Starting with a 5 minute morning meditation can be a great way to mentally prepare for your day. Taking a short quiet moment for yourself where you sit in stillness and bring awareness to the present moment.
In this blog we’ll explore why mindfulness meditation is important and how you can use a 5 minute guided mindfulness meditation to bring mindfulness into your everyday life.
Want to jump right into the practice? Follow Irene’s 5 minute guided meditation practice on YouTube.
Why is Mindfulness Meditation Important?
One of the main reasons why I think mindfulness meditation is important is that it allows you to pause for a moment from our regular activities. Taking a step back to observe the present moment.
With the majority of us having busy lives we really have very little time where we take a break from an activity and turn our attention more inwards. And even when we are relaxing on our sofa watching Netflix or reading a book, we’re still focusing on another activity rather than observing through our senses what’s happening right now.
Through practicing mindfulness meditation you can become more aware of your body, breath, thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. Making it easier to be aware of how you feel deep down emotionally and be able to deal with challenging situations, stress, and anxiety.
Of course we can’t expect to feel completely stress free after one 5 minute mindfulness meditation practice, but we can know we’re putting our energy into looking after our health and wellbeing. And hopefully over time be able to have the tools to deal with difficulties we encounter in life.
Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
Although we can choose to do a mindfulness meditation at any time, planning a 5 minute meditation to start the day can help you feel more alert and calm throughout your day. Just like starting a short morning yoga routine, a short meditation practice can help you establish a more regular daily meditation routine and integrate mindfulness into your everyday life.
In my 5 minute meditation on YouTube we focus on becoming aware of sounds. We use the sounds we hear around us as a way to concentrate on the present moment. Doing our best to not let ourselves get caught up in the stories around the sounds we hear but instead just noticing and being curious about sound.
If you start to practice more regularly mindfulness meditation in a structured way (i.e. by formally sitting and stopping other activities to meditate) it will help you also use these same techniques in less structured ways in daily life.
For example, by following for a period of time a guided 5 minute meditation practice you can get familiar with the technique and more easily start to sue the same technique at other points during your day.
If you’re curious to learn more about integrating mindfulness into your work day check out my blog: five ways to practice mindfulness at work.
I hope you find these tips around developing a short meditation practice helpful. I’ve personally found it easier to stick to a regular practice routine when I’ve given myself permission to keep the practice short. And that the choice isn’t only from a 30 – 60 minute practice or no practice.
Also, despite practicing mindfulness based stress reduction meditation techniques for almost 10 years I’m still learning how to apply them in everyday life. So if you do feel some discomfort from sitting still or feeling stress or anxiety, do your best to accept yourself as you are and keep showing up to practice!
Happy practicing!
X Irene
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