Meditating in Everyday Life

Practice mindfulness in your everyday life. Meditation doesn’t have to be limited to strictly defined practice sessions, you can also practice mindfulness throughout your day to day life.

• For example, in moments of stress, try to take a few seconds to focus solely on your breathing and empty your mind of any negative thoughts or emotions.
• You can also practice mindfulness while you eat, becoming aware of the food and of the sensations you experience as you eat.
• No matter what actions you perform in your day to day life, whether it’s sitting at a computer or sweeping the floor, try to become more aware of your body’s movements and how you feel in the present moment. This is living mindfully.

Read spiritual books. Though not for everyone, some people find that reading spiritual books and sacred writings can help them to further understand meditation and inspire them to strive for inner peace and spiritual understanding.

• Some good books to start with include A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday Life by the Dalai Lama, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, “A New Earth” by Eckhart tolle and One-Minute Mindfulness by Donald Altman.
• If you wish, you can pick out any nuggets of wisdom that resonate with you from any spiritual or sacred texts and reflect on them during your next meditation session.

Take a guided meditation class. If you are unsure about where to begin when it comes to meditating at home, it may be a good idea to take a guided meditation class with an experienced teacher first.

• Meditation classes exist for most types of meditation, but you could also try going on a spiritual retreat where you will get a chance to sample different types of meditation and find out what works best for you.

Try to meditate at the same time every day. It is important that you make an effort to do your meditation practice at the same time each day. This way, the meditation will quickly become a part of your everyday routine and you will feel its benefits much more profoundly.

• Early in the morning is a good time to meditate, before your mind becomes consumed with the stresses and worries of the day.
• It is not a good idea to meditate directly after eating though, as you may feel uncomfortable and this will interfere with your concentration.

Understand that meditation is a journey. The purpose of meditation is to calm the mind, achieve inner peace and, eventually, reach a higher spiritual dimension, often referred to simply as being.

• However, it is important to realize that it may take years of practice to achieve the level of awareness or higher consciousness experienced by yogis and monks. This does not matter.
• Meditation is a journey, akin to climbing a mountain, where every step along the path of enlightenment brings you closer to the summit.
• When starting off, you shouldn’t be too concerned with the quality of the meditation itself. As long as you feel calmer, happier and more at peace at the end of your practice, you will know that your meditation was successful.