7 practical and simple ways to include meditation in your routine

How about the idea of ​​making life lighter? Hard that someone doesn’t want it, right? In the midst of commitments, deadlines, charges and thousand obligations, being able to look inside and intuitively obtain answers that calm the mind and soul is very welcome. And getting there isn’t as difficult as you might think.

Meditation is a technique that can help achieve the goal of inner peace. But forget the idea of ​​a practice that requires a specially organized place, physical preparation for doing the lotus position or setting up an environment with special lights, smells and sounds. Currently, there are more dynamic aspects of meditation, which suit the needs of those who are in the daily rush.

This is the case with mindfulness meditation. Created by John Kabat-Zinn, it is free of any religious slant and has mindfulness at its core. “It expands people’s state of consciousness, makes them leave autopilot”, explains Beatriz Guntzel, speech therapist and systemic therapist specialized in mindfulness.

Mindfulness promotes a mental state of alertness, attention, and awareness of the present moment. Beatriz says that this type of meditation “works like mental training for you to choose the best answer to everyday questions; for you to have an answer, not a reaction to an unexpected action.”

The same occurs in the meditation guided by Ivana Samagaia, Raja Yoga meditation teacher and coordinator of the Brahma Kumaria unit in Urca (RJ). She clarifies: “Meditation is, above all, the look within. You have no control over what happens in the outside world, but you can control how you react to events. Whoever meditates becomes a wiser person, who lives according to what he thinks and speaks.”

With this more down-to-earth vision, Beatriz and Ivana give great tips for you to put meditation into your day-to-day life, without it having to become a reason to worry about preparations. Come on!

Reserve 10 minutes of your day for meditation

Much more important than the location is your availability for meditation. No matter how busy life is, set aside 10 minutes (of the 24 hours a day has) to meditate. It can be in bed, on the desk, on the sofa in the living room, whatever. What matters is that you “disconnect” from the world during this short period.

Set an alarm to remind yourself daily that it’s time to meditate

Having defined the point of the day when you will meditate, make it a priority, a part of your routine, and set your cell phone alarm as a reminder of that moment. After a while you will remember by yourself and start the meditation automatically, but in the beginning it’s nice to have a booster.

Mentally go over the actions of the last 24 hours

A great way to start daily meditation is by analyzing the situations you’ve experienced and how you’ve behaved in the face of recent actions. When did you react to something, and how could you change that into a response? When have you been able to respond to an action, and how do you maintain this in the future? Internalize the lessons of the day and incorporate them into the lessons of previous days.

This won’t take up the 10 minutes of meditation, it’s just a warm-up. From then on, you will be able to leave your mind free to look inside yourself and, little by little, find your inner peace.

Swap tension for attention

On a day-to-day basis, instead of getting nervous because of something you imagine might happen at work or at home, stay alert to the unfolding of events. Tense, you will miss important details. Attentive, you will have all the steps very clear in your mind. This will make all the difference when it comes to reviewing the day at the beginning of the daily meditation.

Count on the help of technology

There are many meditation apps available for Android and iOS. If you don’t feel inspired enough to start meditating on your own, download an app and follow its initial steps.

Pay attention to your breath

This practice is an ongoing preparation for the meditation itself. Every two hours, take a minute to do active, conscious breathing. Notice the air coming in and going out, the temperature of the air, how it passes through Organs internal organs. You can count on the help of the cell phone alarm and timer for this too.

Be patient

It is precisely because meditation represents a big change in the rhythm of the day that it becomes interesting to do exercises such as conscious breathing. If the first few times you feel like you’re not able to focus fully, don’t be nervous. Do your best, stick to the 10 minutes allotted, and commit to improving the next day. Have patience to progress and reach your inner best point of focus. Nobody is born knowing and the more you practice, the easier it will get.