Mini Meditation Sessions

New to meditating? Don’t have more than a few minutes of peaceful alone time in your day? Just want a try out quick techniques to help you de-stress?

Mini-meditations are exactly what you’re looking for.

Mini-meditations are short meditation techniques that you can do anywhere, anytime, and with just a minute or two.

All you need is yourself, a quiet space, and a comfortable spot to sit or lay down. Below are some mini-meditation techniques to start your practice:

Meditation Techniques in Under a Minute

Meditation incorporates a wide range of techniques and activities. Mindfulness, controlled breathing, relaxing, and yoga are all forms of meditation. Basically, any form of mind and body activity that helps you increase your sense of calm falls under the meditation category.

We all have different needs and wants from meditating. It’s important to remember that different techniques work better for different people. Try some of the following mini-meditation techniques to see how effective they are for you:

Take Some Deep Breaths – Whether you have a few seconds or a few minutes, take a few slow, deep breaths. This lets your body know that you’re “resetting” and can take the edge off feeling stressed or anxious immediately.

Practice Being Mindful – Mindfulness is being aware of what’s happening right now, in the moment. You can practice mindfulness at any time during your day. Just take a deliberate approach to what you’re doing and think through why you’re doing your current activity. Use all your senses to take in what you’re doing. You’ll feel more “present” for doing so.

Practice Affirmations – Everything we say or think to ourselves is an affirmation. The more we tell ourselves something, the more likely it is we will make it come true. Write down some affirmations that you want to realize in your life.

To give you some examples:

• I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.
• I learn from the mistakes I make.
• I make the best of every situation.
• I enjoy life to the fullest.
• I treat everyone with respect.

Repeat your own affirmations out loud to yourself while looking in a mirror first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. You can also repeat them during the day if you find time too.

5-Minute Meditation Ideas

If you want to progress to longer meditating sessions, start with 5-minute sessions. You can achieve a lot in 5 minutes of focused meditation.

This YouTube video is the perfect example of a 5-minute guided meditation. It takes you through some breathing exercises, helps you to understand how you are feeling, and you’ll feel a flow of peaceful energy flow through you while listening to it.

You may prefer to do some breathing exercises without help. If so, set your stopwatch for 5 minutes, get comfortable, and follow these steps:

Step 1 – Slowly breathe in through your nose letting your belly fill with air.

Step 2 – Pause for a moment, before slowly breathing back out through your nose.

Step 3 – Place one, or both hands on your belly so you can feel it rising and lowering as you breathe.

Step 4 – Try to keep you mind from wandering while breathing. Focus only on each breath as you slowly inhale and exhale.

10-Minute Meditation Ideas

Once you start to see the positive effects of 5-minute or shorter meditations, you may want to stretch out to 10-minute sessions. Ten minutes still falls under “mini” sessions, but it’s long enough to see and feel some huge changes.

There are no shortage of free 10-minute guided meditation videos/audio tracks on YouTube to help you start. Here is a powerful guided meditation video, it guides you through all the steps to help you achieve a calm state.

Follow the same principles outlined for shorter sessions. Find techniques that work best for you and make time every day to practice them.

Getting the Most out of Your Mini-Meditation Sessions

If you don’t feel like you’re getting much out of your meditation sessions, here are a few tips that may help:

Be patient and persistent – Meditation is not an overnight miracle cure to all your problems. But it can help over time, so stay persistent.

Believe in the process – Keep an open mind and believe in the process. It works for millions of people around the world every day. It can for you, too.

Improve outside of meditation – Meditating, repeating affirmations, and being mindful for those brief moments you get each day is great. But adapting your lifestyle along the way is another long-term goal you should aim for.

Continual development – Don’t get stuck with the same routine every day for months. Continue learning new techniques. Meditating is a lifestyle, so try it all.