This post is a followup to – Why I meditate – A practical guide on meditation #1 go check it out if you haven’t yet.
Today I meditated for 142 days in a row.
This a long time for me. I haven’t done that many things so consistently in my life. As a matter of fact, I think it is the single thing in my life that I have done on a daily basis besides eating, sleeping and shitting for longer than 90 days. I just thought of that. For me, that is just amazing. But I digress.
This post is about the perfect time and timing to meditate. So let’s dive into it together.
The perfect time of the day
When I show people in the Insight Timer app that I have a meditation streak of more than 140 days, they are stunned and they ask how I find the time to meditate every day. I think this is a silly question.
First, you don’t find time in your day. The concept of time is always there. It is probably one of the few things in life that is truly consistent. So make use of that consistency and use it to your advantage. You can make your own time!
Second, meditating is something that can be done at any location. So you can always meditate every day of the week and the year. There is never a place where you can not meditate.
That is the beauty of meditation. The only thing you’ll need is a place to sit. This could be on a chair, a bench, or maybe the ground or a patch of green grass. It doesn’t matter. If you’re a novice, try to start sitting down on a chair. But this could also be in an uber or a bench in the metro station.
This place where you’re sitting does not even have to be a quiet place. I have meditated on crowded subways, busses and aeroplanes. You just sit and close your eyes. You put on a guided meditation or you focus on your breathing. It can be done anywhere.
Long story long, the when is irrelevant because you can do it whenever you want.
Finding your own sweet spot
There is a but. Even though meditation in principle can be done at any place and at any time, there are some time periods during the day that gives me my most bang for my buck. I’ve listed these time periods below.
During the morning:
I have a rigorous morning routine where I do the same 7 things in order every morning. The last step before I go out of the door to go to work is to meditate for a minimum of 10 minutes.
I do this to clear my head before the workday starts. For me, those morning minutes are like flushing all the mental crap from the previous night and morning away. It’s amazing. Now I’m ready to attack the day with a clear mind.
Morning Bonus:
Sometimes I read a morning affirmation right after I finish the meditation session. My mind is so open to impulses and input at this moment that I use the moment to prime my unconscious with a morning affirmation. Now that I think about it, I’m going to do that more often because it’s powerful stuff
During work:
In my position as one of the two founders of Parkeagle I have a lot of phone calls, email writing, sales, meetings, pitching, making slides etc all day long. This might sound like a regular “no big deal” workday for you, but for me, that is not the case. I’m an intense person and when I do anything I tend to overheat after a certain amount of time. I can’t do anything without committing 100% of my brain capacity to it. I don’t know why that is, it’s just how I function.
This overheating is shown in the form of hyper-focus and a lot of adrenaline in my body. My body becomes very excited. Most of the time this is good excitement but I know that if I would choose to run on that excitement for too long, I would drain myself for the rest of the day.
So during the day when I feel that I’m overheating, I will need to take a micro-break and clear my head. I will put on my headphones and do a quick mediation session of about 5 to 10 minutes. I can literally feel the flushing of adrenaline and cortisol in my body when I do these sessions. After I’ve done a session I can go on for 2-3 hours again with full focus. These sessions make my hyper-productive and mentally stable.
During work Bonus:
In the beginning, you will feel silly sitting behind your desk meditating with your eyes shut. It will be hard to focus because you’ll have the feeling that everyone is looking at you especially when you have an open workspace. I used to have this too until I got over it.
But for those of you that are socially awkward, just do some meditation on the toilet. The toilet is a perfect and quiet place for practising meditation.
Once you’ve gotten enough mental toughness you can move out of the toilet and start meditating in plain sight of your colleagues. They will respect you in the long run.
Decompressing after work:
When I haven’t done any meditating during work because of a day full of meetings, attending a conference or just because I was too busy (which are stupid excuses but okay) I’ll need to decompress after work.
When I feel like I have the energy, I have a decompress ritual that I can perform but sometimes I’m just too lazy and the only thing I do to decompress is to do a meditation session of 15+ minutes. I use this session to flush away the stresses of the day and it works like a charm. Try it.
Straight after you get home, take 20 minutes for yourself. Go sit on a chair or maybe on the floor for the diehards out there and close your eyes and just sit there for 20 minutes and breath and listen to your own breath.
Try it tomorrow, it will be a life-changer.
Before bedtime:
When I know I had a long and stressful day my head is still racing at the end of the day. This is normal and many of you will know the experience. You just have these mental loops going around in your brain.
“I should not forget this, I still need to call him/her, did I write that email already?” You know what I’m talking about. It’s very annoying and it fucks with your sleep.
When I feel that I have too many things bouncing around in my head I’ll do a quick 10 minutes mediation session before I brush my teeth. These 10 minutes are my mental flossing that again flushes my brains of all these mental toxins and anxious thoughts.
I never meditate in bed. I know some people that do it, but I don’t like it. My bed is for sleeping, reading and writing, not for meditation. I also prefer to sit up straight when meditating but you can find your own style that you prefer. Just try it all and you’ll know what’s best for you.
To sum it all up
- Meditation can be done at any time of the day because you need only a place to sit to practise it.
- Mediation can be done at any location because again, you only need a place to sit and close your eyes.
- The perfect time of the day is different for everyone and you should see it as a journey to find your perfect moments or breaks in the day.
- I meditate in the morning, during work, straight after work when I get home and before sleeping.
- I don’t do all of those on one day but it depends on the type of day.
- Meditation is awesome for some time alone and to flush your brain from harmful stressful thoughts.
Now go out there and find your perfect moment or just go out there and meditate whenever you feel like it, like a true yogi. But please be safe and responsible when finding a spot to meditate.
Namasté
