Meditation is seemingly one of those ephemeral practices that only the elite chosen few can master. We are here to tell you that this is not true and that you can make meditation a habit if you wish.
The benefits of practising meditation are many. Research clearly shows that meditation can reduce stress, relieve anxiety and create clarity. At the institute, we champion these health benefits, yet, we also promote the spiritual gains you can achieve from practising meditation.
At Institute of Esoteric Studies emphasise the sense of spiritual understanding, acceptance, meaning, and purpose from practising meditation. Because we believe they can lead to a more profound reason for practising meditation.
To Make Meditation a Habit is also one of the most effective self-healing practices you can adopt. Not all meditations include spiritual healing aspects, the Visual Meditation that we offer here at the Institute does. Whilst when you have spiritual components, you get the whole. We think that meditation devoid of Spirituality only gives you a piece of the cake.
You do not have to be spiritual to benefit from our programme, yet, it does help if your mind is open to that.
7 steps to Make Meditation a Habit
Below, we give you steps to make meditation a habit.
1. Establish multiple why’s
We will be honest with you and say that practising meditation is not easy, yet it is most likely the most important practice you can engage in. Meditation will improve your physical life by reducing stress, releasing anxiety and creating clarity. The practice will help you to expand your spiritual consciousness. At least if you work with us.
Therefore, we recommend that you establish multiple reasons for starting. Also, you will have to want to start yourself, not because a doctor or a friend told you to. Of course, they can be an inspiration. Still, you will need to want to start.
You can use the Five Why’s method to get to the root of why you would want to start Make Meditation a Habit.
Another recommendation is to understand your intrinsic motivations for beginning to meditate. You will most likely have extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for starting, and to make meditation a habit. We believe it is good to have both.
2. Join a group or programme if you can
Humans are social beings, and the community helps to hold us accountable. To make Meditation a Habit all by yourself can be very difficult. Both Ines and Tor started with a teacher who helped them on their respective journeys.
There are, of course, many different apps out there you can use as well.
3. Learn about habit stacking
James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, talks in his book about Habit Stacking. In short, it means attaching a new habit to another habit you are already doing. For example, let us say you make a coffee every morning, and then you decide to start after making a coffee. You will meditate for a period of time.
The formula goes like this: After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]
4. Use a Habit Tracker
We at the institute love to-do lists and tracking habits are not significantly different. There are tons of varying habit trackers online; however, we have created one for you to download for free.
5. Don’t be a fair-weather meditation practitioner
Meditation is a practice precisely like Tai Chi or anything similar. To reap the full benefits of practising, you need to make it a regular habit and a discipline. Only then will the flower of practice bear fruit.
6. Become friends with other meditators
The people that we choose to surround ourselves with matter. If you have friends who meditate regularly, that will help you to hold yourself accountable and to Make Meditation a Habit.
7. Find a practice and stick to it for at least three months
There are different meditation practices out there. We recommend finding one and sticking to it for at least three months until you try something different. That will give your mind enough time to know whether it is helpful to you or not.