Meditation Made Manageable: Starting Points to make the Practice Stick
Meditation has become a very popular practice in recent years, with many people seeking the benefits of mindfulness, reduced stress, and increased focus.
Scientific research, courses, articles, and books about it just exploded anywhere. The benefits of meditation are widely known.
So, how come so few people have a consistent meditation practice? What’s so hard about walking the talk?
There are very valid reasons for that:
Fortunately, science provides us with a couple of tricks that can help us with it.
Start Small
One of the most effective ways to establish a new habit is to start small.
Lower your expectations! Begin by setting aside just 3 minutes each day to meditate.
Research shows that even 3 minutes of practice, if done regularly, can bring long-term effects.
This can really help make the practice more manageable and less intimidating, making it easier to establish a consistent habit.
Once you become more comfortable with this routine, you can gradually increase the duration of your meditation sessions until to get to what feels good to you.
Choose a Time and Place
Setting a regular time and place for meditation can help create a sense of routine and make it easier to stick to the habit.
Choose a time of day when you’re least likely to be interrupted or distracted and a location that’s quiet and free from distractions.
Note: research shows that keeping a fixed time and place won’t necessarily help you to maintain the practice in the long term as much as being flexible and practising when and where feels good to you, but it can surely help to give a structure to get you started!
Use Cues and Triggers
Another effective strategy is to use cues and triggers to remind yourself to meditate.
This could be something as simple as setting the alarm on your phone or associating the practice with a specific activity, such as brushing your teeth.
By establishing a consistent cue or trigger, you can help create an automatic response that makes it easier to incorporate meditation into your daily routine.
Make it a Social Activity
Meditation doesn’t have to be a solitary activity.
In fact, research has shown that practicing meditation with others can help increase motivation and make it more enjoyable.
Consider joining a meditation group or inviting friends or family members to join you in your practice.
Celebrate Your Progress
Finally, it’s important to celebrate your progress and acknowledge your achievements along the way.
When you reach a milestone, such as completing a week of daily meditation, take a moment to reflect on your success and reward yourself with something you enjoy.
This can help reinforce the habit and make it more likely that you’ll continue to practice meditation regularly.
In Conclusion…
Doing meditation a habit takes time and effort, but it can definitely be done and provides numerous excellent benefits for your physical and mental health.
I hope this article gave you some valuable tools to encourage you to give it a try ☺️
For this reason, I am about to launch ‘The Mindful Habit’ to support you along this journey.
The Mindful Habit is an Online Program to help my clients and colleagues establish a Regular Meditation Practice that Sticks. It provides you with a proven system to put into practice the elements listed in this post and much more!
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Thank you for reading until here.
Much love,
Maria