How To Find The Best Time To Meditate And Make The Most Out Of The Practice

Initiating a meditational practice can be very beneficial when you're looking to build your inner strength in the world that surrounds you. Not only is it great for getting your energies in alignment with the outer world but also with the inner world too. But with our hectic schedule and fast pace, it might be hard to find time to meditate. Carving out time may mean that you have to find that perfect opportunity or time slot in the day to do it.

There are benefits to executing meditational practices at any time during the day. First thing in the morning or late at night is often great to allow for focus on your day's goals and contemplation of your day's actions. But those aren't the only times, you may also just have a quick 5-minute meditation session when you have them free or schedule a little time at lunch.

Finding the best time for you to meditate is just that, finding the best time for you. But in this article we're going to go over some of the different types of meditation you may be able to utilize in your everyday life as well as the benefits and some best practices to help you ensure that you are not only finding the best time to meditate but also making a consistent meditational practice part of your wellness journey.

Meditation: Why Should You Do It?

Before you really look at the type of meditation you can include in your day and the best time for you to execute that meditation, you might be asking yourself why is meditation even something I should be considering. The truth is that meditation offers not only a mental and spiritual benefit to you, but also a physical benefit.

The principles and techniques utilized in meditation teach you to be in the present and execute expert breathwork. The breathwork is primarily the reason that a lot of the physical attributes are given to it, as well as The principles of centering you with your inner and outer world. So let's take a look at what meditation actually brings to the table for you:

• Stress Reduction - One of the chief proponents of any physical or mental health issue is stress. There is so much fast-paced activity going on around us, and we are inundated with information consistently, that oftentimes it leads to stress. But with meditation, through the spiritual aspect as well as the breathwork and consistent movement you can see a reduction in this stress.

• Better Sleep – Sleep is a big component of any health and wellness journey. There are many reasons why meditation can help with sleep, one of them being the ability to calm thoughts down and allow your body to completely relax. Being able to do this will allow your body to find its way into a comfortable position, and then in turn let your mind drift off into the realm of sleep. Meditation, because it does calm your thoughts and allows you to relax, will give you not only the ability to get to sleep easier but also a better quality of sleep.

• Improved Focus & Concentration - Meditation is also a great tool to utilize if you have problems with concentration and focus. The meditational practice creates a moment where you're staying in the present, and this means that you're more alert to your surroundings and your feelings. You can translate that into everyday life and utilize the techniques and tools from meditation to allow you to be less distracted throughout your day.

These are just three of the main benefits of including a meditational practice in your everyday routine. But the benefits also are proportional to the type of meditation you use and the time of day you choose. So before we start about the best time of day to meditate, let's look at some different types of meditation you can choose.

Types Of Meditation

There is a wide range of different types of meditations, several of which may be one that you should consider when looking to add a meditational practice into your daily routine. There are a lot of benefits that come with each of them, and you can actually utilize multiple of them if you want to find more than one time to meditate throughout the day. So here are a couple of the types of meditation that we suggest you take a look at:

Loving Kindness

This type of meditation really focuses on the compassion aspect of many spiritual practices. This is a type of meditation that uses affirmations and positive intentions to help release yourself from stress and focus you on positive goals and moving forward. So you can do this in any many different ways, the best way is to find a comfortable place to sit and close your eyes. Then focus on your breathing and really think positive thoughts about yourself and what you want to see happen in the world.

Once you have thought about yourself, then you can extend that out to the people around you and the world itself. This type of meditation creates empathy and sympathy for yourself and others that allows for the removal of judgment and allows you to find a happier and healthier life. This type of meditation though can be done anywhere and it is best suited if you are sitting, or you can be still and really focus on the positivity in and around you.

Mindfulness

Mindful meditation is a practice that is focused on being present in the moment. The good thing about this type of meditation is it's easy to fit into your schedule at any time of the day. This is because no matter if you're walking or brushing your teeth, you can actually be practicing mindfulness meditation. It is a challenging option though for many, as it takes practice to know when your thoughts wander and can bring them back to the present.

Though you can practice mindful meditation at any point in time during your day, most people choose to set aside time and really focus on breathing. This does mean oftentimes even with mindfulness meditation people opt to find a quiet place and sit in stillness. But as we said, as long as you can practice your breathing and focus your mind, you can execute mindfulness meditation at any time of the day and at any place.

Walking

Most meditations have you really focusing on breath work, but it's not the only way that meditation works. When you look at walking meditation, it's more about focusing on an individual activity as opposed to the breathwork. Most of the time when doing walking meditation, these meditations have you focused on each step as you walk. It's best when doing these walking meditations to find a place that has some nature in it to also take in a bit of the natural world. But it's not necessary.

With walking meditation, you're going to want to look at every movement of each foot. Noticing how each one feels and interacts with the world. Much like body scan meditation, this type of meditation allows you to create a better mind-body connection. That's because instead of focusing on the breath, you're focusing on physical sensations, which allow you to become more in tune with your body. You can utilize this type of meditation anytime during the day and you can do it anywhere.

Transcendental

Transcendental Meditation is very similar to loving kindness meditation except for instead of saying random positive thoughts, you choose a mantra or phrase that you continue to repeat over and over again during the entire meditation. The mantra or phrase that you are choosing will help you focus your thoughts on that particular thing as well as your breath. This is actually a good combination of both mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation.

This type of meditation concerning the other types of meditation is relatively new, as it gained a lot of momentum in the 60s during the free love era. Even with that, though, there are some benefits to utilizing it. Much like many of the other types of meditations we've discussed, though it is good to have a place to sit and be quiet, it's not necessary to have that when utilizing Transcendental Meditation. This means that no matter what time of day you can fit it in, you can manage to get it done so that you can gain the benefits of its skills and techniques.

Body Scan

Another form of meditation is body scan meditation. This is a focus on the release of tension within the muscles in the hopes that this will reduce stress and help relieve chronic pain. It's a simple process where you start at the bottom of your body, like with your feet, and gradually go up from those muscles to focus your mind. As you're doing this, you're going to breathe in deep and exhale, relaxing each body part as it goes. As it might be thought, you will go from your feet to your legs and up all the way to the top of your head.

This type of meditation is one of those types of meditation you can do it anytime during the day. This is especially good if you work in an office job where you don't have time to go out and about and are looking for a way to create a little meditational time for you. Because of its focus on relieving tension within the muscles, it is perfect for those that sit at desks all day and have to deal with the rigors of an office lifestyle.

Best Time for Meditation

Now that we've given you a few types of meditation that you can consider utilizing, let's really take a deep dive into what exactly the best time for meditation for your schedule is. Each time of the day that you can choose from brings with it its own benefits, so that's what we're going to take a look at below:

Morning

Meditating first thing in the morning is a great way to set a mood for the day. Oftentimes in the early morning hours, you haven't started to accumulate that stress and anxiety that you do throughout the day, and this makes it very easy to saturate intentions for the day and focus more on the positive things in your life.

Of course, many of us have work to do, so this type of meditation may mean that you have less time available to you. If that's the case then you're going to have to schedule carefully and utilize a type of meditation that is simple and quick.

After Work

Maybe one of the most stressful parts of your day is work. Whether you love it or hate it, there is a high amount of stress that comes with being successful. That means that taking time right after work might be a great time to fit in your meditation.

Not only will executing afterward get rid of the stress of the day, but it may improve the rest of your evening and interactions with your family. Taking time right after work to meditate will relax you, and that can help you stay away from other coping mechanisms that might not be so healthy.

Lunch

Every one of us that work a job in a company tends to get some sort of lunch break. Having a meditation practice that happens at midday can be very beneficial in distressing yourself and allowing you to recharge so that you have enough energy to continue through the day.

That being said, this one is a little more difficult because you have to manage to fit that meditation in along with a meal (assuming you eat during your lunch break). This is where mindfulness meditation might work very well because you can actually utilize it encompassing with mindfulness eating and have a more effective lunch break.

Whenever You Have Time

The truth is that if you can fit meditation into your schedule, no matter what time of day it is, it can be very beneficial. So whenever you're stressed and need to relax and can find the time to fit a quick meditation session into your schedule, we suggest you do it.

This of course might be easier with certain types of meditations than others. For instance, mindfulness meditation may be easier than walking meditation to fit into your schedule. So if you're going to utilize this time for your meditation, it's best to figure out a meditation that works well on the go.

Before Bed

Sleep can be very elusive to people that are highly stressed. That's why meditation right before bed may be a great idea. Meditation at the end of your day allows you to remove stress and relax, but it also can allow you to practice gratitude for what you have and set yourself up for a successful day the next day.

By relaxing your body and mind, you're going to make it easier to fall asleep and the quality of sleep you get is going to be tenfold better. This may well be the most beneficial time next to morning to find your way to a happy and healthy life.

Tips For Finding the Right Time For You

Finding the right time to meditate can be challenging, as we said above. But there are some things you can do to really find that right time that works for you and also serves to improve the results of including a meditation practice in your daily routines.

Here are a few tips that we think could really help you out:

Schedule

The best way to really fit in a meditational practice is to schedule it into your everyday life. Sure things may change from day to day occasionally, but on a whole, most of us run our lives on a basic schedule, and therefore it is much easier to schedule meditation than try to find time to fit it in whenever you can.

Disconnect

In order to really find the time you have to be able to remove yourself from the inundation of information we're given daily. This means you have to find time to disconnect. By finding that time to disconnect and scheduling it into your schedule, you'll be able to find the right time for you when it comes to meditation, as well as relieve your mind from the inundation of constant information being thrown at you.

Incorporate Friends & Family

Maybe one of the hardest things to do is figure out when to have a little time for yourself when you have family and friends constantly waiting for your time. If you have this happen, and you want to incorporate meditation, we suggest you try to include them in the process. It could be a great way to spend some quality time and allow for everybody to become relaxed and more in tune with each other and themselves.

If it's not something they want to do, that may be a way for them to give you the time you need for meditation since they got the offer and decided to turn it down. This may lead to them understanding that you have something scheduled and may decide to leave you to it.

Combine Yoga with Your Meditation

You can combine meditation with any type of physical activity. But if you're going to reap the benefits of the meditation practice, you may want to combine that with a consistent yoga practice. Both utilize core principles that are very similar and together can be a perfect way to create a more balanced Wellness when it comes to physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right time of day for meditation can be beneficial no matter what level of stress you are dealing with. By choosing the right type and executing a few of the tips above, we're sure that you'll be able to find the right time for you when it comes to your meditation practice and that will have you well on your way to finding yourself further down your wellness journey towards a wonderful life.