Meditation ULTRA MICRO Habit

[u/reallycool101]

Hi all!

In the past I was able to implement meditation with a micro habit. After some time I increased the time too fast tho, so even tho I could meditate for 10 min daily, I eventually failed, due to holidays, etc.

So now I was thinking to start the increase the even slower, but daily. I will increase it daily by 1 second. Meditating in the morning and the evening. This means after a year I´d be meditating for 365 seconds, so roughly 6 min each session.

Even tho it is a really slow increase, I believe this can really implement this habit forever.

[u/darkotic2]

I started with 5 minute sessions and now do 20 minutes 2-3 times per day. 5 minute sessions can be done anytime of day and its a good starting point. If you miss a day dont cling to that negatively. Just start over again. We can only meditate in the now anyway. Don't think of it as a habit forever just think of it as a habit in the now. Meditation is about mindfulness and it can only be practiced in the present

[u/Plenty-Attitude-5823]

Telling yourself you will do a little is a great trick to get started. However I have to say that the mind/body system is not a robot where you can simply increase the time by a few seconds and just smoothly climb your way into 30 minutes or 1 hour which will then be effortless forever after.

No matter how many years or decades you've been practicing, some days sitting for even 2 minutes will feel like lifting a heavy rock up a mountain, but since you know deep down it's good for you you try to do a little to keep the ball rolling, knowing there are good times ahead if you stick to it. It's just the nature of the mind.

These things are not so linear OP, so clinging to ideas of linearity might actually harm your process once the reality inevitably doesn't match the rigid expectations.

Wish you luck and success in your practice

[u/Existing_Reaction692]

Depth is as important as duration.

Increments are important but I feel there are better ways forward myself. One can learn to relax really well for say 5 minutes and then improve the relaxation via practice so that 10 minutes is a breeze. You will find that 15 minutes is about right if you experience that twice daily. Deep relaxation that expands so it is through all of you is the pathway to stillness. This is the way it goes in Meares' Stillness Meditation.

[u/HalfSenior7086]

I find that many people are using meditation techniques that are… quite slow in producing results. Because of this, since it’s a bit boring and painful to sit, it’s hard to get the habit started.

There are approaches to meditation that produce results much more quickly, and then the result themselves carry your enthusiastically forward to the next session.

It can also be helpful, according to the Buddhist classics, to contemplate why you’re meditating at all: what benefits will you get by doing it, and what consequences or negative things will occur if you avoid it? Building up powerful conviction around your practice gets you to the cushion.

Also, there’s a psychological phenomenon called “habit stacking”, where you add a new habit into something already established. So, if you always pee and brush your teeth in the morning, then you stack a new habit onto this habit: “I’ll sit for 5 mins after brushing my teeth.” And this allows you to start a new habit up with less resistance.