| There is a famous story of a Kundalini Yoga Master | | | | own everything just start to transform. Others, over |
| who was desperate to increase the amount of time | | | | time, have also probably found that this amount of |
| he spent doing his daily meditation practice. The story | | | | time has worked well for bringing about positive |
| says that the Yogi nailed his pony tail to the wall so | | | | changes in themselves and so the number has |
| that when he would start to dose off, he would be | | | | become the de facto standard for a starting practice. |
| rudely awakened by his contraption, and that this | | | | The next stage is 30 minutes, 2 times daily. On my |
| technique allowed him to successfully meditate for 22 | | | | trip to Zen Mountain Monastery for their Zazen |
| hours daily. Are you ready for that? Luckily, 22 hours | | | | Training program, 30 minutes was the minimum time |
| of daily meditation is not a prerequisite for spiritual | | | | requirement for any zazen session. Also, interestingly |
| growth or enlightenment, but the point of the story | | | | at Zen Mountain Monastery, you could request to be |
| is that the ask is not cheap either. So how long | | | | struck with a cane on your shoulders (at special |
| should one meditate for daily? | | | | acupressure points) to help you stay awake, drain |
| Before we go into the numbers it is important to | | | | emotional junk out of your system or as an aid to go |
| clarify exactly what type of meditation we are | | | | deeper. This is called keisaku and it can work as an |
| talking about here. There are many schools of | | | | alternative technique for you if you don't have long |
| meditation, each with their own techniques and | | | | hair like our Yogi friend above. So work your way up |
| methods. | | | | to 30 minutes of meditation, and try to do that |
| Here, we are referring to the meditations that are | | | | twice daily if possible. |
| done being mostly physically still. So this would include | | | | Finally, you should build up to 1 hour of steady |
| zen meditation (zazen), vipassana, insight meditation, | | | | meditation practice everyday. For extracting the |
| jyana yoga, the Silent Mind (SM) Meditations, and | | | | maximum benefit from a meditation program this is |
| meditations that utilize an object for concentration | | | | the golden number. |
| (3rd eye meditation, mantra meditation, visualization, | | | | To get to the experience of "Big Mind" as Zen |
| sound, trataka (candle flame gazing), 3 step rhythmic | | | | Master Shunryu Suzuki describes the detached state, |
| breath (3srb) meditation or similar variation of breath | | | | or the "Big Self" as described by the Advaita |
| meditation, etc). | | | | Vedanta teachers, or to get to the explosion of |
| The other types of meditations involving dance (shiva | | | | insight as put forth by J. Krishnamurti and the Silent |
| tandava - dance of death), Osho's meditations | | | | Mind Meditations, 1 hour of meditation is usually |
| (kundalini, dynamic, etc), laya yoga meditations, and | | | | needed. This is primarily because it takes some time |
| other such meditations have specific time | | | | for the thinking process to slow down and for us to |
| requirements to work their magic and I am not | | | | extract ourselves out of the daily drama of our little |
| referring to them in this discussion. So, now on to the | | | | egos. |
| numbers. | | | | So there you have it. Start and aim for 20 minutes |
| The minimum time one should aim to set aside for | | | | of daily meditation and then build up to 1 hour. You |
| daily meditation is 20 minutes. Why 20 minutes of | | | | will find everything you are looking for, as you will |
| meditation? From my experience I can say that 20 | | | | discover that everything is you. |
| minutes daily proved to be very effective. On its | | | | |