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Have you ever considered starting your day with a simple morning meditation? If you have never meditated before then you are missing out on some incredible benefits. If you have been taking part in this exercise, then it might be time for you to switch things up a bit and try some morning mindfulness meditation.
If this exercise has piqued your interest, the first thing you will want to do is learn how to do it correctly. Here are some pointers that could be helpful to you:
You can choose to do it while lying down or while seated in bed. The point is to do it as soon as your alarm rings or as soon as you naturally wake up. The reason behind this is to prevent distractions. As soon as you step outside the bed, you start worrying about your children, classes, work, etc. Once this happens, you may find yourself distracted and occupied with other things to a point where you no longer have the time to or forget to meditate. Avoid this by meditating as soon as your eyes open.
Something tells us you often forget to put all the everyday hustle and bustle on hold and simply concentrate on yourself. It’s time to straighten out your priorities! Take a moment to heal, process your emotions, ground yourself, release all the pent-up tension and recharge with the BetterMe: Meditation & Sleep app before getting back into the race of life!
How many times have you woken up, switched off your alarm, then picked up your phone only to find that you’ve spent 20 minutes to an hour aimlessly scrolling through your news app or social media feed? This is a distraction that can significantly affect your morning meditation.
Avoid this by setting your phone on airplane mode the previous night so that you do not wake up to new messages or emails. If you do not need the phone to wake you up, switch it off and place it as far away from your bedside as you can. With your mobile device away from you, you can easily get a quick morning meditation to help set your intentions for the day.
Meditation is not a ‘one size fits all’ kind of practice and because of this, you are advised to try out different meditation techniques to find what works best for you. Here are some examples for you to consider:
Also known as breath awareness meditation, it uses your breath to help focus your attention, anchor the mind, and maintain awareness. Once your mind begins to wander – as it inevitably will – simply return it to your breaths.
This technique is said to help us sync the body to the mind. It helps you scan your body for areas with tension, and once found, release it. This is helpful to those who wish to relax, get a sense of calmness, be rid of or ease chronic pain, and sleep.
As soon as you gain awareness when you wake up, your mind quickly starts going through all the things you need to do for the day. This creates a sense of urgency, stress, and anxiety. Instead of falling into this mental trap, practice some morning gratitude meditation. Do not think about all the things you have to do, instead take a few minutes to count your blessings. This is said to help with lowering blood pressure, improving our mood and sense of optimism, relieving depression, and improving immune function.
This technique is used to cultivate an attitude of love and kindness toward everything around you. It enables you to foster feelings of compassion, kindness, and acceptance toward oneself and others. This technique allows you to be open to receiving love as well as sending love to those around you.
Combining both visualization and meditation, the technique enables you to picture an experience before you have lived it in real life. Using visualization in morning meditation can help set a positive note for the day. Visualize yourself having a good day, passing the upcoming test, acing the interview, being congratulated on a big project, etc. It can help you navigate your day with an extra pep in your step.
Read More: Visualization Meditation: Benefits And Techniques To Help You Unlock The Life Of Your Dreams
This technique requires you to pay attention to your thoughts as they pass through your mind. You are further required not to engage, interact, or judge these thoughts. It is also often combined with breath awareness meditation.
This is almost like breath awareness meditation but instead of focusing on your breath, mantra meditation fosters concentration by focusing on a mantra – a word, syllable or phrase.
These techniques require you to get up and move or do some activity to help keep you focused. Some examples include qigong meditation, walking or yoga meditation.
Buddhists who have been meditating for years can sit still for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours (or more) meditating. However, for a beginner this can be hard. You may find yourself falling back asleep or letting your mind wander if you spend too long meditating.
Instead of trying to aim for a 20-minute morning meditation session, start with a 2-minute session. After you have done this for 3 to 5 days, increase the time limit to 5 minutes, 10 minutes and eventually you will find yourself easily sitting unbothered through a half-an-hour session.
Below is a simple 10-minute meditation script that you can follow to help you start your day on the right foot:
It is recommended that you find a quiet and peaceful location to meditate as this helps you concentrate better. This could be on your balcony watching the sun rise or right there on the bed.
It is advisable to wear loose fitting and breathable clothes. In the case of a morning meditation, you do not need to change as your pajamas work just as well.
If you wish to reach into the deep crevices of your mind, take yourself out of the mental loop, regain balance, infuse yourself with optimism, and cultivate compassion – BetterMe: Meditation & Sleep app is exactly what you need!
You could do it while still lying down, seated cross-legged in the middle of the bed or floor, or at the edge of your bed with your feet resting on the ground.
This will help with concentration as you are not distracted by the things your eyes land on. Since you just woke up, you must be careful not to fall back asleep, especially if you choose to meditate while lying down.
Take notice of how your body expands and contracts with each inhale and exhale, respectively. Visualize what your perfect day would be like. Imagine that this perfect day will be today. What clothes are you wearing? How is your body feeling? Are you able to complete all your tests, tasks, and to-do list? Imagine yourself doing everything correctly and having the day unfold and progress with no hiccups. You may also create a mantra to help you convince yourself that you can achieve this.
A lot of us can attest to the fact that when we wake up, the first and almost automatic thing we do is pick up our phones and log into our favorite social media apps, emails, or look online to read the news. When you do this you are immediately bombarded with new messages, emails, and to-do lists that can increase your levels of stress and anxiety.
The situation gets worse when you look at and compare yourself to other people’s curated lives on social media or read about how politics, war, and diseases are taking lives and crippling the world and it’s economy by the day. Replacing immediately picking up the phone with a 10-minute morning meditation can help you start your day better.
But what about people living with anxiety and other mental disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and specific phobias? Can morning meditation help them?
Yes, it can and science has backed up these claims.
If you are struggling with anxiety and nothing else has been working for you, then doing a quick morning meditation for anxiety could significantly help you. If your anxiety levels are low, you get to go about your day with less unproductive worries because this practice teaches you how to distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.
Read More: Meditation For Anxiety: Practical Ways To Live Daily Without Worries And Depression
The best morning meditation is one that leaves you feeling ready to tackle anything that comes your way. You feel calm and are in a positive mood. Mantras are sounds, words, or phases that when repeated though the morning meditation will help with self-affirmation giving us the strength and confidence to face the world and anything that it throws our way.
Here are some positive mantras that you may use during your morning meditation (1):
Staying awake during meditation can be quite hard – not only for beginners but also for experienced practitioners as well. The situation can become even harder when you try to meditate first thing in the morning. To prevent this, here is how to wake up your body for morning meditation:
Some simple yoga poses that you can easily do in bed include happy baby, cat-cow stretch, legs-up-the wall, bridge, and the reclined butterfly among others.
Setting 5 to 10 minutes aside each morning to meditate helps with increased awareness, prevents stress and anxiety, can boost your mood and empower you.
There is no set time for morning meditation. However, it is best done as soon as you wake up. Whether you wake up at 5am, 8 am, or 10 am, it doesn’t matter. The point of it all is to enable you to set your intentions for the rest of your day.
Incorporating daily morning meditation helps you set the pace and positive expectations for your day and your life. Instead of being dragged down by social media and the news, try meditating and getting ready for the day before opening any apps on your phone. You may end up realizing that your stress, anxiety, and depression levels have gone down significantly and that you can handle life’s curveballs better without breaking down.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!