How Long Should You Meditate? Is Meditating Longer Harmful?

Meditation has been utilized for many years for peace and spiritual growth, but it is becoming more widely used in the present day. There are a number of benefits of meditating, like amplified mental and physical health, overall well being, discipline, enhanced attention, and easier to manage emotions. However, the question of how long should you meditate arises. Is it possible to meditate for too long, and is it bad?

We’ll provide the answers to these queries and delve deeper into the subject of meditation and how long you should practice it.

Try this 10-minute guided meditation to understand for how long you can comfortably meditate.

Now let’s get straight to answering the big question.

How Long Should You Meditate?

It is hard to specify an exact duration for meditation since it changes depending on multiple factors. The individual needs highly influence the time required for meditating. So, there isn’t a straightforward answer to how long should you meditate! But we can definitely find a baseline for it.

One’s aspirations, the meditation technique used, and personal preferences all need to be taken into account. Some people might find that shorter meditation sessions suit them better, while others might favor longer meditations.

The length of a healthy and effective meditation practice can be somewhere between 10 to 45 minutes a day. You can also have multiple sessions of meditation. You don’t need to sit and meditate for 30-45 minutes each day, all at once.

Why 45 minutes is recommended?

According to a 2015 article in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, research suggests that MBSR has a significant positive effect on stress, a moderate influence on anxiety, depression, distress, and quality of life, and a slight effect on burnout.

What is MBSR?

MBSR, or mindfulness-based stress reduction, is a mindfulness program. Created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, this evidence-based program is intended to be completed over the course of eight weeks, with 45 minute sessions each day. 

If you are learning how to meditate, it’s suggested to keep your sessions short to begin with. You can eventually expand the time as your practice progresses. A great place to start is 10-15 minutes each day. As you become more experienced and comfortable, you can incrementally raise the session to optimal length. 

We will also discuss how you can meditate for long periods of time in this article. These days it’s common for people to have short attention spans, so it’s also okay to start with 1-2 minutes of short sessions of meditation. Shorter sessions of meditation can also stretch up to five minutes, depending on how much time you have.

You can meditate as frequently as you want, you just need to keep two important thing in mind as a beginner, consistency and commitment.

What Happens if You Meditate Too Long?

This can go in two directions, growth and adverse effects. If you are meditating properly and you gradually increase the time, then you will be able to see growth and benefit. 

According to research daily meditation offers benefits such as reduce stress and anxiety, and enhance memory. Other than that, it can also help find deeper meaning in life. 

On the other hand, if you don’t know how to meditate and are not aware of the spiritual world, you may end up making things worse. 

Harmful things can happen, especially if you are meditating without proper guidance and with the wrong intentions. In the long run, it can be damaging because you might end up feeling directionless and more stressed. Your overall mental health can also get affected.

Let’s look at the things that can indicate you are meditating for longer than you need to: 

1. Feeling exhausted all the time: 

No matter how relaxed you are during your daily meditation practice but all the other times you are feeling sleepy and tired, then that’s a sign you are meditating for too long. 

2. Feeling irritated: 

If you don’t know how to meditate properly or you are not able to focus well during meditation, it can result in irritability. So instead of feeling calm throughout the day, you may feel more irritated. 

3. Losing sight of your personal professional:

If you are meditating for too long, you might actually lose sight of your goal and desire. It’s good that you enjoy the process of meditation, but it’s so also important not to let it interfere with your daily life. 

4. Attracting negative energies: 

The meditation practice makes you open to the spiritual world. Even in the spiritual realm, there are good and bad. When you meditate, you glow with energy, and you attract more energy to you. The possibility of attracting negative energies increases when you are not used to clearing your mind. 

If you feel you get a lot of negative thoughts during meditation practice, you can think about other positive things. This article will act as a guide for you: What To Think About When Meditating? 9 Best Meditation Prompts

Is Meditating For Too Long Harmful?

Yes and no, both! 

Not harmful because many individuals might benefit more from meditating for longer. If you are someone who is on a spiritual path and want to dedicate a huge portion of your life to spiritual growth, then it’s obvious that you’d like to meditate for longer. But this also means that you are completely aware of how it will affect your life.

Yes, it can be harmful because if you don’t know how to meditate or if you are meditating with bad intentions, then harmful things can happen to you. Even if you know how to meditate it’s not recommended to meditate for hours and hours daily practice neglecting your personal and professional life.

This is not to scare you of meditation practice. It is necessary to understand what can go wrong so that you can avoid making those mistakes and can have beneficial meditation experience.

Related: How To Meditate Correctly And 6 Signs Your Meditation Is Working

How To Choose What Length Of Meditation Session Is Most Suitable For You

To identify the length of meditation that works best for you, it’s a good idea to try it out. Begin by extending your meditation 10-15 minutes a day, and notice how you feel afterwards. If it is comfortable, you can steadily extend the duration. 

Try this five minute meditation for positive energy:

You can experiment by trying different lengths of meditation. It’s also a good idea to use guided meditations of different lengths and see which one makes you feel happier when you finish your meditation practice.

It’s critical to be conscious of your body and psyche. If you start to feel strained or tired during your meditation session, take a pause and come back to it later.

How to Meditate for Longer Periods

Most people a lot of the times start to meditate for an hour in the beginning only to end up doing it for few weeks. Regular practice is most important thing, you can meditate for shorter sessions instead of abandoning your practice after weeks.

If you already meditate for 10 to 15 minutes daily, then you can try to extend it to 20 minutes. If you can easily meditate for up to 20 minutes in one session, then try to meditate for 25 to 30 minutes. Once you are comfortable meditating for 30 minutes in one meditation session regularly, you can meditate for 30 minutes twice a day. 

This doesn’t mean if you can meditate for 10 minutes then you should increase it to 20 minutes the other day. It should be a gradual process spread throughout the months.

You can also use meditation apps and guided meditations to help you meditate for longer periods of time. Apps such as Enhanced Meditation App can provide you with guided meditations, breathing exercises, and other tools to help you stay focused and relaxed during your practice.

How Many Times Should You Meditate a Day?

The truth is, it is completely up to you to decide how many times you should meditate daily. Even though there are some factors that can influence how long you should meditate.

If you don’t have enough time to meditate in one session, you can try mindfulness activities. They are also immensely powerful for managing stress and reduce anxiety. 

If you are a beginner, then it’s best to start by meditating once in a day for few minutes. You can also spread 1-2 minutes of meditation throughout the day when you are having a busy day. Also, if you lead extremely stressful life it’s more practical option. It’s best to try both and experiment with different times of the day for meditation.

Different Types of Meditation Practice

Meditation is really powerful tool for personal development and spiritual growth. There are many ways to meditate, such as mindfulness practice, transcendental, and guided meditation, each of which has its own unique benefits and methods. Therefore, it is essential to explore and find the type of meditation that caters to your individual needs when it comes to personal development and spiritual growth.

Mindfulness meditation:

You might not believe but mindfulness and meditation can mean two different things. This meditation is an awesome and easiest of all practices. It can be great to start with for beginners.

Progressive Relaxation:

This technique of meditation is also known as body scan meditation. It’s great for doing after workout or whenever you want to relax.

Energy Healing Meditation:

This helps a lot to clear negative energy and heal. Energy healing meditation helps restore and enhance your vibrational frequency.

Transcendental Meditation:

TM is a very powerful meditation. You focus on a mantra during this meditation instead of any object or visualization.

You can read more about many other forms of meditation by clicking here: 10 Types of Meditation You Should Explore

Conclusion

To gain the utmost mental and physical advantages of meditation, it is essential to be mindful of your intention and the duration of your meditation. The ideal length of your meditation relies a lot on your aims, the kind of meditation you do, and your personal inclination.

It is advised to begin with shorter periods and slowly extend them as your practice evolves. Apps and guided meditations are also available to help you stay attentive and tranquil during your meditation.

If you are looking forward to a way to improve your mental and physical well-being, then guided meditation can be an ideal choice for you. Download the Enhanced Meditation App today and start your journey towards a calmer, more peaceful life.