How to easily meditate 3 times a day
”
While it may feel impossible to add one more thing to our schedule, this one thing might help quell the chaotic.
Get off the hamster wheel
When it comes to meditation, the biggest hindrance I hear over and over again is:
I don’t have time.
Finding time to plan meals, feed our kids, walk our pets, or even take a shower can fall by the wayside during a standard, busy week. Carving out time for a workout is hard enough - forget social events or time for ourselves. Sometimes it feels like we’re all just hamsters on a never-ending wheel of mundane, routinized-chaos.
Enter, meditation.
Meditation can break incessant patterns and rescue us from the endless hamster wheel. While it may feel impossible to add one more thing to our schedule, this one thing might help quell the chaotic, leaving us feeling more rested, more clear-minded, more balanced, more joyful, and more at ease.
Meditation serves as a beautiful space to temporarily disengage from the material world and shift into an extended state of awareness. We lose all sense of having and doing, and instead experience one long present moment of pure consciousness. Each session is wonderfully unique - filled with limitless relaxation, powerful insight, or simply a moment of peace.
Meditation acts as a pause button - offering the body and mind a moment of “active rest”. We’re not sleeping here, but are disengaging from the physical world of stimulation. We can hit the pause button whenever we like, but we must actively choose how and when to press pause.
In order to meditate, we must make space. We must find time. We must strategically place meditation into our crazy, chaotic schedules.
Here are three ways to easily add meditation to your day:
1. Add meditation to the start of your day.
When I say “the start of your day” this doesn’t have to mean right when you wake up. I find it nearly impossible to stay awake if I try to meditate while still in bed. Choose a time where you have a bit of downtime or a slight transition, like right after you get dressed, for instance.
I like to write in my gratitude journal and then do a short 5-minute meditation every morning right after I shower and get dressed. I am awake, ready for the day, but have a short pause before I launch into the busy part of my day. This 5-minute break allows me to set an intention and express gratitude for the day ahead.
2. Add meditation to your lunch break
For those of us who work, lunch is a great time to grab a few minutes. I work from home, so of course it’s much easier to slip away for a few minutes in my own space. I have a chair in my office that’s covered in cozy pillows and draped in afternoon sunlight. It’s my favorite place to sit after lunch for a short 10-minute session.
For those of us who don’t work from home, a walking meditation might be a great place to start. Or try to find a quiet spot away from co-workers to disconnect for a few short minutes (like a breakroom or an outside space).
This is my absolute favorite time to meditate, even though I only have a very short window of time. My mind is the busiest, but I tend to be more alert than in the evenings.
3. Meditate right when you get into bed
Before reaching for your tv remote, phone, or book, take time to meditate! I’m usually exhausted from work (and wrestling my toddler to bed), so I find this evening wind-down just what I need to drift off to sleep.
I think of this as the “time between times”, where we’re just settling into the last phase of the day. It’s a great time to meditate, write in a journal, or practice Self-Reiki (if you’re attuned). I generally dive into a self-guided meditation or Self-Reiki for about 20-30 minutes depending on how tired I feel.
Evening meditation tips & tricks
Evening meditations are tricky, as they can easily turn into sleep if you’re not careful. Here are a few tips:
Try sitting up
If I lie down, I am out for the count. I sit up to keep myself alert enough to enjoy the benefits of active meditation. As I mentioned above, I also tend to practice Self-Reiki at night, so sitting up is a great way to stay focused and have space for hand positions.
Tired? Try a sleep meditation
If you’re feeling tired, that’s okay! Try a guided sleep meditation or healing music frequencies and your subconscious mind will still absorb the content.
I love to listen to Solfeggio Frequencies or Binaural Beats when falling asleep, as I know they provide healing even when asleep. Check out the app Insight Timer for awesome free sound frequencies and sleep meditations.
Do Self-Reiki
If you’re attuned in Reiki, bedtime is a wonderful time for self care. I find a full session of Self-Reiki to be an extremely beneficial and beautiful way to end the day. You’re essentially cleansing your whole body of unfit energy, while restoring your system with the loving, wholesome energy of Reiki. Talk about a great way to send yourself off to sleep.
Try a self-guided meditation
It’s easy to feel sleepy when someone else is narrating your evening meditation. Self-guided meditations are incredibly helpful for focus. I do these very often at night, as they keep me alert and stimulated.
A quick topic for a self-guided meditation? Gratitude!
Begin by taking a few deep breaths, focusing on your heart center. Then begin to internally narrate things that you are grateful for. This should be easy and effortless, leaving you feeling calm, yet mildly exhilarated.
This is one of my favorite meditations to do before bed, but it can also be done at any time of the day! Bonus? This is also the primary way to generate Heart Coherence - the magic sauce to bring your heart, mind, and emotions into energetic resonance.
Find what works best for you
No meditation style or schedule is best for everyone. Explore which times of day work best for you! Remember, we all need relief from the hamster wheel; sometimes it just takes a little effort to step off.
