This article will give you some guidelines for developing preliminary meditation habits. Some initial commitment is necessary, but once you accept these preliminaries, you’ll realize meditation’s efficacy, and its habitual aspects will develop on their own.
The most fundamental guideline is the decision to set meditation times. There could be zero room for more time commitments in your busy schedule, so you may have to drop something you deem less important than meditation. The most direct way is to simply declare the number of times you’ll meditate each day (say, 1, 2, 3, or 4 times), as well as the duration of each session (say 10, 20, or 30 minutes). Then see about fitting those times into your day (or week) according to the relative dearth of other scheduled commitments.
Your days could be tightly scheduled. But a schedule doesn’t necessarily preclude another commitment. Of course, once committed to a schedule, you’ll have to deal with the possibility that “life gets in the way,” which it will occasionally. In that case, your basic commitment is to return as soon as possible to your meditation schedule. “Pending” items are another potential disruptive factor. To avoid distractions while you meditate, see about clearing whatever is urgently pending in your life, and shouldn’t hold over until later.
Next, choose a comfortable, quiet place to sit or lie down. Minimizing unnecessary social and environmental distractions is imperative. Similarly, bring covers for warmth, pillows to enhance comfort and posture, and ear plugs for noisy places. Wind and bright lights can be disruptive so minimize those, too. You’ll want to hold the same position for the duration of the session, so you might as well be comfortable. Remember, your body likes movement, so it will clamor for new positions or relief from an achy butt. So, make it easy on yourself by choosing a comfortable chair or bed.
“The meditative process is an often overlooked preliminary. We say: if you lose your mind, come back.”
Along with comfort is relaxation. Becoming relaxed at the start of each session should be a priority. You’ll need to be adept at ferreting out areas of physical tension. Tension is often caused by adverse thoughts or feelings so reducing tension can be enhanced by paying attention to the thoughts from which tension arises. You can minimize those by committing yourself to the meditative process at the start of each session.
The meditative process is an often overlooked preliminary. We say: if you lose your mind, come back. In other words, if you realize you’ve fallen into a thought hole, bring your attention back to its meditative object, whether a mantra, your breathing, or something else. Only by returning to the object do you find the peaceful gaps between thoughts.
Thus, unless you are committed to the process, you’re doomed to endless rounds of rumination, without relief from the monkey mind. The process of coming back is the quickest way to build a fruitful meditative habit. Remember, your mind craves the medi-tative experience. Attention to the preliminaries ensures that it gets what it wants.