I started dabbling with meditation 5 years ago. I went to a meditation class on recommendation from a friend. It was great, I felt relaxed and calm during the session.
6 months later I tried another one.
6 months after that our yoga instructor took us through a meditation body scan. Again, great. I continued to enjoy the meditation session in yoga every few months.
Another year later I attended an all day meditation retreat in Santa Cruz, CA with a couple friends. A rejuvenating experience.
Then 6 months later I tried an online app. I started with 5 min a day, three times a week and grew from there. Using a competitive, gamified, simple and easy to use approach, I slowly started to improve and grow my calm time.
That was the start of 2016. By half way through the year I was at an average of 10-15 min per day. By the last few months of 2016 I was at 20 min per day.
Based on the success, the impact and calm meditation has brought me…I am committed to 30 min per day in 2017.
There are a few elder guru’s (business people) I know who are absolutely set on the incredible impact it has made in their life at an hour per day. Wow, that’s alot! I started thinking last week, what if in the next 10 years, by slow improvement over time, I could comfortably be at one hour per day? That would be incredible!
I share this to say:
1. It took me 4-5 years to fully commit to meditation after I started dabbling…you need to be ready
2. A commitment to small improvements over time can provide big benefits
3. The impact of of 5, 10 and 20 min per day for a calm and thoughtful start to the day has been immense.
If you are interested in getting started, three apps I would look at are:
To a calm, intentional and thoughtful 2017 ahead.
Colin
The kick in the pants you need. Sign-up for a better start to your work day.