How Much Time Should You Practice Daily Meditation For?

By Anmol Mehta

There is a famous story of a Kundalini Yoga Master who was desperate to increase the amount of time he spent doing his daily meditation practice. The story says that the Yogi nailed his pony tail to the wall so that when he would start to dose off, he would be rudely awakened by his contraption, and that this technique allowed him to successfully meditate for 22 hours daily. Are you ready for that? Luckily, 22 hours of daily meditation is not a prerequisite for spiritual growth or enlightenment, but the point of the story is that the ask is not cheap either. So how long should one meditate for daily?

Before we go into the numbers it is important to clarify exactly what type of meditation we are talking about here. There are many schools of meditation, each with their own techniques and methods. Here, we are referring to the meditations that are done being mostly physically still. So this would include zen meditation (zazen), vipassana, insight meditation, jyana yoga, the Silent Mind (SM) Meditations, and meditations that utilize an object for concentration (3rd eye meditation, mantra meditation, visualization, sound, trataka (candle flame gazing), 3 step rhythmic breath (3srb) meditation or similar variation of breath meditation, etc). The other types of meditations involving dance (shiva tandava - dance of death), Osho's meditations (kundalini, dynamic, etc), laya yoga meditations, and other such meditations have specific time requirements to work their magic and I am not referring to them in this discussion. So, now on to the numbers.

The minimum time one should aim to set aside for daily meditation is 20 minutes. Why 20 minutes of meditation? From my experience I can say that 20 minutes daily proved to be very effective. On its own everything just start to transform. Others, over time, have also probably found that this amount of time has worked well for bringing about positive changes in themselves and so the number has become the de facto standard for a starting practice.

The next stage is 30 minutes, 2 times daily. On my trip to Zen Mountain Monastery for their Zazen Training program, 30 minutes was the minimum time requirement for any zazen session. Also, interestingly at Zen Mountain Monastery, you could request to be struck with a cane on your shoulders (at special acupressure points) to help you stay awake, drain emotional junk out of your system or as an aid to go deeper. This is called keisaku and it can work as an alternative technique for you if you don't have long hair like our Yogi friend above. So work your way up to 30 minutes of meditation, and try to do that twice daily if possible.

Finally, you should build up to 1 hour of steady meditation practice everyday. For extracting the maximum benefit from a meditation program this is the golden number. To get to the experience of "Big Mind" as Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki describes the detached state, or the "Big Self" as described by the Advaita Vedanta teachers, or to get to the explosion of insight as put forth by J. Krishnamurti and the Silent Mind Meditations, 1 hour of meditation is usually needed. This is primarily because it takes some time for the thinking process to slow down and for us to extract ourselves out of the daily drama of our little egos. So there you have it. Start and aim for 20 minutes of daily meditation and then build up to 1 hour. You will find everything you are looking for, as you will discover that everything is you.

Anmol Mehta is a Yoga Teacher & Zen Expert. See Free Online Yoga Breathing Exercise Videos and explore Free Illustrated Hatha Yoga Poses Galleries on his extensive Meditation and Yoga site, Free Online Guided Meditation Techniques.
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Meditation Timers - Gradual And Slow Awakening From Deep Meditation

By David Barrett

Meditation is undoubtedly one of the best ways to experience a true sense of peace and pleasure. Amidst the hustle and bustle of our busy day to day life, there is one thing almost everybody looks for at one time or another - inner peace. That is the reason why, even modern science has reaffirmed the magical power of meditating and it recommends everybody to include this in their daily schedule. However, since there are several other things to do in this world besides meditating, it is obvious that none of us can spend a whole day in meditation. We must do this on a regular basis, but as per a schedule - for a limited period of time. You need something that could tell you that now it is time to stop meditating and do other things that are also essential for life. This is where the meditation timers come to your rescue. As the name itself suggests, these are alarm machines that will tell you when to stop your meditation. Following are some of the essential characteristics of these timing machines:

Progressive Chiming

Some people use the normal alarm clocks as meditation timers. Here, it is very important for you to understand that you are not in deep sleep when you are in deep meditation. These are two different things, and therefore, must be treated in a different manner. When you set the alarm clock at eight o'clock, as per its features, it starts snoozing as soon as it strikes eight o'clock, and you wake up almost all of a sudden. Such things work when you are waking up from deep sleep, but while you are in deep meditation, you do not want to be awoken in such a way. You want to waken gradually in a soothing way. Therefore, it is always recommended to use specifically built meditation timers for this purpose. Make sure that the timer you have chosen provides you a few minutes of progressive chiming. The soothing music of chimes will give your mind enough time to come out of its reverie. In fact, it is very important for you to understand that the slow and gradual awakening is a core component of meditation. It develops your ability to weave logical dreams. What is more, it also enhances your ability to recall your dreams.

Light Weight

Make sure that the meditation timers you are using are lightweight and easily portable. Sometimes you may plan to undertake the meditation session near a lake or some other place. Therefore, the timers must be quite handy so that you could easily carry it anywhere along with you.

While you are in deep meditation, you stroll into a different world where all you can feel is peace and pleasure. You need something that could help you return to the real world where you can experience the other beauties of life. It is obvious that you cannot keep opening your eyes and checking the time. Therefore, make sure that whenever you undertake a meditation session, the meditation timers are alive around you. This will help you keep everything well-planned.

I hope you found this article helpful! To discover some powerful tips about beginners meditation, and to uncover some unusual facts about online guided meditation, be sure to check out: http://www.OnlineMeditationGuru.com/

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