Why “I meditate consistently once or twice a month” doesn’t cut it

A lot of my friends are runners. They are dedicated to the practice (although I’m not sure that’s the right term here) of running with consistency, commitment and dedication. If they don’t run with disciplined consistency, they find that their endurance has decreased, their timing is off, and they have lost some of the gain (or momentum) that consistency brings.

I’m here to tell you that meditation is the same.

If I run once or twice a month, it is not reasonable for me to believe that I will have made any change in my ability to run further at a faster rate of speed. In the same way, if you are meditating once or twice a month (or once or twice a week), it is unreasonable to believe that you are gaining focus and endurance in your meditation practice. It might provide some calm in that moment, but the long-term benefits of the practice are not being cultivated to the fullest extent possible. Just like with running.

These are, of course, generalizations. It may be possible for someone to meditate infrequently and still make great strides in their practice. I just don’t happen to know anyone like that.

So, what does consistency mean in the meditation world?

Consistency in your meditation practice brings together frequency of practice with time and location of practice (at a minimum). It can also include technique, but that’s next week’s blog post topic. We’re going to discuss each of these in a bit more detail.

Frequency of practice is one thing that people tell me holds them back. I recommend a daily practice, and I’m frequently told that it’s just hard to find the time. To that, I call bullsh!t. I know…  I said it and I don’t frequently cuss.

If you can find time to watch TV, have a glass of wine, read a chapter of a book (or five), or any number of other “wind-down” activities, you can find five minutes to meditate. That’s right, just five minutes. You cannot tell me that you can’t consistently find five minutes.

People think it takes more than that, and ultimately, maybe it does, but that is entirely up to you. Furthermore, that is a decision that is not made when you are starting, it’s made when five minutes seems to go by too quickly. Or better yet, when consistently (there’s that word again), you find that you open your eyes naturally after 10 or 15 minutes have passed.

Given that, we are talking about finding five minutes each day to meditate…  at close to the same time each day (or same “time of day each day”). This is the next consistency key. The last one is, in a dedicated place.

Why are these two things important?

I’m going with a food analogy now. Have you ever noticed that after a few days of being off your normal eating schedule, you begin to crave your meal or snack on that new schedule? Maybe you’re at a conference or traveling and you begin your day eating breakfast an hour and a half earlier than you do at home. After four days, you return home and you wake up ravenous an hour and half earlier than you would normally eat. This literally happens to me every time I travel.

My body has become accustomed to eating on that new schedule. And in the same way, with consistency of practice at a particular time, your body, mind, and spirit will begin to crave meditation at your scheduled time. How does that benefit you? Well, for one thing, when your body, mind, and spirit are craving it… that means one battle is solved and all parts of you are in agreement on what time it is…  it’s time to meditate!

That is NOT what we typically experience to begin a practice, when parts of ourselves are fighting us, thinking that there are 79 items on the to-do list that take priority over our meditation practice. I know some of you experience this, so what if all it takes is discipline and consistency to jump that one hurdle? There are others behind it, I know, but what if we could jump that ONE. I call that victory.

As a side note on scheduling time at the same time of day every day: I am not saying you schedule yourself to meditate at 7:13pm or 6:32am every day. What I am saying is that “just before bedtime” or “upon waking” you meditate. This leaves room for dinner dates, sleeping in on the weekends, watching a movie, running a late errand, and any number of other things that are going to come up at 7:13pm or 6:32am. It leaves wiggle room for you to live your life and at the same time, make a commitment to a meditation practice that will bring you countless long-term benefits.  

This does bring us to our last item; location. Now, I’ll preface this with the fact that I am an energy person. And what I mean by that is that I feel energetic patterns, frequencies, shifts, etc. So this one is big for me, but you may find that you can take it or leave it.

Meditating in a dedicated place each time creates a ritual, or a routine for those who prefer that word. It sets the energetic tone of calm, tranquility, and quiet in this location which over time creates a similar energetic impact as the consistent time, just on a more subtle level. Some of you will feel the accumulation of energy on your cushion (or chair) and it will be welcoming.

My normal recommendations are to make this space welcoming, make it beautiful, make it sing to your senses. It does not need to be a room…  mine is a spot on the floor by my side of the bed for my nightly practice with a beautiful henna painting above it. I use a chair downstairs for my morning practice. The chair is not “dedicated” only for meditation – but it is mostly “my” chair and it’s in a room without a TV (but I’m sitting on it with my laptop to write this).

Above all else, it’s important to keep your meditation space clean yet comfortable. If you have a lot of clutter in this area, you’ll have to jump the hurdle of picking it up before you can meditate. We don’t want that…   you already have plenty of other excuses keeping you from practice…   why add one more!?

Consistency in your practice builds the “muscles” of meditation, creates endurance for those who want to stretch themselves past a 5-minute meditation, and ingrains routine that will help keep you coming back to the cushion. The benefits are countless, including lower stress levels, increased personal and interpersonal awareness, and calmer demeanors. For those of you interested in more medical benefits: lowering blood pressure and improved immune response are among the benefits too.

Next week we will hit the topic of The Fickle practitioner…   who likes to do all the techniques…  all at the same time.

After that, The Game Changer…  cultivating compassion within your practice, no matter what it brings.

If you’re enjoying this series, which started with Misperceptions about Taming the Wild Mind through Meditation, have feedback or a question, please feel free to send me a message.

Until next week, Happy Sitting.