I’m sure you’ve heard or read about the benefits of having a meditation routine, but you might still feel a bit hesitant to start because you find the whole concept of meditating too daunting, or you think that you need a lot of time to practice meditation.
Or maybe, you tried it a few times but it felt frustrating because you felt your mind overflown with thoughts and you might have felt overwhelmed, and probably told yourself that you’re not good at it.
In this article, I’ll share basic concepts about the real purpose of meditation, the benefits of incorporating this sacred practice into your life and simple tips to follow, so you can clear away the obstacles to your daily practice and learn some basic practicing exercises that will make a positive difference in your life.
Your body and mind on morning meditation
Meditation is a great tool to maintain a healthy balance of dialogue between your mind and your body. It is a simple technique that you can practice anytime and anywhere to alleviate stress. Just like physical exercise, the more you practice, the more benefits you’ll notice and the longer they will last – in both, mind and body.
A study by The American Psychological Association reported that 40 percent of the people they surveyed reported overeating or eating unhealthy foods as a result of stress, while 46 percent said they lie awake at night due to high stress levels.
Here’s the thing: you can focus on eating healthier, exercising more frequently, getting more sleep, using more natural products on our skin and at home, but if you don’t take care of your mind, you will still feel unbalanced in your life.
The importance of a morning routine
When we start our day with a morning meditation, we are giving ourselves the best opportunity to be fully aware, fully awake, and fully alive before “doing” anything. By creating a regular morning practice, we are cultivating peace of mind and happier relationships where we are kinder and less judgmental of ourselves and others. Due to the current fast pace of many people’s lives, our days may include quite a bit of stress and pressure. People assume this kind of stress is simply an unavoidable part of life, but meditation can help enable us to manage our home lives and our work lives more skillfully.
True peace of mind is always there, but we first have to let go of everything that obscures such calm and clarity — our confusion, our ruminating, our expectations, our inner chatter. When you achieve calmness and peace of mind with morning meditation, your perspective changes and you may start to feel more positively about yourself and your day ahead.
Meditation can be beneficial at any hour of the day, but there are undeniable benefits of a short morning meditation becoming as ingrained in your routine as a cup of joe. Mornings can be the best time of day to incorporate meditation because of their quiet nature, whereas afternoons are more likely to be hectic with ever-changing to-do lists.
Incorporating meditation into your morning is not about trying to build a 3-hour morning routine — it’s about quality, ritual, and the motivation to get started. Studies show that we are more likely to make health-minded decisions in the morning before we’ve left the house for the day. If you can get up and work out, or make a nice breakfast, adding a 5-minute morning meditation into the mix is a way to shift your focus from physical to mental. You can almost think of meditation as a morning stretch for your brain.
In a 2018 study showcasing the morning routines of over 300 successful people, it was shown that one of the most important pieces of their days is an adaptable morning routine. We aren’t always in control of our surroundings or amenities, especially when we travel and have unpredictable schedules. Morning mindfulness meditation is something that can be done anywhere: in bed, sitting in a taxi, on a plane, or while waiting for your breakfast smoothie to blend. It can become the foundation of your day, something you can always rely on to bring you to a sense of calmness, in body and mind.
5-Minute Morning Meditation Has Changed The Way I Start My Day
In the past, I’ve felt kind of foolish every time I’ve tried morning meditation. I kind of tried to keep with a regular practice but it just wasn’t working for me. As a busy New Yorker who wears her schedule on her wrist via Apple Watch, it’s hard for me to set aside my to-do list and make time specifically to, well, breathe.
In the last few years, meditation has kind of gone mainstream—with good reason: Meditating actually changes your brain, and with it, how your body responds to stress. This powerful practice can help ease depression and anxiety, and it is gaining serious traction for its mental health benefits. Celebrities and athletes, like Misty Copeland, keep regular practices, and there are loads of new guided meditation apps and posh meditation studios, like MINDFUL, that have opened recently in cities such as New York City.
With all these tools to make meditating easier than ever, it felt like now was as good a time as any to give meditation another whirl—and no half-sassing it this time. Things have also been super hectic at the office lately, and with my marathon training ramping up, I’ve felt extra tense. Not only that, but the stress has been affecting my workouts. The T CS New York City Marathon is only six weeks away, and I need to be on my game.
Starting your morning with meditation is a great way to start the day on the right foot. Morning meditation can help you energize, help sent an intention for the day, or even help you find peace before a busy or stressful day. If you’re struggling to keep up with your meditation habit, taking the time right when you wake up makes building the habit easier.
A meditation as short as 10 minutes is enough to start your day, but you can choose whatever length works best for your schedule.
If you are newer to meditation or have a hard time staying focused on your breathing, these free morning guided meditations can help you build a meditation habit and keep your thoughts focused on your breath. Find out more about starting a morning meditation.
Benefits of Meditating in the Morning
According to research, meditation can stimulate the release of endorphins and might even boost your mood as much as running!
Meditation allows you to drop into the “flow state” which helps you tackle challenging tasks and adapt to change with more ease.
Many studies have shown that not only does meditation help reduce stress, but it can also boost creativity, happiness and attention.
Meditation can also help you feel more focused. By taking the time to meditate in the morning, you give your mind a chance to wake up and prepare, before you dive into tasks or your to-do list. I often find that my best ideas and solutions for problems “drop in” while I’m meditating because I have the space for them.
The more I embraced morning meditation, the more I noticed these benefits and the better I felt about how I was choosing to start my days. To be completely honest with you, starting my days feeling rushed and frantic had also made me feel a little guilty.
I knew I could be doing activities in the morning that would be beneficial for my wellbeing.
I knew I could be giving myself more time to enjoy myself, rather than rushing out the door.
I knew I wanted something to change – I just didn’t know how to go about it.
Ideally, I wanted to wake up, complete an online yoga class, eat a mindful breakfast, freshen up, spend quality time with my partner and our dogs, meditate, write in my journal and then start my working day. But I also didn’t want to be getting out of bed at 4am!
So, I started doing 10-minute meditations after my alarm went off. I often just sat up in bed (so I wouldn’t fall back asleep), closed my eyes and spent 10 minutes practising mindful breathing or doing a body scan.
Over time, I discovered and developed fun and meaningful ways to meditate and create positive energy for the day. I hope you enjoy trying these meditations out for yourself!
5 Powerful Morning Meditations You Can Watch For Free
Every day offers you a new beginning. We all “know” this on some level but understanding it is a whole different ball game. When you truly understand something, it changes your behavior.
There’s been times throughout life where I’ve heard this statement. And I was always like, “yeah, I know”.
But this statement is profound when you think about it. Every day is a new opportunity. You can choose to do something different with your life each day.
You can wake up and decide to quit your job. You can decide to go back to school. Or you can decide that you’re never going to live unhappy again. It may sound irresponsible and I’m sure there’s a million reasons why you “can’t just…” but the option is there regardless.
I decided a while back that I was going to meditate regularly, first thing in the morning. The goal being to stop the mental chatter before it had a chance to start.
It worked pretty well for me. Each day I meditate, I feel great.
I miss days here and there (nobody’s perfect) but overall I’ve found this is one of the best ways to start the day.
In this post we’re going to show you some of the best morning meditations available on YouTube for absolutely free. And hopefully, you’ll decide to give them a try.