How to Fit Meditation Into Your Day

Here’s how I squeezed meditation into my busy schedule.

Whenever we hear the term “meditation,” a picture of Yogi or a saint comes to our mind. Owing to this perception, we believe that meditation means prolonged hours of sitting in an upright position. We get intimidated and scared by this momentous commitment required and so lose interest in meditation.

This lack of interest in meditation is because of a mild confusion between meditation and yoga.

Meditation is not Yoga.

Most of us confuse between these terms and use them interchangeably. But they are different. We can tell it from the Cambridge dictionary meaning:

Meditation: The act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed.

Yoga: A set of physical and mental exercises, originally from India, intended to give control over the body and mind.

Even if we live by these definitions, most of our myths about meditation would be busted. Meditation is a mental activity, while Yoga is a physical one.

Meditation is “a thing to be,” while Yoga is “a thing to do.”

Not understanding these concepts correctly intimidates us to meditate. We feel that we don’t have that time or commitment to meditate. I, too, was confused between these two terms for a significant part of my life. And so never felt like meditating.

So, I experimented with meditative techniques, and I discovered an easy fix to squeeze meditation into my busy schedule.

These simple and effortless ways will help you meditate without having to make time for it. But before that, let’s understand the true meaning of meditation so that we feel the need to prioritize it in our busy schedules.

What does Meditation Mean

Today, there’s a lot of background noise in our lives. Our passions, desires, and goals deafen our minds that we can’t think any better. As a result, we all are experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression at some level or the other. This is why meditation is so inevitable, no matter if you’re a spiritual person or not. Problems and illnesses don’t knock on your door depending upon your faith.

Meditation is a tool to experience our true selves. By true self, I mean peace, love, happiness, joy, bliss, purity, and power—these seven qualities or virtues are our true nature. You might not accept what I am selling. You might not believe that these seven virtues form our identity.

Let me start with a simple question.

How does anger, irritation, greed, ego make you or everyone around you feel?

Not good, right!

No one wants to be around a person who is greedy or furious. But everyone likes being peaceful and loved. Why?

Because those qualities are our true nature, we long to get back to it whenever we shift from our true nature. Chaos makes us want peace; hate makes us crave love….Whenever we’re not at home, we desire to be at home. We want that comfort—that warmth.

So, meditation helps us experience that solace that lies within us— peace, joy, and love.

Meditation is an inward journey of self-discovery. When the mind is rested from time to time, it checks the quality of thoughts. When there’s a lot of push and pull from our negative thinking, overthinking, waste thinking, meditation allows the mind to pause and restore its prowess. Meditation empowers the mind. And if the mind is powerful, we feel energetic; if not, we feel stressed and sluggish.

Meditation allows the mind to disconnect from the external world's hustle and bustle to look within what lies inside. If something isn’t right, we can correct it. If something’s disturbing us, we can address that issue.

“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” — Wayne Dyer

So, meditation allows us to make things right at the thought level. Sometimes, our life situations won’t change at the physical level but changing the mindset makes us feel like a winner.

If you have agreed to meditate, let’s proceed further with my easy fix. Sitting meditation has its benefits, but for starters, these techniques would work equally better.

I have tried and tested all the below-mentioned meditation formulas, and I am sure that you’ll be empowered to do it without making any additional effort.

All you’ll need is some awareness and practice, and with time, you’ll be able to meditate effortlessly and organically.

1. Mind Your Steps While Walking

Walking is not only an activity but an essential act for us to navigate from one place to the other. According to an online study, an average human walks around 7500 steps, equivalent to 5.72 km. And it takes us approximately 45 minutes to cover that distance.

So, I thought, why not use these 45 minutes for some meditative activity.

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.” ~ Nhat Hanh

I started to concentrate on my breathing as I walked. Initially, I began to take mindful steps from my bedroom to the kitchen and then slowly extended it to my workplace.

I began to experience peace. Insults, unsolicited advice, and others’ weaknesses no longer bothered me because my mind resisted these turbulences through this meditative technique.

I am now so used to this technique that I don't feel the need for sitting meditation.

2. Count Your Breaths While Doing Chores

When I started meditation while walking, I began to see miraculous results in my mental energy. I felt refreshed and charged almost all day.

So, I thought of incorporating it into my daily chores. I began to count my breaths while doing household chores. When we start seeing results, we want to go an extra step further — this is the best thing about any activity, spiritual or otherwise.

I started with those chores that hardly needed my conscious mind to work. My experiment began with brushing, cleaning, doing dishes, doing laundry, etc. I focused all of my attention on counting my breaths as I performed these chores.

Amit Ray, an Indian author and spiritual master shares in his book, “Beautify your Breath — Beautify your Life.”

“Meditation is to understand that one breath, which connects all beings.”

My mental energy and productivity began to shoot without making any extra efforts.

3. Meditate Unconsciously While Working

In India, my house sat in front of a temple. The only sounds that I could hear from my surroundings were “Aum chanting, Vedic chants, Kirtans, and hymns.” So, I am used to working/living with background noise.

When I grew up and started living alone, I felt something was missing in my life. So I began to follow the same regime. Whether at home or work, I played the Aum chanting in the background. This conscious effort to play some chants while working made me meditate unconsciously.

A research study published at the National Institutes of Health states that the Aum chanting soothes and stimulates the vagus nerve, responsible for our stress.

I could feel the difference in myself. My mind would become quieter and more stable on the days when I listened to those chants.

So, playing the Aum chanting in the background has become a daily effortless meditative practice for me. It has become an essential part of my life as food.

Note: If you’re not used to listening to background music, you might encounter some trouble. But with time, your mind will start relaxing without making any additional effort.

4. Spiritualize Your Eating/ Drinking

Eating and drinking leave us plenty of room to squeeze our meditation.

What if I tell you that meditative eating and drinking can change your lives forever.

According to spirituality, all foods have vibrations. Science also backs this fact by proving that energy is stored in the form of pulsations. It’s simple physics that we all failed to notice and use to our advantage.

In 1994, Dr. Masaru Emoto experimented with water to test out a hypothesis about how positive and negative energies affect our environment. He froze bottled water and studied the molecules under a microscope. What he saw were shapeless molecules. Subsequently, he froze other water bottles and labeled them with key phrases: ‘Love and thanks,’ ‘I hate you. You make me sick,’ ‘Joy,’ ‘You fool,’ and purportedly the most powerful of them all — ‘Gratitude.’

The images posted by Dr. Emoto on his website show what the water labeled with positive words formed beautiful crystals, whereas those with negative comments crystallized in a haphazard form.

So, affirming the food/water with positive thoughts creates a significant impact on our body since our body consists of up to 60% water.

This mindful eating technique has become a habit for me. I don’t consume my food or drink watching television, or listening to a radio/podcast. I hardly talk when I am eating.

The next time you can’t stop thinking negatively, try this technique for 21 days. I am sure you’ll see a change in yourselves. You’ll feel much lighter and powerful.

If you have any other “ways of meditation,” share that spiritual secret with us!

Tagging some of the wisest spiritual minds to participate in Spiritual Secrets’ weekly prompt.

Priyanka Srivastava Bernadette DeCarlo Chris Carter Ravyne Hawke Pretheesh Presannan Paul Mulliner Gurpreet Dhariwal Patrick Paul Garlinger 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊. Lanu Pitan Roxana Anton Kevin Doberstein Shreya Badonia Indubala Kachhawa Ramandeep Singh (नूर) Ruchi Thalwal Ana-Maria Schweitzeria A J.D. Ranade Manasi Diwakar Vishnu*s Virtues Rhonda Skinner Alan Lew Kendra Lavelle Abhay Srivastav Claire Elaine Vanessa Ozigbo Suryatapa Varun Jain Shirley Willett Julene Cole Sharon Brandon (Readywriter59) Ivette Cruz Afiyah The Poet J.D. Ranade Isha Tewari Srivastava Elies Hadi Michelle Berry Lane Julene Cole Beth Stormont Jamie Golob Judy J Lutz Chelsea London Christina Meier Ph.D. Vedanth Maheshwari Kimberly Fosu Tima Loku Jasmine Soumana Artemis Inks Amy Jasek Warren Bischoff Khyati Jain Vishié Ricky Lyman Chelsea Cristoffor Uday_neutron Wolfie Bain Johannes Mudi Avis J. Williams Pene Hodge Wonder Compass: Mindful Journeys of Art & Nature Keith Hill John Green Aaron Quist Anya Light I. Trudie Palmer Emily Jennings LS Laura Culberg John C Davis K. Barrett.