Morning Meditation – A Daily Practice to Clear and Focus the Mind
The Practice of Morning Meditation
What is Morning Meditation
Morning Meditation is a popular meditation practice where you take some time in the morning to calm and focus your mind.
Developing a routine of morning meditation is very beneficial. By meditating in the morning, before the chaos of the day begins to affect your psychic balance and general state of mind, you give yourself a head start on the day with increased mindfulness, focus and calm.
Why is Morning Meditation important?
There are many reasons to have a morning meditation routine, but the general calming of the “monkey mind” is probable benefit enough.
The top 5 benefits to morning meditation are:
- Start the day off with a calm mind,
- Begin each day in mindfulness,
- Start the day off in a physically relaxed state,
- Have a focused mind before attacking the daily chaos,
- Initiate each day with an affirmation of your choice to help in your spiritual growth.
Additionally, morning meditation has been known to reduce stress and anxiety, help you in seeing the big picture, and increase your overall well-being.
For more information on stress reduction and meditation see my post on How to Reduce Stress – Meditation of Course.
How do I do Morning Meditation?
Morning meditation is pretty simple and there are many variations depending on your discipline, tastes, and physical or mental conditions.
Typically morning meditations are performed early in the morning before the day begins for most people. Some meditators like to get up at 3 in the morning, others prefer a later meditation time (noon?).
Additionally, some meditators like to get straight out of bed and begin meditating, others prefer a cleansing routing first.
It doesn’t really matter what time or what initial routine you use, as long as you spend some time sitting and clearing the mind for the day.
Mistakes to avoid with Morning Meditation
There aren’t many things you can do wrong in morning meditation, but here are a few things you can try to prevent: <p\/p>
- Don’t expect any particular outcome – You will not gain razor sharp focus after meditation a few times, but it will increase gradually with long term practice.
- Don’t try too hard – Putting effort into any meditation is counter productive. Just relax and go with the flow.practice.
- Don’t worry about how long you sit – If you sit for 3 minutes you will eventually see benefits, if you sit for 3 hours, aside from having more discipline than I have, you will see benefits. The time spent meditation isn’t important, the fact that you did sit is important!
Example of a simple Morning Meditation
Remember, meditation is easy, creating a consistent routine can be challenging. So after performing the following morning meditation, adjust it to suite your needs, and try to develop a daily routine.
Almost any meditation can be used as a morning meditation. Here is a simple example for you to follow and get started.
Follow these simple steps for a basic meditation:
- Find a quiet location free from distractions,
- Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes,
- Take a slow deep breath and concentrate on the feeling the breath has as it enters and exits your lungs,
- After 3 full breaths, continue with the slow deep breaths and repeat the phrase “I am at peace” with each exhale (you can use any affirmation or mantra for the phrase, or you can develop mindfulness by increasing your awareness with your surroundings)
- Repeat for 10 to 20 breathe breathe,
- When done, slowly open your eyes.
Always remember, meditation is a practice and the fact that your mind will drift is normal, just bring your thoughts back to your chosen focus.
Conclusion
Taking some time to sit in morning meditation will provide many benefits from calming nerves, to increased focus, to greater mindfulness. As I stated earlier, it is important to just sit every morning, and if you can develop a daily habit, you will reap the rewards of a calmer state of mind, and improved mindfulness.
Namaste!
As always, please share!