5 Tips For Consistency In Your Meditation Practice

Meditation can be thought of as a form of mental training. It is a skill (or set of skills) that allow us to intentionally direct our attention in ways that challenge the automatic and habitual ways that the mind tends to engage. Just like any skill, getting good at meditation requires practice. Unfortunately, practice is hard. Unless you were lucky enough to be born with a rock-solid will it is tempting to put aside this practice when we feel stressed, pressed for time, or simply bored with doing the same thing day after day. Here are 5 tips to help you stay consistent with your practice:

Remember the benefits. Because the benefits happen gradually and sometimes subtly, it is easy to forget. Ask yourself, why are you meditating in the first place? Has meditation helped you to move closer to your goals? What happened the last time you “took a break” from meditation?

Develop a routine. Set aside a consistent time and space for your practice and commit to showing up every time. In addition, it can be helpful to build ritual into your practice. For example, maybe you begin with some kind of cleansing, followed by lighting candles, saying a prayer or invocation and then beginning your meditation.

Keep it fun. Don’t take any of this or yourself too seriously. That kind of attitude is likely to create frustration, resentment, and stress. Instead, see if you can begin to view this as time to nurture yourself. Rather than feeling like you have to accomplish something, this should be a time where your highest self can simply show up.

Be flexible. If you are really struggling with a particular practice, allow yourself to change it up. Invite movement, or change styles. Experiment. Try something new. Follow your intuition.
Track your practice. Whether through journaling or something more formal like questionnaires or a phone app, it is helpful to acknowledge the practice and to reflect on the ways your practice is being expressed.

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