Meditation is a practice.
It is called a practice because there is no end, there are ups and downs, pauses or breaks and even if you ever “stop” it never truly leaves you, the itch to sit and listen to your breath will follow you like peter pan’s shadow.
So I ask, like many others, how long should we sit?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
I believe in the beginning sitting 5 minutes a day will help you establish the habit.
And you can work your way up if being able to sit for a really long time is your goal, but for me, that is not my goal.
And I believe that it what we first need to ask ourselves in order to discover out sitting time.
- What is your goal of meditating?
-sitting for a long time?
-quieting the mind?
-self-discover?
-self-appreciation?
We need to remember that it is the mind we are sitting with and the brain is a muscle, to condition a muscle we simply use it each day however to grow a muscle we need to challenge it and push it slightly into the uncomfortable zone.
I’ve recently found myself in a mediation rut; counting down the seconds till end time or bargaining why I should end 5 minutes early. Too many helpful thoughts had entered my mind and I was ready to act on them. I thanked my practice for the reminders of forgotten ideas and would then carry on with my day wondering why I felt disconnected from my practice.
My goal going in was not to remember but to quiet my mind. So now I challenge myself to sit until my mind is quiet.
I haven’t allowed myself to connect with the practice, I have stayed in my head and have not given myself enough time to leave it.
Source: https://resilientlymindful.wordpress.com/
