Do you struggle to meditate daily? You’re not alone. One of the hardest things to do when we get started with meditation is to create the new habit of setting time aside and sitting down to meditate. In this article, I am going to show you how to meditate daily using 7 meditation tips. Being able to meditate consistently is the best way to experience the benefits of meditation.
7 Tips to meditate daily and make meditation a habit
1. Meditate less than what you wanted to
When you meditate less than what you had planned, then you leave your meditation with a desire to meditate again. So if you plan on meditating for 10 minutes then just meditate for 8 minutes.
The way that I use it is that, when I want to meditate, say half an hour, I leave my timer for only 25 minutes, and then when the 25 minutes bell rings, then I am already in the groove and I can meditate a little bit more sometimes five more minutes, sometimes 10 more minutes.
And so, it is a skillful way to also trick the brain in order for you to meditate either more often or longer.
2. Use short guided meditations
The benefit of guided meditations is that you just hit the play button and you sit back. It’s like somebody is driving the car for you or the train for you, you just sit and relax and you just follow the instructions.
You don’t have to remember how to meditate, you just listen to the prompts and they will also help you to come back in case that you got lost in your mind, maybe your mind wandered into the future or the past.
And again, use short meditation maybe meditations of three or five minutes to get started.
Also, read How to properly meditate [5 Practical Tips for Beginners].
3. Have a designated area for your meditation
When you have a little corner in your home for meditation, it acts as an inspiration and also as a reminder for your practice. In my case, I have a corner in my bedroom so that I see it all the time and whenever I wake up or before I go to bed, it’s very easy for me just to sit down at this dedicated area and meditate.
If you are enjoying those tips let me know by leaving a comment and telling me what resonates with you but also about the challenges that are holding you back in meditating more often or longer.
4. Set an intention for your meditation and remind yourself of that intention to meditate daily
Say for example that you are very anxious and you are doing meditation because you don’t want to feel that way.
So before your meditation, remind yourself why you are doing this because you want to find a way out of your suffering, and by reminding yourself every day about your intention, you make your intention stronger and you desire to find a way out stronger. And then, that will help you to meditate more often and regularly.
The Buddha said: “nothing survives without food” and it is the same thing with our meditation practice. It needs its food in order to survive and so the nutrients for our practice is the intention of reminding ourselves why we meditate, to find a way out of our suffering and the meditation practice itself is the food. It is a virtuous cycle because when we feel calm, it is easier to meditate but if we feel restless and agitated, it is harder to sit down.
5. To meditate daily simply enjoy your practice
My teacher said: “if you don’t enjoy your meditation practice, you’re doing something wrong”. So simply sit back smile, create a half-smile on your face to invite some sense of joy and relaxation, and relax with your breathing.
On the out-breath, you can try practicing letting go of the tensions in your body and simply rest your mind. Our mind is always busy and our meditation is the time we set for ourselves to rest our busy mind and also reconnect with ourselves, reconnect with what we’ve been going through, what we need, and attend to those needs.
6. Have fun
So along with enjoying it, have fun with your meditation and by that, I mean explore different ways of meditating. So I talk about breathing but you can also practice bringing your attention to your body and relaxing your body, letting go of the tensions in your body.
You can also use sentences. Also, try different types of meditations to renew your interest and have fun with them.
7. Set reminders to meditate daily
You can set reminders in your house or on your phone to remind yourself of taking some time to meditate. Sitting in your corner was one type of reminder but maybe on your desk, you can set a little note, a little picture, or a little statue to remind yourself of practicing.
Same in your kitchen or you can set an alarm on your phone in the morning or the evening and when it rings, you let go of what you’re doing and you go and practice.
Establishing a regular and constant meditation practice is very essential in order for us to understand our mind and also to experience the benefits of meditation.
An important point is also that, a strong regular practice doesn’t have to be a long practice each time. You can have five minutes a day, strong practice as well.
The length of the meditation is not so important. What matters is the quality of your meditation. So you don’t have to set 20 minutes a day, no, you can set five minutes every day and from there, if you want to, you feel that you need then you can increase it.
But start small, make it easy for you to create a new habit. Let me know what has worked for you to meditate regularly and also which of those tips you feel excited about.
Thank you friends for reading. Enjoy your meditation practice and meditate daily.
