If you miss a day, how big a deal is that? Is five minutes a day sufficient to experience the benefits of meditation? Does it need to be ten? There is not one simple answer, unfortunately, but there are several helpful clues around about how long to meditate and how often.
Mindfulness-based clinical interventions such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction MBSR typically recommend practicing meditation for minutes per day. The Transcendental Meditation TM tradition often recommends 20 minutes, twice daily. Interventions based on the Relaxation Response Benson, also often recommend minute meditations. Traditionally, shamatha meditation a breath-focused meditation was and is practiced by monks and nuns in Tibetan monasteries for ten- or fifteen-minute stretches.
The monks and nuns did this several times a day. However, there is nothing magical about these recommended numbers. Meditation appears to be similar to physical exercise in this way. There is no optimal length of time you should exercise, and there is no perfect number of minutes to meditate, either. Making meditation a regular part of your day is more important than how long you meditate.
For that reason, the length of time you meditate should be sustainable for you. Are you better off doing this than sitting on the couch? Will it benefit you as much as doing two miles?
Having said that, three recent studies do offer some scientific guidance as to how long to meditate. It can increase your ability to cope with illness or adversity. It can help you connect with yourself and process emotions.
It has been linked to numerous physical health benefits , too, like improving blood pressure, helping with insomnia, and fewer flare-ups for some chronic conditions, like ulcerative colitis, for people with those problems. One of the defining benefits of a regular meditation practice is an increased ability to think more flexibly and to come to a clearer understanding of your life and the world around you, says Emanuele, who specializes in using mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.
But meditation happens in your thoughts inside your head. And is there even a difference? This broader category is contemplation. It happens through the practice of returning your attention again and again and again to the present moment.
That one thing might be your breath, it might be the sounds around you, it might be a mantra, or it might be something else. A meditation practice is about training yourself to sit with things that are uncomfortable. These results were frankly enlightening!
They seemed to indicate that setting aside even a few minutes each day could make a significant difference. Some meditators are attracted to the concept of practicing for long hours at a time. They may be inspired by images of Buddhist practitioners, monks or nuns, who seem to meditate blissfully for hours without taking a break. Most people who sit for long periods have trained progressively over months and years.
Especially for those who meditate on their own, intensive sitting requires a high degree of practice and discipline. The advantage of setting time aside to do nothing but meditate is that there are fewer distractions and the mind has time to really settle down into mindfulness and awareness.
An image associated with this is of a jar of agitated, murky water. Once the jar is set down and the contents have time to settle, the impurities sink to the bottom and the water becomes clear. The same goes for the mind.
Retreats can last from half a day to… years! The benefits of meditation are priceless, regardless of whether you prefer short or long meditation sessions. Rather than worry about how many minutes, hours or years you should sit, try making the most of every practice moment. Choose a convenient time free of interruptions and noise. Mornings are often recommended , although you can also incorporate mini-meditations within your day or choose evenings as your preferred time.
There are many worthwhile meditation techniques you can practice. If you get tired with sitting, switch it up with walking meditation. The whole idea is to keep meditation fresh and enjoy your meditation moments. A daily sitting meditation practice can transform your life and give you the results you desire.
Mindworks is a non-profit with a mission to share the most authentic and proven meditation guidance to you and our worldwide community. In order to fully transmit to you the full potential of genuine meditation, we created the 9-level Mindworks Journey to Well-Being.
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