Work Smart, Not Hard
This is part two of a five part series, detailing the most important meditation tricks I’ve found. In the last post we covered Right Effort, and how to balance energy with tranquility.
One thing that can be annoying about meditation is that it only works if you actually do it. Meaning if you can’t get yourself to meditate regularly, you are not going to experience any of the benefits you keep hearing about. We typically suggest that you meditate at least 10-minutes a day, five days a week. Ideally you’ll want to work up to meditating for 30-minutes most days.Even for seasoned meditators it can be difficult to maintain a regular routine. I often hear people say “I feel so much better when I meditate, and I know how important it is, but I still have a hard time being consistent”. It is deceptively hard to create positive habits like meditating each morning, which is why we should just cheat. By far the best cheat code for getting yourself to meditate, is to meditate with other people.
Having a commitment to meet a group of people who are all trying to accomplish the same thing as you is a powerful thing. Ideally this group would meet first thing in the morning, before anything distracts you from completing your meditation. This will also allow you to enjoy the benefits of meditation throughout the day, and gets you setup for a successful day. I’ve been meditating since I was 15-years old (I’m now 31), and I still rely on sitting groups as an insurance policy for my meditation practice. My Co-Founders and I have been sitting every weekday for 30-minutes before we jump into work, and it’s made a huge difference in my life. For the month of January, we decided to try opening this group to the public. If you’d like to join us M-F, at 8:30am PST, you can join remotely via Zoom. We hope to see you there!
-Christian