your gym is about 50 minutes away from you,

Although initially you'll put in that effort to drive to the gym every day,

After a certain amount of time,

You're going to feel that it's too far away or you just don't feel like it at the moment.

And actually getting to the gym and working out will be a lot harder for you because it's that initial hump of wanting to drive 15 minutes just to go to the gym.

So you want to make meditation very easy.

And unfortunately meditation as itself can be very easy to do because all you need is just a cushion to sit on.

Sometimes you don't even need that and just a quiet space if you can find it.

And that's all you really need.

So you want to make it easy for you.

So for me personally,

I have a room just for meditation and it's actually right next to where I sleep.

So all I have to do is just get up,

Walk over,

Walk five feet over and just sit.

And I create a habit every day.

So every day in the morning when I wake up,

I will walk over and I'll meditate.

And I'll do that for 30 minutes,

Then go to work and then I'll come back into another sitting.

But I'll make sure that I would never miss the morning meditation at all.

And this is just habit.

So this is something I just do on autopilot at this point.

Nothing I really think of.

So this is what you want to do in establishing a habit.

You want to make sure that it's very accessible and something you can do every day.

So if mornings work well with you,

Do that.

If any evenings work well with you,

Do that as well.

So just find a time where you can commit to and you can just start off small,

Like I mentioned,

And then eventually work your way up to longer sitting.

And the next thing is you want to make it enjoyable.

So you're never going to keep it consistent if you just hate meditation.

So for me personally,

In my meditation space,

I have some incense next to me.

I have tea that I make,

Which I really enjoy drinking.

Huge fan of tea.

So I'll have my favorite tea next to me.

I'll have incense.

And then I have my favorite Buddha statues and some plants.

So I really make it enjoyable for me personally.

And for you,

I'd suggest thinking of what you'd like to have in your meditation space that would allow you to enjoy the practice.

And then the next would be surrounding yourself with people who are actively meditating or are in the spiritual space just to provide that boost for you.

So we know that you are like the five people that you hang out with the most.

So if you hang around with other people that like to meditate,

Or at least just watching different videos from people who meditate often,

That can inspire you and you'll naturally just take on the discipline.

And then lastly,

I would say find your meditation style.

So if you're more,

And I'll talk about this more later,

But if you are more of a visual person,

You can benefit from a visual practice such as looking at a candle in front of you or an object in front of you.

If you're more of an auditory learner,

You could find a lot of great benefits from listening to chants or music.

If you're more kinesthetic,

You can focus on practices such as vipassana as well.

So these are just my opinions and I think this can definitely help you create a structured and long lasting practice.

And if you have any ideas for any future talks,

Feel free to reach out to me.

Thank you.

Reviews

Great, simple suggestions for building a meditation praktiken.

Much needed ! 🙏🏽

This was excellent. I have just restarted my meditation practice and am having trouble sitting down to do it. This gave me new insight and I will try some of these. I definitely see and feel the benefit when I sit in the silence.