The Best Time To Start Meditating is 10 Years Ago, The Next Best Time Is Today
With World Mental Health Week (and Mental Health Month in the US) around the corner I’ve been busy helping clients schedule wellness workshops for their teams. There were a few common blocks to meditation that stood out at our classes this week and I thought we could explore two of them here on the blog together.
P.S If you prefer video tips or want to dive deeper, head to end of this post for my latest YouTube tutorial covering this topic.
The Best Time To Start Meditating is 10 Years Ago, The Next Best Time Is Today
Let’s take a look at two of the most common meditation challenges
1. “I know I need to meditate but I’m just too stressed at the moment to get into it”
If you can help it, don’t wait until you’re already really stressed to get familiar with meditation and mindfulness. Start getting familiar with it today, even if you feel great and you don’t feel you need to – that’s the best time to start.
Most of us learn better when we’re relaxed and meditation is a skill we learn, at least to begin with. So it makes sense to master meditation while you’re feeling quite good. Like this you’ll build up your mindfulness skills in advance and feel better equipped to turn to them in more challenging moments.
2. Start Small With Something Simple
People tell me they fully intend to meditate for 20 minutes each day but when they eventually sit down and close their eyes they just can’t keep still, and so they stand back up again 🙂
I think many of us will relate to that!
My advice to you is instead of aiming for longer sessions, start a lot smaller. Even two minutes of quiet, focused attention each morning will pay dividends through the day. And while two minutes may not seem that substantial, every little counts. And it’s better to have two quality minutes (that you actually do and enjoy) than 20 forced and uncomfortable ones.
Indeed, in their 2018 research paper, Basso et all suggest suggests that ‘even relatively short daily meditation practice can have similar behavioral effects as longer duration and higher-intensity mediation practices’. Enhancing ‘attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators.’
And so, how about you?
I’d love to know what you’ve found while getting into meditation and mindfulness. If you’re interested in these tips you might also enjoy the latest Tutorials over on my YouTube channel. Do subscribe below and follow along with me each month.
The Best Time To Start Meditating is 10 Years Ago, The Next Best Time Is Today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quSqfrD8Wr4
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