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What is the best time to meditate?  Understanding the best time to do so will help you deepen your practice.  The following will be discussed: doing the practice in the morning, having a bigger window to do the practice during the day, and doing the practice in the evening before you sleep for you to better understand the best time to meditate.

You can do the practice first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.  Things can happen during the day that prevent us from doing the practice.  If you knock the practice off first thing in the morning you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.  Even if you run out of time at the end of the day you have already done the practice.  Don’t try to do meditation at a specific time.  This will create unnecessary frustration.  Do it as a sequence of activities.  Anytime you wake up use the restroom and then do the practice.  

It helps to have a bigger window of time to do meditation just in case.  You can do the practice anytime during the day if you miss or can’t do your practice first thing in the morning.  You should still plan to do the practice first thing, but occasionally things might happen that will prevent you from doing so.  If you plan each of your activities during the day you will be able to move stuff around and make time for doing the practice.  You will better be able to see how much time is spent on unnecessary things like tv, social media, and so on.  Then you can allocate that time into doing the practice.   

You can also meditate last thing in the day.   It is recommended to do the practice first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening.  Things get busy during the day.  The morning and evening are the times you can do so with less distractions.  Also, your mind can go into a higher state of consciousness because you are just waking up or falling asleep.  Your brain waves are slower.  You want to do the practice in a sitting position, so you don’t fall asleep.  Also, set your alarm so you know when you are done.  You can also do so in a lying position without setting your alarm to help you fall asleep. 

Now that the following has been discussed: doing the practice in the morning, having a bigger window to do so during the day, and practicing in the evening before you sleep you are able to understand better the best time to meditate.  It is usually a good idea to do the practice first things in the morning to get it out of the way.  Then you can focus on other things throughout the day.  Allow for a bigger window to do so throughout the day.  Rearrange your schedule and do the practice during the day if you must do so.  It is a great way to end your day.  It can also be part of a ritual that will help you fall asleep.  Next time you want to do the practice you know how to figure out the best time. 

Meditating everyday for the rest of your life can be challenging.   Sometimes you just do not feel like doing the practice.  Having ways of motivating yourself can make it easier for you to meditate.   The following are some ways that will help keep you motivated to do so:

Focus on getting started.  Do not worry about the entire session.  Once you get going it will be easier to keep going.  The neurons in your brain responsible for meditating will get fired up. 

Reward yourself by learning something interesting about meditation every day.  This will make your meditation more fun.  When it is more fun it becomes easier to do. 

Do not look for results or try to be perfect.  The more you look for results or try to be perfect the more you push it away.  Let things unfold in a natural way. 

Focus on your strengths.  Ask yourself what part of your meditation is going well, and you can do more of it.  You will get better at meditating.

Learn meditation teaching.  If you are not just doing meditation for the experience, but also to improve your life you will be more motivated to do it.

See meditating as an investment not a sacrifice.   Do not look at the fact that you are spending your time and energy meditating.  Look at all the things it is enabling you to do.  It is helping you have more blissful and stress free days.

Be with the pain unconditionally.  If you do not accept the pain, you will give up or be more stressed.  What you fear or focus on is made more manifest. 

Do not limit yourself to one percent of meditation.  There is a whole world you can play around and have fun with.  Ask yourself what you feel like doing today and do it. 

For better results mix faith and positive emotions with your meditation.  Whatever you send out into the universe you receive.  Do creative visualization, and affirmations.  With faith and positive emotions you will have better memory, focus, energy, and motivation. 

If you do not have time or get distracted easily, schedule the time the night before.  If you are behind in other things still meditate.  It is okay to complete your to do list the next day after you meditate.    

Remind yourself the reason why you are meditating.  It is the only time you connect to your soul, be more loving and grateful, let go of control, and merge with the one.  It is a blissful experience.  It has many benefits including stress and pain relief.  Also, it ripples to other areas of your life.  If you don’t meditate you will miss it. 

Use pain and suffering to support meditation.  It is not hard to make meditation a habit.  Once you experience higher states of consciousness and you do not experience it anymore you will seek it. 

Look at expert work for inspiration.  It is where you could be tomorrow.  Do not compare yourself today to expert Buddhist monks.  Compare yourself to where you were yesterday.

If you cannot meditate no matter what you do it is probably because you are depressed.  Try this trick.  Sometimes you will not feel like focusing on any activities.  This can happen sometimes.  Trying to fight it will make things worse.  Things that you found rewarding are no longer rewarding because you need a cue to trigger motivation for reward.  You cannot keep rewarding yourself with activities all the time.  If this happens during the time you are supposed to meditate and you cannot get yourself to do so no matter what you try have down time, lie down, and listen to a positive podcast.  You can resume your activities later.

Mix faith and positive emotions with your meditation.  The human mind does not want to engage in an activity that is uncertain.  If you view it as fun and fulfilling it becomes just that.  Do not worry about the other things that are going on in your life.  Faith and positive emotions that worked for your meditation will work in other areas.  

Now that some ways for you to motivate yourself to meditate have been discussed, it will make your meditation journey a whole lot easier.  You can use some of the techniques discussed, and even add to the list.  Next time you need a little motivation to meditate you know what to do.  

You can do breath awareness meditation while lying down, sitting down, or standing.  Sitting down is the standard meditation position, but you might find it better to lay down, so you are not distracted too much by painful physical sensations.  Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes.  It is not necessary for the place to be completely quiet.  Sound is part of the meditation.  It does not have to be dark either.  It does not matter because you will be closing your eyes.  Get an alarm clock to time yourself.  When you are starting out as a new meditator do not meditate for too long.  Pick a time that you know will be easier and more automatic.  Slowly increase the time as it become more automatic for you.  The instructions to meditate are as the following:

1. Get into your meditation position.  Keep your back straight.  Relax your body.  Allow your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth and your eyes to roll up slightly. 
2. Start breathing in and out through your nostrils.  Do not time your breath.  Just breathe naturally.  Focus on each breath as you breathe.  Observe the inhale, bridge, exhale, and bridge.  Feel the air coming into your nostrils and out of your nostrils. 
3. You are going to get distracted by physical sensations, thoughts, and sounds.  It is okay.  The distractions are part of your meditation.  When you realize you have been distracted and are no longer focusing on your breath gently bring your attention back to your breath.
4. You are going to shift back and forth between thoughts and the breath.  In the place where there are no thoughts is called the gab.  You are not going to know that you are there when you are there.  It is only when you come back to a thought you know you were there.
5. Do not try to control the outcome of the meditation.  You are not trying to accomplish anything and nothing as to happen during your meditation.   Just relax and surrender to whatever unfolds.  Do not worry about perfecting your meditation.  The only wrong meditation is the one that you do not do. 
6. It is our natural state to be happy.  Meditation helps you be in that happy place.  You experience your true self without the ego. You experience unbounded unconditional love.    
7. Keep practicing the meditation for the duration of your meditation session.  You want to be comfortable.  If you need to scratch your nose do so.  If you want to open your eyes to see how much time you have left on the clock do so. 

If you miss a day of meditation, do not worry.  Just pick up the next day.  You are still going to get accumulative results of the meditation.   Over time as you do the meditation, you will begin to have less stressful days.  Meditation builds grey matter in the brain that serves as an insulator against emotional shock.  Experiment with your meditation.  Expand on what you are previously doing or what you know about meditation to stay motivated. 

There are many benefits to breathing.  One of the benefits to conscious breathing is that it can be used to help us to be calmer and more relaxed under stressful situations.  We can maintain a meditative state not just during a meditation session, but other times of the day. You are not going to practice conscious breath all day, every day, for the rest of your life. It is unrealistic, but it can be used as one of many tools to support your meditation journey. To understand how to practice conscious breathing all day the following will be discussed:

The process of conscious breathing all day.

Situations when to practice conscious breathing and when not to.

16 second breaths.

The process of conscious breathing all day.

Start by paying attention to the inhaling and exhaling of air through your nose gently as you are doing an activity. Do not get frustrated by thoughts distracting you.  It is part of the process.  When you get distracted gently bring your attention back to your breath. In some situations, an activity demands your full attention, but when things clear up you can continue your conscious breathing. You can also repeat a phrase in your mind or count to ten in certain situations when you find it easier.

Situations when to practice conscious breathing and when not to.

There are situations where you need to be unconscious of your breath because you need your conscious mind to think for long periods of time.  When something demands your full attention, take a break. Continue when things clear up. You might not want to perform this action if you are giving a speech, driving a car, or any situation where you need to pay full attention.  Your conscious mind cannot focus on two things at once.  You can repeat a special phrase that will help you focus while relieving boredom and stress. It can help in rush hour traffic, and public bathrooms. The practice of continual breath awareness is perfect for drinking, eating, walking, watching television, waiting for someone, being a passenger in a car, and so on.  

16 second breaths

You can practice 16 second breaths anytime you are in a stressful situation that is causing you to panic and want to relax.  Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and repeat the process as you need.  16 second breaths not only solve panic attacks but also the fear of one because you know what to do in the situation.  It should not be used as a replacement for your breath awareness meditation practice, but to complement it. The breath meditation makes you calmer and more relaxed throughout the day.  When you are calm and relaxed you automatically breathe more properly. You can also try counting backwards from ten or repeat a phrase in your head that will help you focus on solving the problem while staying calm and relaxed. 

Now that the following has been discussed: the process of conscious breathing all day, situations when to practice conscious breathing and when not to, and 16 second breaths you understand how to do these things better.  Become aware of inhaling and exhaling air through your nose while in activity.  If you get distracted, bring your attention back to your breath.  Do not do this practice when something demands your full attention. When things clear up again then you can continue. 

Breath awareness meditation involves focusing on your breath.  This part of the process can be sometimes over thought.  In order to understand better how to do this type of action the following will be discussed:

The myth behind doing this mindfulness practice correctly.

A simple strategy for doing the type of action.

What to expect and what not to expect when doing this practice. 

The myth behind doing this mindfulness practice correctly.

There is nothing mysterious about focusing on your breath during meditation.  The question makes it sound harder than it is.  Do not stress over too much of what is right or what is wrong.   It is as much an art as it is a science.   One of the methods that have been found to work will be discussed.  The method is easy.  Anyone can do this first time around.  

A simple strategy for doing the type of action.

When practicing breath awareness meditation, you do it with your back straight. You can do this practice while standing up, sitting, or lying down.  It is best to practice it while lying down.  Find a comfortable pillow to rest your head on.  Keep your arms and legs straight.  Close your eyes.  Allow your eyes to slightly role back and your tongue rest against the roof of your mouth.  Inhale and exhale through you nose.  Become aware of inhaling and exhaling air.  Feel the air coming in and out of your nostrils.  You can focus on your stomach if you prefer.   Follow your action as you inhale, exhale, and then again.  Also, observe the bridge between each inhale and exhale.   Observe the inhale, observe the bridge, observe the exhale, observe the bridge, and repeat. 

What to expect and what not to expect when doing this practice. 

You are going to get distracted from focusing on your breath and say it is not working.  It is working.  Thoughts, physical sensations, and noise are all part of your meditation.  Paying attention to your inhaling and exhaling of air makes you more aware of thoughts, physical sensation, and noise.  The more you try to pay attention, the more you are going to be distracted.  Even expert Buddhist monks get distracted sometimes.  Anytime you catch yourself drifting away from inhaling and exhaling air gently bring your attention back to it.  Continue this process for the duration of your practice session.  It is important you do not strain too much.  If you are more comfortable with a daily practice, the more likely you are to continue for the long term. 

Now that having assurance of properly paying attention to your breath during meditation, a simple strategy for focusing on the inhale and exhale of air, and what to expect when you are pay attention to it has been discussed, you understand better how to pay attention to the inhaling and exhaling of air through your nose during this practice.  Do not stress to much over a wrong or right way of doing things.   It is as much an art as it is a science.  One of the ways is you inhale, observe the inhale, observe the bridge, exhale, observe the exhale, observe the bridge, and repeat the process till you are done with your practice session.  You are going to get distracted by thoughts, physical sensations, and noise.  It is part of your practice.  Just gently bring you attention back to the inhaling and exhaling of air through your nose.      

Breath is a huge part of meditation.  There are many different types of practices but focusing on inhaling and exhaling air is the main practice.  Everyone other type of practice is done complementary to it.  You should understand what the inhaling and exhaling air practice is.   This is what you will be using most of the time.  In order to understand this type of practice the following will be discussed:

The meaning of awareness in the practice.

The object of focus for this type of practice.

What focusing on it helps you do.

The meaning of awareness in the practice.

Meditation is awareness, vice versa.  The mind is always wandering.  It is either thinking about the past or the future.  What am I going to eat for dinner?  I need to the groceries store to get more water.  How can I improve myself?  When am I going to do house chores? And so on.  When you are thinking of the past and the future you are not thinking of the present moment. You are unconscious.  Thousands of thoughts are flashing through your head, and you do not notice the thoughts.  You have a reaction, and you do not know the cause.  Repeatedly focusing on your breathing and turning it into a daily practice helps you be more conscious.

The object of focus for this type of practice.

In meditation you focus on an object repeatedly to help keep your mind from wandering.  You focus on the object of focus and when you find your mind wandering again you gently bring your focus back to it.  It keeps you from thinking about the past and future.  It grounds you in the present.  The object of focus could be any object, herbs, sound, mantra, affirmations, yoga poses, visual objects, breath, and so on.   In this type of practice, the object of focus is the air you take in and out of your nostrils.  That is where your awareness goes.  As mentioned before, it is the object of focus you should be using most of the time.  Other objects of focus should be complementary.  You focus on this type of action, inhaling and exhaling air through your nose, repeatedly. 

What focusing on it helps you do.

Breath awareness meditation helps you transcend your body, environment, and time.  You are more of your Self and less off yourself.  It is our natural state to be happy.  You are not missing the good old days or dreading something in the future.  You are in the blissful present moment.  You are more elevated emotionally, and you can bring that into the rest of your day.  Also, you are better able to observe your thoughts, feeling, and emotions.  You will see how your thought affect your feeling and emotions and how your feeling and emotions affect your thoughts.  This helps you to be more proactive and less reactive.  You will be able to observe a situation without letting it automatically control you.   You will no longer be quick to act to negative situations.  You will be able to choose a different reaction that is more intuitive. 

Now that the meaning of the state of conscious in the devotional exercise, the object of focus for the breath practice, and what the it helps you do have been discussed, you are able to better understand the practice.  Meditation in this practice is awareness, vice versa.  The object of focus you will be using in this practice is inhaling and exhaling air.  Repeating this action helps slow down and eventually stop thought. This type of practice helps you be more of your Self and less of yourself.  We experience our natural state.  It is our natural state to be happy.  We are less reactive to negative situations. 

You do not have to be an expert meditator to enjoy calm and relaxation under the most stressful situations.  We cannot meditate when we are in a stressful situation, but there is a trick we can use to put us in a calm and relaxed state.  For you to do the trick the following will be discussed:  

How the body gets out of homeostasis under stressful situations.

Common situations where 16 second breaths can return us to homeostasis.

How to practice this type of breathing.

How the body gets out of homeostasis under stressful situations.

The body responds to a perceived threat by preparing for fight or flight.  The threat can be real or imagined.  90 percent of our problems are imagined.  Only 10 percent are real.  The subconscious mind does not know the difference between the problems that are real or imagined.  The autonomic nervous system will be alerted either way.  The heart and breath speeds up.  The heart pumps blood to the legs and arms to prepare the body for fight or flight.  The blood gets stickier in case it needs to heal a cut.  The adrenal glands get activated and you get an energy high in case you need energy to defend yourself.   Intelligence decreases.  It is not a time to think, but act fast. 

Common situations where 16 second breaths can return us to homeostasis.

You might be working and a problem arises you do not know how to deal with.  You could be having a negative thought from the past that really gets to you.  You can be talking to someone strongly opinionated and defensive.  You can be around someone and they are destructively criticizing you.  16 second breaths help you deal with the flight or fight response to these things.  You are no longer activating the hormones of stress and can return to homeostasis.  When you are in homeostasis your nervous system is calmer, relaxed, and the body can focus on growth and repair.  The body has more energy to protect itself from internal threat like bacteria, viruses and toxins, and you can respond to external threats more intuitively.  You also have more energy to create. 

How to practice 16 second breaths.

16 second breaths are straight forward.  To do this practice, breath in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breath out for fours seconds, and hold for four seconds.  Repeat this process as needed.  Anytime you are feeling uneasy from being in a stressful situation you can do this type of breathing.  You can do this anywhere at any time. 

We now know how the body reacts to threatening situations real or imagined, situations where 16 second breaths help, and how to practice it.  We can bring calm and relaxation into our work or the rest of our day.   The body prepares us for fight or flight in response to a stressful situation.  It can be from a thought or an external threat.   The threat causes the body to be out of balance.  The autonomic nervous systems, and adrenal glands are alerted to fight or flee, and intelligence decreases.  It is not a time to fight off internal threats like viruses, bacteria, and disease.  It is also not a time to think or be creative.   Threats can happen with our thoughts, at work, or when we are around negative people.  16 second breaths return us to a state of rest.  It is straight forward.  To do this practice, breath in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breath out for four seconds, and hold for four seconds.  Repeat the process as needed.  Next time you are faced with or anticipating being faced with a stressful situation you have nothing to fear.  You can practice this type of breathing. 

There is a a big concern for beginner meditators. It is unwanted thoughts. What should you do if you have many thoughts during meditation? Handling it the wrong way will sabotage your meditation, there is a way you should handle it, and a reason behind the way. This will be explained in detail. I am not an expert on meditation, but I am sharing what I have learned during my study on meditation from experts, and it might benefit you.

The number one mistake in meditation is trying to stop all thoughts. Some beginner meditators have many thoughts during meditation. After several weeks of trying to stop the thoughts they are unsuccessful. They think they failed at meditation. The beginner meditators gets discouraged and stop their meditation practice.

Realize that you aren’t supposed to get rid of all your thoughts. The more you try to get rid of your thought during meditation the more it persists. Even expert Buddhist monks who have been meditating their entire lives have this problem. It is normal. Thoughts shouldn’t be seen as a failed meditation.

Thoughts are a part of meditation. You need a comparison point to know the moments your mind is still, known as the gab. You will drift back and forth between the gab and thought. You aren’t just meditating when your mind is in the gab. The moment you stop your thoughts, the moment you realize you are thinking, and the moment you bring your attention back to the object of your focus is all part of your meditation.

Now that I have explained in detail the answer to the question, “What should you do if you have so many thoughts during meditation?” how handing it the wrong way will sabotage your meditation, the way you should handle it, and the reason behind it you know what to do. Trying to stop your thoughts completely will sabotage your meditation. The more you resist thought the more it persists. The goal isn’t to try and stop the thoughts, but treat it like part of your meditation as a comparison point to know when you experience moments of stillness. Remember this when next you meditate or when you begin a meditation practice.