For how much Time should you Meditate Daily?
This was the question that I might have searched a thousand times these past three years.
So this is the answer,
How long and how often should you meditate depends on the reason why you meditate. If you are meditating to heal your stress or anxiety problems, or other mental illness, you should meditate longer sessions of about 30 to 60 minutes daily. But most people meditate to achieve happiness in life and acceptance. I would name them casual meditators. They might meditate for 5 minutes to 2 hours. It really depends on an individual in so many ways, which is what we will discuss in this article…
You are taking it completely wrong!
The main problem is that you are not asking how long should you meditate, you are actually asking what minimum time can I meditate and see results! And this is a wrong perspective of meditation!
If you are looking for results, you will never find them!
Instead, try asking HOW should I meditate, instead HOW LONG!
Learn to meditate properly! And forget counting the minutes!
If you just let go of the minutes you meditate daily or in one session, and just focus on correctly meditating, you will do a lot better!
There is another misconception here, the longer you meditate, the more results you see. I would not say it is wrong, but you need to know the complete truth. If you just sit down, close your eyes and start dreaming about something, until you are disturbed by timer ringing and signaling the end of your session,congrats! you have effectively done ZERO MINUTES of meditation today.
Just sitting and thinking or dreaming about things is not meditating! Meditation is truly done when you are in the present moment, and observing what is happening in the present!
So if one meditates 1 hour every day and never tries to be in the present moment, and another person meditates only about 20 minutes, but is trying constantly to be in the present, then the later one will see results of meditation a lot sooner.
So, think about it.
"Quality is better than Quantity in Meditation"
Are you meditating for ENOUGH Time?
Now you say, "Oh, quantity does not matter! I will I will only meditate for 5 minutes daily! Because after 5 minutes, the dreams usually take me away all the time!"
You are still not understanding it then!
When I say that "Quality is more important than Quantity", I never said that only quality is important.
If you never increase the quantity of meditation, you will never challenge yourself. And you will cease to progress.
Starting little is okay! But continuing with the same little for the rest of your life is not! Read this article if you are a beginner. Because you need to start with baby steps!
But as you get accustomed with meditating, you need to increase the time you meditate. I like to challenge myself to do more, just 5 or 10 minutes more, after completing my session.
This challenge can push you to meditate more and more, you are actually challenging you mind to focus for more time, it will be hard at first, then gradually you will get settled to the new time period, that's when you need to push a little bit further again!
What are your long term GOALS?
What are you meditating for? What do you want from meditation?
If you have answers to any of these questions, than just erase them from your mind. Meditate for nothing!
Now another problem arises, why should you meditate without having goals in mind?
It is difficult, consider that something inside is changing when you meditate, and you don't know what that is! So, you need to meditate more, to know what that thing is, improve the quality as well as quantity of meditation as much as you can. And one fine day, you will realise what was changing inside you!
This meditation mantra has been motivating me for years now!
So, forget the goals, forget that you want these benefits of meditation and you want that benefits, just concentrate on what you need to do!
If you can meditate without any personal greed, not even the one I told above, it will be the best thing you can ever do!
How much SHOULD you meditate?
Now, to the main question, how much should you meditate? It depends on how much do you like meditation and how much longer can you concentrate!
But remember one thing, if I say you need to meditate for 20 minutes, it does not mean that meditate only for 20 minutes daily for the rest of your life. Nothing is constant in meditation!
- Beginner: Start with just 5 minutes. After completing the five minutes, observe whether your brain craves for more! If yes, meditate for 10 minutes from the next day. If you start to love this exercise, and somehow feel that you need more, start doing it for 15 or 20 minutes! One very important thing here, don't overdo! There is nothing like overdo in meditation, but there is when you are not enjoying it but still meditate more just for the results! Soon you will tire your brain. Be patient.
- Intermediate: It you are already meditating for months, or even days, and you know your limits in terms of how much time you can manage to meditate and concentrate, not it's time to increase that time. And this is the stage when you require motivation to do more! But motivating yourself will be the biggest challenge if you never think of the benefits of meditation.
Instead start looking for the things that you feel have changed since you started meditation! Are you more emotionally balance? Do you think you are able to focus better at the task at hand? If yes, than that is your motivation, the results you already got! Think that by meditating for only this much time, you developed these things! This will surely push you forward!
So, the key here is to constantly push yourself to meditate more. But not so much more that you lose faith in meditation or get tired! Exploring different places and different types of meditations, will also keep the process interesting! Check out this article to know more about best places to meditate. And also what are the best 5 types of meditation techniques you can keep on cycling and never let this exercise be less interesting!
How can you meditate EVEN MORE!
There will be a point in your meditation practice, when you will not be able to meditate longer, even 5 minutes more. This is how much you brain can handle meditation, (for that time period!) So keep on meditating for the same amount of time daily.
But then how will you improve?
It is the time to divide your sessions. If you are comfortable meditating for 25 minutes daily, and can not move further, start meditating two times a day, or even more! This article tells more about the best times to meditate.
Your main meditation session will consist of 25 minutes of meditation, but after that, whenever you find time, try and meditate for about 5 to 10 minutes. But doing this you will be meditating more, and also not get tired of the process.
When I discovered this trick, I literally tripled my daily meditation minutes! I used to meditate whenever I got some free time. I used Headspace minis, which were free back then, and meditate for just 3 minutes in those extra sessions, but I could find 4 to 5 extra sessions during the whole day!
So now you know, "For how much time should you meditate daily?"
Share this article amongst your friends and motivate them to start this wonderful practice too! If you liked this article, check out one of my recent articles, where I discuss in detail about Vipassana Meditation technique.
Keep Meditating. Keep exploring yourself!
-A Mere Meditator
