The Importance of a Regular Meditation Practice

Although any time spent in meditation is better than no time, a consistent meditation practice will bring us even deeper benefits. You could think of our time spent in meditation as being like jumping into a pool of water. We jump in and experience the stillness, our essence, our spirit and just as when we come out of the water we have drops of water remaining on our body, when we come out of meditation the experience of that stillness remains in our awareness. As time passes, just as the drops of water dry and disappear from our body, so too the experience of inner stillness can fade. That is why regular meditation practice, regularly diving in and experiencing who we are beyond our bodies and minds is such a powerful experience. The more consistent we are in taking time to go inward in meditation, the more that awareness will remain with us outside of meditation. With this awareness we may begin to find we are calmer, more centered and relaxed and doing more acting than reacting.

Helpful Suggestions:

Choose a time of day and if possible meditate at the same or a similar time each day. Mornings are generally the easiest part of the day for us to manage our time. Getting up 20 minutes earlier is one way to make time in a busy schedule.

Be gentle with yourself. No one enjoys being scolded or judged—even by themselves. Our experience of meditation should be comfortable for us, otherwise it will become difficult to continue practicing. If you hear that harsh, critical voice in your mind, know that it is an old pattern you will someday transcend and easily move your awareness to something more productive and nourishing—such as getting back to the task at hand, whether that be completing your meditation or some other aspect of your daily routine.

Try to remain consistent in your practice and meditate every day. Meditating for 20 to 30 minutes once daily (or twice daily if you are on the fast track) is more beneficial than meditating for 2 hours and then skipping days at a time.

Make a commitment to meditate regularly for 4 to 6 weeks. Anything we do consistently for that length of time becomes a habit. And once we realize the benefits of meditation it will be one habit we’ll want to keep. Although benefits can vary from person to person when we take the time to meditate regularly they are easy to identify and it becomes natural to make meditation a regular part of our daily routine.