Starting a meditation habit

Tip 1: Keep it small and go from there

Whenever you start a meditation habit, keep it small and go from there. Not only now, but also in the future. You will probably quit your meditation career somewhere in the future, and want to start it up again.

Starting a new habit is often difficult because we simply don't start doing it. It just seems too tiring. It is impossible to fit in the schedule. So, when you build a habit, keep it small. Any meditation is better than no meditation.

Find a spot in your schedule, where you can fit 10-20 minutes every day.

• Sit down

• Set a timer for 10-20 minutes. We love Insight Timer.

• Do the seven point relaxation exercise

• Stop

Total time: 2 minutes

And during the weeks we will slowly start to fill in that you have made a reservation for. But for now, it is more important to find that and you just practice sitting down, and starting.

Tip 2: Connect your habit to an existing habit

Starting a fresh habit is difficult, because how will you remind yourself to do it? Now, you might think alarm clocks are a good idea for initializing a habit, but research shows that when you stop using the clock, you often lose the habit as well. By connecting it to an existing daily habit, you won't have this problem.

To give a few examples:

• Meditate after your first cup of tea/coffee in the morning

• Meditate before you brush your teeth

• Meditate after breakfast

• Meditate before your morning run

• Meditate first thing in the morning

Yes, I like meditating in the morning, but you can do the same thing with afternoon or evening routines. For me that just doesn't fit in my life.

You will end up meditating at roughly the same time every day. Make sure that this time slot can fit your habit on a daily basis, because often when I miss this moment, it's not going to happen during the rest of the day. Sure, I will think to myself, I will do it later, but let's be honest, I probably won't.

Tip 3: Accountability

Humans are social animals. We hate public failure and we crave recognition.There is even a psychological effect that states that a person works harder as a member of a group than when working alone: the köhler effect. Use this! Find a meditation partner or meditation group and make sure they can see if you meditate.

• We offer a space to meditate together online in the morning.

• But also guided meditation at 17:00

• You can also try to get an accountability partner in the course, or ask one of the teacher—they are always happy to help.