When I first came across the idea of “Minute Meditation” I shook my head and laughed to myself thinking, “Why would anyone want to meditate for only a minute? It’s such a great experience and it deserves so much more time than that!”
I pondered this notion a bit more then thought, “Typical fast-paced modern world leaving us no time for ourselves. No wonder people want all the benefits of something great in less time.”
It’s true that our society has conditioned us to want more for less, even as it regards to our time. We’re all trying to get the most benefits out of one thing or another with the least financial commitment or in this case, time commitment. So I guess it makes sense that people are looking for short, quick and to the point meditations.
I decided to give minute meditations a try to find out for myself if this is something worth while or simply another so-called quick fix for life. I’m pleased (yet still a bit surprised!) to report that I enjoyed the one minute meditations I found online. They were relaxing, soothing and acted as a good pattern interrupt when my day was needing a change of pace or direction.
Now did it feel like I was actually meditating? Not really because I’m used to taking more time to myself throughout the day to meditate, typically two 15 minute meditation sessions/day, so it’s understandable that a one minute meditation seemed a bit short for me.
What I liked about the one minute audio tracks I listened to is that they served as great relaxers to get me ready for my meditation practice. I also think they’re great for people who have difficulties making time for themselves because of their busy, hectic schedules. No one can argue that they don’t have at least one minute of extra time in their day to dedicate to them self!
The site I found and really enjoyed is called Just-A-Minute (or JAM) and they encourage you to have multiple 1 minute meditation sessions throughout your day. I think this is a great way to give yourself that much needed break you deserve and I also think it’s a great way to learn more about meditating. Check the site out here if you’re interested in learning more: http://www.just-a-minute.org/
My hope for you is that if you start off having only 1 minute a day for yourself, that this will change as you begin to notice how taking one minute for yourself drastically improves your day! Then you’ll be motivated to take 10 or 15 minutes to yourself and develop your meditation practice into something that enhances every aspect of your life so much that you can’t live without it!
