How to develop a morning meditation routine
Feeling stressed and overwhelmed in your mind? Meditating might help! Read these tips to start meditating every morning.
Many people are aware of, and have had the opportunity to discover that meditation has a beneficial impact on their daily lives in a variety of ways.
Whether it’s to combat everyday stressors, sharpen one’s focus on a certain goal or vision, or simply retreat inside oneself for a few minutes and experience inner peace.
Many aspects of daily life become easier to manage when you meditate regularly. Some famous people even meditate on a regular basis, claiming that it increases their inner peace, balance, and focus in their daily lives. Some of them choose to meditate in the early morning hours before getting into work.
Do you also want to start a meditation routine in the morning to gain all the benefits?
There are some tips and tricks that can help you with that:
#1: Plan your time-frame for meditation
A common problem with regular meditation is the lack of time. Or, to put it another way, the lack of time invested into it. Of course, every meditation requires time but the benefits you will experience from it are definitely worth trying.
To ensure you will not fall into stress when meditating, simply schedule your alarm for around 30 minutes earlier which will be enough. I know, getting up half an hour earlier is not easy. However, in case you like to press the ´snooze´ button in the morning, you could stop doing that and use the time for meditation.
Find a time where you can get up and still meditate before heading out to work or doing other obligations. Less than half an hour might be even enough as well, depending on how long you want to meditate.
#2: Integrate meditation into your morning routine like your breakfast
A good way to complete your daily morning meditation is to implement it into a specific timeframe of your morning routine. Decide when you want to meditate in the morning and stick to it. You can meditate after breakfast, showering, toothbrushing, or immediately after waking up.
The daily meditation should be done before you are confronted with a stressful activity or environment (for example crying children or performing hectic activities). Meditation in the morning works best for me after drinking some water and/or coffee when I woke up. After that, I am awake, yet still relaxed enough to fully focus during the meditation.
#3: Find the spot(s) for your meditation
The location where you meditate in the morning should have a peaceful and unobtrusive atmosphere. Depending on the weather, this can be a location outside in nature, or inside your home where you can relax for 20–30 minutes.
If you are unable to find a suitable location, the following ideas might help:
- A park or forest where there aren´t many people in the morning. For example, a peaceful place that you pass by when driving to work.
- A corner in your bedroom
- A quiet, hided spot in your garden
- Your bed or couch
#4: Try different meditation techniques
There are various types of meditation to try out. For beginners, the simplest meditation is probably the ´Mantra meditation´ where you choose an affirmation or a word (mantra) to repeat during the exhale and inhale cycles. When you stop breathing, enjoy the quietness and stop thinking.
Tratak or Awareness meditations are two other well-known and simple meditation techniques that are ideal for beginners.
To start with, here are some guided meditations that you can listen to whilst meditating:
- Mantra meditation
- Tratak meditation (You need a candle for that one)
- Awareness meditation
#5: Find your favorite meditation pose(s)
Especially in the beginning, it does not really matter whether you lie down or sit during your meditation. However, a sitting pose comes with the advantage of strengthening your awareness of your sitting posture throughout the whole day. This might be a great benefit if you have a desk job, or you spend a lot of time sitting overall.
Laying whilst meditating can be easier at first since you do not need to focus or ´force´ to hold your sitting position. You could start with the daily morning meditation while lying down and then try different sitting positions later on when you feel ready for it.
#6: Use atmosphere-enhancing tools
As previously mentioned, a peaceful environment is supportive for an effective meditation. Besides meditating in a non-disturbing environment, also relaxing music in the background, good smelling incense sticks, or candles can be helpful to create the right atmosphere for your morning meditation.
#7: Say good-bye to excuses
Getting into a new daily routine is not always easy. It likely happens that excuses come up and you might leave your planned daily meditation behind. Here are some tips to counteract excuses that can appear:
´I do not have time to meditate in the morning´
Nope. Time is there. You just need to invest some time into meditation. As soon as you meditate regularly for some weeks, you won´t want to stop doing it. Just like having breakfast, you can esteem meditation as an activity of your daily activities.
´I do not know how to meditate so I cannot start with it´
To learn how to meditate more precisely, you can make use of some guided meditations on the internet (for example YouTube). Use some of the suggested videos or search your own favourite guided meditations
´I am unable to sit calm for 20 minutes and meditate´
Yes, it can be strange in the beginning to sit or lie down for quietly somewhere for a few minutes. You do not need to sit cross-legged as it is often shown in photographs or videos with monks. In general, any sitting or lying position is appropriate for meditation. It is okay to lie down for your meditation as long as you do not fall back into sleep in the morning.
´I can not find the right spot for meditating´
Finding the perfect location for your meditation might take some time. If the one you have tried does not suit you, just try another option for your meditation in the morning. Also, switching spots here and then is totally okay.
´Meditation does not affect me´
Every meditation most likely affects you somehow. Whether you recognise the effect actively immediately after your first meditation might depend on each person. Therefore, you can continue meditating every day for at least a month and then evaluate if it still doesn´t affect you.
Those were all tips from me for now. Have fun with trying things out and experiencing all the positive effects (calmness, increased relaxation, inner peace) from your daily morning meditation.
Let me know about your experiences. I am looking forward to hearing your revelations, feelings or whatever might happen :)
Have a relaxed day.
Lars from SusEco
