Momentum Issue 23: Meditate for 5 minutes daily
Meditation may be one of the healthiest habits one could start.
Many people who have achieved great things put their success largely down to having a regular meditation practice. From Madonna to LeBron James, the world’s most successful people understand the power of meditation. And, like anything, it’s consistency rather than herculean efforts that is most important.
This week, try meditating for just 5 minutes somewhere in your day.
Importance
Meditation has benefits for every single aspect of your life.
Physical health
Improves sleep quality and reduces amount of sleep needed
Reduces stress, increases resilience to stress
Reduces the inflammatory response to stress
Reduces risk of death from all causes by 48%
Mental health
Boosts happiness - increases production of dopamine
Improves emotional regulation
Improves mental resilience
Decreases negative emotions, reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression
Increases levels of compassion
Decreases rumination and a focus on the self
Improves our ability to manage conflict in relationships
Increases life satisfaction
Cognition
Improves focus
Improves willpower - meaning you’re more likely to exercise, get better sleep, and eat better
Improves problem-solving abilities
Reduces the effects of aging on the brain
Implementation
Decide when you’re going to meditate - without implementation intention, following through becomes much more difficult. Most people like to meditate in the morning, as nothing will come up beforehand to draw you away from your practice. However, you can practice at any time. Just find a time that will work with your schedule.
Only commit to 5 minutes per day - anything more is great, but 5 minutes will be much more sustainable - “It’s better to meditate for five minutes than aim for one hour, get discouraged, and then not meditate at all. Don’t feel bad for not being able to meditate for long. Instead, choose an amount of time you can commit to, and then do it daily. When you’re starting to build a meditation routine, it’s more important to do it every day than finishing long sits.” - Sílvia Bastos
Download a meditation app - there are numerous meditation apps out there. Headspace is probably the most well-known one, and I have recently started a 30 day free trial (courtesy of Tim Ferriss’ discount code (headspace.com/tim). I also really enjoy Insight Timer which has enough free content on it that you wouldn’t need to purchase the pro version. Have a look around and try different apps out to see which works best for you. If you’re relatively new to meditation, starting with guided sessions is advisable.
All it takes is a few minutes each day, and the benefits will be almost endless.
I know we are all busy, and I know how hard it is to sit and do nothing, even for 5 minutes. But with practice, this will become easier, and the benefits will increase exponentially. I think right now, more than ever, we need to learn to take time for ourselves and to engage in practices that will improve our health.
It’s only 5 minutes.
Resources
A great article on how to make meditation a daily practice, published in Better Humans:
How To Make Meditation a Daily Habit for Life
Loads of free researched-backed resources by Headspace:
Books on meditation:
Waking Up by Sam Harriss
Neurodharma by Rick Hanson
10% Happier by Dan Harriss
Free links to related articles by me:
How to Structure Your Day for Increased Mindfulness
Spiritual Practices for the Nonreligious
3 Ways to Make Exercise a Spiritual Practice
Short documentary:
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