You might feel like you can’t start a meditation routine because you just don’t have 20 or more minutes to dedicate to it every day.
But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t meditate. If you have just five minutes at your disposal, and anyone can find five minutes in their day, you can reap the benefits of meditation.
What does meditation do for you?
Meditation has many benefits for your health, such as calming your mind and giving you a sense of balance that is good for your mental, emotional, and even physical health.
You might be missing out on those benefits if you feel that you don’t have time to meditate so you never do it.
But, the truth is that whether you have 15 minutes or just five, here is what you need to know about meditation. Make every second of it count!
Isn’t Longer Meditation Better?
There has been research conducted on the length of time a meditation session should ideally last to see what is required to enable you to gain the most benefits from it.
Researchers have found that the meditation “sweet spot” is between 12 and 20 minutes. That said, a study found that just 5 minutes to 12 minutes per day was enough to decrease one’s levels of anxiety and stress.
What Are The Benefits Of Five-Minute Meditations?
While it’s clear that you can reap some solid rewards from using five-minute sessions for meditation, there are other benefits of trying these shorter bursts of meditation. These include the following:
They help you start a meditation habit
If you don’t have a lot of time in your busy schedule to dedicate to meditation, starting with just five minutes per day will help you to get the ball rolling.
It takes the pressure off feeling that you have to dedicate a long amount of time to meditating, and will be easier to achieve over time.
They make it easier to commit to longer meditations
Just five minutes of meditation every day can help you to build a healthy habit. You might even be able to increase the amount of time that you manage to do, but even if this varies from one day to the next at least you’ll be doing some meditation instead of none at all.
You’ll probably also want to do longer meditations because of how calming and beautiful those five-minute sessions feel, which is great.
They help you get into the zone
If you’re feeling anxious or stressed out, taking just five minutes out of your hectic day can help you to get back in tune with your mind and body.
While you might battle to encourage feelings of calm in such a short period of time, knowing you only have a short amount of time might actually help you to jump right into the meditation!
It’s also good to remember that while five minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, time slows down when you meditate, so it will feel longer.
How To Get Started With Five-Minute Meditation
You can start with meditation in any way you please, whether that’s doing a walking meditation where you focus your attention on your thoughts and peaceful surroundings, or do some breathing exercises.
If you’re new to meditation, you can also try a guided five-minute meditation.
Here are some helpful tips so you can get started.
- Concentrate on your breathing. When you inhale, think of the words “breathing in,” and when you exhale, think, “breathing out.” This helps you to focus on your breathing without being distracted by other thoughts.
- Focus on your senses. Another powerful way to meditate for five-minute sessions is to concentrate on your senses. Close your eyes and ask yourself what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. This enables you to be completely in the present moment.
Example Of A 5 Minute Meditation
It’s sometimes useful to have an example of a five-minute meditation at hand, especially if you’re not quite sure how to approach a shorter meditation.
This five-minute meditation is said to be an excellent stress-buster and it will help you to get into the routine of meditating. Here’s how to do it.
For the first minute:
- Place your hands on the tops of your thighs.
- Keep your legs hip-distance apart, with your feet flat on the floor.
- Relax your eyes and keep your gaze unfocused.
- Breathe deeply. Inhale through your nose and exhale through pursed lips.
- Inhale for six counts, then exhale for seven counts.
For the second minute:
- Stop counting your breaths and let your breathing become natural and easy.
- Focus on what the breathing actually feels like.
- Focus on the rising and falling sensations that occur in your body when you breathe, from your belly all the way up to your shoulders.
For the third minute:
- During this minute of the meditation, you need to continue being aware of your breathing and how it feels.
- You might find that thoughts will come to you, but don’t try to force them out of your head. Imagine all the thoughts as clouds that float above you. This is essential to prevent you from responding to the thoughts with your emotions.
- If the thoughts are really stubborn, acknowledge them for a few seconds, then return to concentrating on your breathing.
Repeat the process as needed.
For the fourth minute:
- You want to release all the focus you’ve been placing on your breathing and just sit in a relaxed state.
- Tell yourself that there is nothing to fix and nothing to do, so you can just be at peace for this minute.
For the fifth minute:
- You want to change your focus again, this time to gratitude. Think about what you’re grateful for in the moment.
- Once you do that, slowly move your thoughts onto how you feel physically. For example, you could focus on how steady and slow your heartbeat is or how your muscles feel relaxed.
- Slowly open your eyes and take a deep breath, before exhaling in order to complete the meditation.
Related Questions
How can you deal with intrusive thoughts during meditation?
You should view your thoughts without any judgment. See them and then go back to meditating.
It might also help to respond to them with a thought such as, “That’s interesting,” before focusing on your breath or senses again. This serves to neutralize them.
Do you feel happy after meditating?
It’s common to feel good after a meditation session, but don’t be alarmed if you feel a bit down. This is because meditation brings emotions to the surface so you can get in tune with them.
Can you split a longer meditation session into shorter ones?
You can definitely benefit from having shorter meditation sessions throughout the day instead of committing to one longer one. Whatever works for you will be beneficial.
Conclusion
Any amount of time that you can dedicate to meditation is enough – and valuable!
In this article, we’ve looked at how you can take part in meditation if you just have five minutes to spare every day.
The important thing to bear in mind when it comes to meditation is to do as much as you can but commit yourself fully to the time you have for the sessions.
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