Promising Survey Results for How Much Time Do You Meditate
Survey Results – How Much Time Do You Meditation For?
The second survey we ran on Mastery of Meditation & Yoga, was asking the question, "How Long Do You Meditate For?", and just like our first survey, which asked, How Often Do You Meditate?, this survey also indicated that many of you have very healthy and strong meditation practices.
In the article, How Long You Should Meditate For, I indicated that building up to 20 minutes of meditation, for a single session was a great goal for beginning meditators and that I found the 20 minute sessions to give great results. Internal imbalances, personality issues, weaknesses, etc, automatically started to resolve themselves with consistent twice a day 20 minute sessions, and also joy, peace and greater awareness simply began to flow. From 20 minute sessions, you can then build up to 30 minutes, twice a day, and then work your way up to 1 hour. For stilling the mind of thoughts, I have found that the longer sessions generally help and also, consistent practice helps you master this profound art as well.
So how are doing? Here are the very promising results…
1. How long do you meditate for?
RESULTS:
Value Count Percent
6 to 20 mins 21 45.65%
21 to 40 mins 11 23.91%
41 to 60 mins 6 13.04%
1 to 5 mins 5 10.87%
1 Hour plus 2 4.35%
Don’t Meditate 1 2.17%
So there you have it. Of the respondents, 98% of you said you meditated, and 50% were at 20 minutes daily or on your way to getting there, and the rest were already past the 20 minute mark. Great going.
I do want to point out something here, which is that don’t try to set your meditation goals beyond what you are ready to do, or what you can comfortably integrate into your life. Consistent practice is the key, and if you try to do too much your consistency will suffer. So just find a practice you are comfortable with, which you can do on a regular basis, everything else will start to flow on its own. Here are 2 articles which go into these concepts in more detail. Below that is a link to the beginner meditation class if you are interested in a structured program.
The Golden Rule to Stop Excuses and Start Meditation Now
No Short Cuts to Enlightenment
Learn How to Meditate | Beginner’s Meditation Class
(PS: I know I am running behind on responding to comments and emails I have received. Sorry about that, I am still catching up from my vacation and have also been very busy as of late. Am trying to catch up though, thanks for all your understanding 
.)
Hey Ben,
Your students are lucky to have you for guidance. As always appreciate your input here on Mastery of Meditation.
Cheers,
Anmol
Hey Praveen,
Great point that I agree with whole heartedly, do what you are ready for. Thanks a lot for your input and participation.
Cheers,
Anmol
You make an excellent point, Anmol.
Consistency is much more important than intensity. Everyone wants to be a master on their first sit, but a daily practice of a few minutes will give much more reliable results than a weekly practice of 1 hour… and attempting these long sessions early on vastly increases the ‘drop out’ rate.
The length and intensity will build after consistency is established.
I even encourage my own students to start with a daily practice of 1 minute and work their way up!
keep smiling,
ben
It is heartening to read that 98% of the people who polled were meditating. We can safely assume that people who participated in the poll were really interested in meditation. So the poll does not give us the realistic estimate.
But, considering your survey and various other studies that have been done from time to time, I see that people are becoming aware of the healing powers of meditation.
The secret of getting the benefits, as you have pointed out, is to set yourself a realistic time goal. if you are not realistic in setting your goals, then slowly you start losing your motivation,and the entire project fizzles out.
One can search and find- there are so many methods of meditation – one is sure to find the one that suits him, or her.