One Minute Meditation - Learn To Meditate In Just One Minute

What Is A One Minute Meditation?

A one minute meditation is a great way to start meditating when you have never done it before, especially when meditation intimidates you. While meditative practices are becoming more and more popular in the Western world, there are still many people who simply don't meditate because they have the wrong idea about this practice.

It's usually two things happening: they either believe that to truly gain benefits of meditation they need to practice relentlessly for years as a Buddhist monk somewhere in the Tibet mountains, or that they need to buy expensive courses (or get to an expensive meditation retreat) to reap the rewards of enjoying meditation.

While both of these are certainly possible,

for the average person living stressfully in their daily lives, daily meditations with the one minute meditation exercises, are a great way to learn how to calm the mind, relax and de-stress at the same time, while achieving inner peace.

And afterall, these are the most urgent benefits that anyone leading a busy life wants to gain from these easy meditation techniques.

Btw, there is nothing religious about one-minute meditations. There is just a feeling of gratitude for the experience of relieving tension from the body and mind at the end.

The one minute meditations are also a great way to enter further, deeper meditative states, if you choose to go that route using this meditation for beginners. I have used such meditations several times to simply lead me to a deeper subconscious level before starting a more serious meditation exercise.

Goals Of One Minute Meditation

• The goals of daily meditations such as the one minute meditation are to - first of all - relieve stress. This is something that we all have to deal with in our busy and crowded life, so simply taking one minute to relax is much simpler and easier than sitting for 20-30 minutes in a quiet place every day. Afterall we do have one minute time to set aside, but half an hour is more difficult to achieve.
• In addition, this meditation technique allows one to learn how to properly relax fast through meditation. The state of relaxation is no longer natural to us. We are all wound up, in a constant state of nervousness. It is as if we all forgot HOW to relax. It no longer comes easy to us. Even when we try to relax, we are bombarded with daily thoughts, worries and issues that we need to still do before the day ends. These nagging thoughts simply stop our body and mind to properly relax.

This is why the one minute meditation is of such great benefit. It helps this relaxation fast, swiftly and with great success.

Why Does It Work?

One of the reasons why it works so well is because it is a simple exercise. People KNOW that it is only one minute that they take away from their time, so they get in complete agreement with the mind, which doesn't put up barriers for such a short time.

For merely a minute, the mind doesn't start with 'but I have no time', 'but I still have this and that to finish', 'but the boss is waiting for me'...It is afterall, only one minute.

And this is where its power comes from: through lowering the mind's resistance to the meditation itself and the time spend on it.

In addition, this meditation can be practiced more than once a day. While it is more difficult for a person to even spend 20 minutes in meditation (forget about meditating twice a day for 20 minutes!), everyone can take 2, 3 and 4 times a day one minute off for the purpose of relaxation and de-stressing.

Benefits Of One Minute Meditation

There are many benefits meditation can bring you. While sometimes goals and benefits of meditation are the same, there is a subtle difference. People set goals which they hope to achieve through meditation. Benefits, on the other hand, are more. They are not only the achievement of the meditation goals but they are also positive side-effects that it brings about.

• One of the goals of one minute meditation is to relieve stress. However one of the benefits of one minute meditation is higher productivity. By taking just one minute from the daily work routines, you re-charge your inner batteries, you become more energized and in turn, your work becomes more productive, your output grows.
• By practicing the one minute meditation a couple of times a day, you will greatly enhance the quality of your own life. You will become less stressed, which in turn will bring about a calmness of the mind.
• By being calmer and more focused you will also influence those around you.
  Have you noticed how calm and relaxed you tend to be around a person who exhibits the same traits naturally? And how fast you get tensed around an angry, nervous bundle of a person? It is the person's energy at work which reaches out to others.
  This is why you want to be calm, relaxed, oozing positive energy, so that you automatically also help others around you to become more like you.
• Another benefit that come with this moment meditation practice is the fact that the more you do it, the easier it will become for you to simply 'drop' in a meditative state any time you want to meditate. While others need serious minutes to let their mind's chit chatter go its merry way, you will simply forego this early state and be able to reach the alpha brain waves much faster.

How To Do The One Minute Meditation

There are many examples of one minute meditation instructions for stress management that I came across, however here is the one that I am actually practicing when I simply need 30 seconds - up to a minute of silence, of quiet, peace and stillness.

You can practice this meditation exercise anywhere and at any time. You don't need to have a specific meditation posture for it.

You can do it whether you are at home, at work or on the train heading towards your workplace, or even when hiking in the mountains.

The one-minute meditation simply done this way is extremely easy and whatever thoughts on meditation you might have, you should give this practice a try.

1. If you have a place to sit down, then do so, however it is not absolutely necessary.
2. Relax your body and let your hands either limp next to your body or on your lap, depending whether you are sitting or standing.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Take a few slow and deep breaths, in and out. Feel the breath entering every pore of your body and when exhaling, feel it leave completely.
5. While breathing in, count to 4. While breathing out, count to 4 as well.
6. Simply focus on your breathing, and nothing more, while counting at the inhale and exhale.
7. If your mind starts wandering, gently focus it back on your breathing.
8. Breath in and out while focusing on what you are doing for one minute.
9. When you are ready to stop, before opening your eyes, simply remember where you are and what you did just before starting the meditation. This will ground you back into the present moment.
10. Open your eyes and enjoy the calmness that this short meditation brought you. Now you are ready to resume your previous activities with a renewed energy.

This one minute meditation technique seems deceivingly simple, however don't let its simpleness fool you. The more you practice it, the longer time you will remain calm and relaxed, which in turn will help you keep your balance throughout the day so that when you enter a stressful situation, you will be much better equipped to handle it calmly and assured.