Embarking on a meditation practice can feel like a New Year's resolution: full of good intentions but surprisingly difficult to maintain. The leap from the occasional practice to it becoming a core part of your routine can feel daunting, especially when faced with the recommendation of 40 minutes of daily meditation advocated by most 8-week mindfulness courses.
The truth is, finding a spare 40 minutes a day is challenging for most. It's less about stumbling upon this time and more about deliberately carving it out of your busy schedule. Such a significant commitment requires planning and clear communication with others in your household to harness their support.
Whilst immersing yourself in extensive practice during an 8-week program can undoubtedly hold value - with studies linking more practice to better outcomes - this guidance may conflict with the principles of habit formation. At the onset of any novel behaviour, simplicity is often key. Committing to 40 minutes daily might be a significant lifestyle shift for many, but initiating your journey with briefer, regular sessions can still help to build a solid foundation. The advantage of this approach is that you can’t really start off too small. Even sitting on the cushion for one minute of practice is a step toward establishing your intended behaviour (and it's feasible for nearly everyone to find one minute in their day!).
Once you’ve established your foundation it can feel more manageable to extend the length of your meditation sessions. Over time, you may even discover your meditation sweet spot. For me, this is about 20 minutes. During the first five minutes my mind is still settling, either mentally drafting emails and to-do lists or still caught up in whatever I had been doing previously. Any longer than 20 minutes challenges both my schedule…and my concentration! My attention begins to wane, sometimes to the point of sleep by the time the bells chime! And while I do occasionally sit for longer, more prolonged meditations do not form part of my daily practice.
Ultimately, it’s about establishing a consistent practice that’s right for you. In fact, consistency may hold more value than the length of each meditation session. Research involving adults trying to adopt new healthy drinking, eating or exercise habits found that repeating the behaviour (no matter for how long) within a consistent context over time was crucial in determining whether the behaviour became automatic.
It's all too easy to feel defeated if you can't meet the lofty ideal of 40 minutes a day; yet don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. Remember some meditation is better than none, especially at the start when you’re still trying to form a habit. In essence, integrating meditation doesn't have to require monumental daily commitments or adherence to prescribed lengths. It's about finding a rhythm that fits and sticking with it, even if that means starting small. By prioritising consistency, it’s possible to weave meditation into the fabric of your daily routine and make it an accessible and enriching part of the everyday.
References
Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C. H., Potts, H. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998-1009.
Lally, P., Wardle, J., & Gardner, B. (2011). Experiences of habit formation: A qualitative study. Psychology Health & Medicine, 16(4), 484-489. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2011.555774
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