Do You Meditate Often Enough?

When you think about meditation, is it a balanced part of your regular life? Your knee-jerk reaction to this question is likely going to be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In reality, the gradation for this question is not as cleanly cut. In short, the answer is… it depends.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a state of mind and body that you actively put yourself into through practiced techniques. There are different ways to get into a meditation. Some people like to meditate using old, traditional ways. Sitting alone and turning their attention inwards to think about themselves and stay in the moment. Others like to meditate through doing activities which require their full attention and muscle memory. A great example of this comes from endurance runners. Ever heard of a runner’s high? This is a symptom of meditation, the overwhelming feeling that everything is going to be okay.

Should I Meditate More?

That depends on your reasons for meditation. If you are using it to train your intuition, you can always add more time to it. If you are doing it to center yourself, you can always add more time too. You may want to cut back on meditation when it begins to take you away from important obligations—we aren’t monks, after all.

The new-age rule of thumb is that you should be meditating for at least five minutes in the morning and at night. Doing it at this time will make you ready to face the day, and also let you release tension before bed. However, the Transcendental Meditation tradition asks that we up that time from five minutes to at least 20 minutes to feel the minimum amount of benefits for meditation. Really, your best answer for if you are meditating often enough, will come from what you think. Are you seeing the benefits you want from meditating five minutes a day? Then keep with that. If you aren’t seeing the results that you want, try increasing your meditation time until you feel comfortable with your personal progress.

Call for More Guidance

If you’re unsure about where you should be giving your attention; or you want more insight into how to be better during this lifetime, give us a call. Mel Doerr is always available to help those in need.