How many hours should you meditate?

[Davidus]

Is meditating an hour a day enough to make as much gains as Buddhist munks get?

[Ayla]

I think meditation isn't necessarily about the time, but about CONSISTENCY! 

Start with 5 minutes but do it every day no matter what. It will be easier to increase the time.

[Markus]

That's an interesting question. The short answer I would instantly want to give is "no". I'm sure Buddhist monks sit down to meditate for longer than an hour each day. Plus they keep meditating through doing everyday tasks like cooking, eating, the laundry, work in the garden. They essentially meditate 24/7.

On the other hand, you could "monasticize" your day just like they do. It's not at all only about how much you sit in formal practice, it's about how you bring the concentration, clarity and equanimity developed on the cushion to everyday doings. Unless you're preoccupied with an intellectual task that requires full CPU so to speak, you can keep meditating through walking, driving, eating, having conversations, using the bathroom, taking a shower, brushing the teeth, cleaning the house and so on. Plus you can take retreats every once in a while (10 days per year or 1 day per month) which will help raise your baseline awareness. You could even simply dedicate an entire day to meditating in your own home if you can't go to residential retreats.

It should certainly be possible to become deeply enlightened while having a "normal" life.

[Davidus]

14 minutes ago, Ayla said:

I think meditation isn't necessarily about the time, but about CONSISTENCY! 

Start with 5 minutes but do it every day no matter what. It will be easier to increase the time.

I can't agree with ya. I think that madidating 5 minutes a day is a waste of time. As Leo says, you should meditate at least 20 minutes a day if you wanna see results

[charlie cho]

Well.. Eckhart never meditated and got enlightened. And people in Zen monks who meditated for 30 years some don't get enlightened.

[Ashutosh]

30 min every single day if you know how to do.

[denselayman]

meditation is not same as making money...it simply is giving space for your mind to wander and eventually organise your thoughts and see life from different, viewpoint, rather than accumilating wisdom as it was bundles of cash....

[plantbased passion]

Time doesn't matter. Sometimes I'm able to get profound stillness and connection with source in 5 mins. Other days it take 30mins, just go with the flow

[Pallero]

4 hours ago, David said:

Is meditating an hour a day enough to make as much gains as Buddhist munks get?

I think it depends on what you want to gain. Peace of mind? Maybe. Bending spoons? Hardly.

If you want to live like a Buddhist monk, you can become one or live like one, I'm sure.

There are no shortcuts to the good stuff.

[jjer94]

"Is meditating an hour a day enough to make as much gains as Buddhist munks get?"

Just by the way you worded your question by using 'should,' stacked on top with this quote, I get the impression that you expect to get somewhere with meditation. That's a trap you may need to see through. Meditation is not about should's, it's about releasing control. Meditation is not about making gains, it's about making losses, returning to ground zero to what you really are. That's my take on it, at least. 

Your question becomes invalid when you really examine the assumptions you have about meditation. Meditate for however long you want. Meditation becomes very pleasurable when you put the least amount of effort in trying to focus and let yourself naturally focus. There's no need to do math as to how long you should meditate; there's no rules to it. Eventually, life itself will become your meditation when you relinquish your illusions of control, should's, and gains.

 

[exaviusx]

"Is meditating an hour a day enough to make as much gains as Buddhist munks get?"

From what i understand about meditation and from my own experience, finding the right meditation technique for you might actually be more important than for how long you do it. Also doing it consistantly is VERY important. I find myself missing on my meditation sometimes and the results of that are very noticable. But that's a bit of a long story.

 

Start small, then go big. that's my motto.

also, don't expect to be able to meditate for 2 hours every day in a matter of 2 months. I assume this might take you years.

cheers

[Czarkovsky]

17 hours ago, David said:

I can't agree with ya. I think that madidating 5 minutes a day is a waste of time. As Leo says, you should meditate at least 20 minutes a day if you wanna see results

In my opinion starting with 5 minutes is great to develop a habit. Later, when you don't need that much willpower to sit you can meditate for increased amount of time. Thats insight from my own experience, I tried to start with 20 minutes as Leo advised - that was impossible for me at the time. I decided to start Headspace program, then I slowly devoloped a habit of meditating and my concentration skills. Now, 4 months later I can sit for 20 minutes without guidance and I think that I will be able to add another 20 minutes everyday.

[marting]

I've been doing 20 mins daily for four months and happy with that. I used to do once a week a 1hr strong determination sitting but came to the conclusion that the most important thing is to do the 20 mins daily, consistently and fully focused. It's usually only after the first 10 mins that I'm able to get completely focused. 5 mins may be a starting point if you are struggling but you should really aim to get to 20 mins as soon as you can.

[Dhana Choko]

I am currently thinking about this. My personal experience is that meditation helps a lot and it can fast forward you on your way to realization. However I do have a feeling that there is something more I need to realize connected to meditation. Some part of me says that one should not need meditation (or anything) to connect. I think at some point one needs to let go of all tools, but for most people and for me as well, that time is not yet. I still want to go deeper into the subject and I feel like there is so much more to it.

[AngeArthur]

The more the better my friend. THe more you meditate, the more you get experience and the easier it getsto reach higher level of consciousness and "higher" realms.

The thing is consistency, you shouldn't start with 1h and then decrease as you move through your life. So to keep the momentum, you should start small if you are not sure to keep this up.

 

But definitely from where i stand, 5 min is really not enough. i will suggest 15 - 30 min.

Personnaly i do meditate about 45 min a day. And i really would like to do more, but i have some "obligations" in real life too. At least for now.

Edited February 8, 2016 by AngeArthur

[Sargon]

Inch by inch, life is a cinch. Yard by yard, it's very hard.

I think it's about what works for you and where you are on your journey. There are some who believe that meditation is not necessary for enlightenment. Indeed there appears to be several people who have managed it. Some people are naturally meditative and others are not. I know people who can't sit still for 30 seconds, let alone five minutes. If you are genuinely interested in meditating and find 20 minutes to be too long, start with five minutes; you'll need to start somewhere so anywhere is a good start as far as meditation is concerned. Deepak Chopra even suggested starting with 1 minute. If you enjoy it and are committed, you will likely find that you will be able to and want to go longer.

I personally really enjoy meditating. I started with 10 minutes. I found that really tough. Eventually I was able to increase the time. It took a long time, but I eventually got to 90 minutes. I have found the experience to be deeper and more satisfying the longer I meditate, so if you enjoy it, just think of what is possible the longer you go.

Good luck!

[veqsms]

ok from my perspective of view for beginners we can start for 5 minutes per day and after some months we can go until 20 which I think is enough 

 

also I wonder if all benifits of meditation are correctly in this website : http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/ ?   

because it says that medatation boost your self-esteem. is that true?

 

 

[Guest]

On 2016/2/7 at 11:56 PM, charlie cho said:

Well.. Eckhart never meditated and got enlightened. And people in Zen monks who meditated for 30 years some don't get enlightened.

Eckhart did meditate actually. I don't know where you got your information from.. It's only when I came to this forum that I ever heard of anyone achieving enlightenment without meditation. Not saying it isn't possible, but there has to be a reason why meditation is a more widely-used technique than reading a logical argument that you don't exist.

[HGGabrielF]

@David :) Hello,it doesnt matter how long you sit down and meditate.What matters is how counscious you are about everything around you while you are sitting.I meditate 10 minutes a day and i try to be very councious about everything,even something awful happens,i try to be counscious about every sound,feeling,everything.

 

So what really matters is how councious you really are,even if your mum comes in your room,be counscious.I hope i helped you a little bit.I tried to explain how well i could.(I am not English) By the way dont think just be.

[Davidus]

@HGGabrielF  by the way don't think, just be - I love that quote!