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Meditation – Daily Practice

- Private group -
August 23, 2016

Many articles have been written underscoring how important it is to have a daily meditative practice in your life – both to reduce stress and to improve your overall health and well being. There are five elements to instituting an optimum meditation practice. They are time, place, preparation plan, use a timer, and journal afterwards.

First you should establish a special time a day and make it a ritual. Think of when you have 30 minutes during your hectic day – put it on your schedule. It will become a part of your routine just like walking the dog or brushing your teeth. 

A special place in your house where you can be relaxed and be able to spend some quiet quality time with yourself is a must. It does not have to be fancy – it can be a comfy chair or a small corner of a room – someplace with few distractions.

The preparation plan is simple – for a twenty minute meditation you need ten minutes of preparation. This is essential. If you don’t quiet your mind before meditation, you will spend the first 10 minutes getting it ready to meditate. You can do yoga poses, chant, japa (repeating mantra), or anything that soothes you – even taking a warm bath or listening to relaxing music. 

A timer should be used. If you set the timer for 20 minutes, it will keep your mind on meditating – not on how long have I been meditating? Or when will my time be up?  Remember our mind is powerful. We need to find ways to reduce distractions. Using a timer is one way.

After the timer goes off and your meditation has been completed – sit quietly for a few minutes and write in your journal. Writing about your meditation – especially the good parts – will imprint in your memory. One day after you become a daily meditator, you can look back on how it all started. What joy!

[Source:  Teachings by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, spiritual leader and master teacher at Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram in Pennsylvania. (C) 2014, S.T.C., Inc., All right reserved. Svaroopa® is a registered service mark of S.T.C., Inc.]

 

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