Buzz
If your meditation routine has simply become another task to tick off your to-do list—or if you’ve tried meditating but haven’t experienced the sense of calm you anticipated—it may be time to reevaluate how you approach mindfulness.
Making meditation a regular practice offers numerous benefits. But if your mind isn’t in the right place when you start—whether you’re laying out your yoga mat, settling on your couch, or opening apps like Calm or Headspace—you won’t unlock its full potential.
In other words, it might be necessary to learn how to unwind before diving into meditation. And yes, I understand that can be challenging (especially at this moment).
Matt Jancer at Wired recommends designating a specific meditation area to help foster the right mindset for mindfulness. This might prove challenging, particularly if you’ve already set aside areas of your home as a workspace or a classroom for your kids. (By the way, you did follow our advice to use literal masking tape, didn’t you?)
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still craft a special meditation environment, even in a multi-purpose space. Jancer suggests lighting a candle before beginning your meditation, or enjoying a cup of tea. The key is to light the same candle each time (especially if it’s scented, as it will help link the aroma to mindfulness and relaxation) and to sip the same tea each time.
You can also shift your mindset by changing into different clothes, whether it’s swapping from regular clothes to pajamas or just changing into your meditation-only stretchy pants. These small rituals, like the sensation of soft fabric on your skin, the warmth and flavor of your tea, the soothing scent of your candle, and the gentle flicker of its flame, all signal to your body that it’s time to unwind.
(Already feeling a bit more at ease, right?)
When it comes to meditation, you can’t approach it with the mindset of, 'Okay, I need to start this app right now or I won’t get to sleep on time and I’ll be exhausted tomorrow, then there’s that Zoom meeting, the kids need to identify five types of flowers for school, and I can’t wait for this school year to end, but I don’t even know what I’ll do with them all day, though, honestly, no one has a clue right now, so I’m just going to push play on this meditation and get it over with.'
(Apologies for interrupting that moment of relaxation we were building together.)
Meditation, like many valuable practices, requires more time than you might expect. Mindfulness isn’t something you can simply switch on whenever it fits into your schedule. You need to approach it ready to fully engage with the process—and incorporating preparation into that process will make your meditation routine both more soothing and more impactful.
True, many guided meditation videos and apps begin by helping you ease into a more mindful state. The creators understand that most of us don’t arrive at meditation in the relaxed state we ideally should be.
But if you take extra care to make your meditation practice stand apart from everything else on your to-do list, you might be surprised by how your practice deepens and evolves—and you may discover new ways to maintain that sense of calm, focus, and clarity in your everyday life.
