{"id":2272,"date":"2021-05-18T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codetofreedom.com\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2021-05-17T17:06:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T17:06:33","slug":"hoe-lang-vaak-mediteren-10-30-minuten-meditaties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codetofreedom.com\/en\/how-long-often-meditate-10-30-minute-meditations\/","title":{"rendered":"How long should you meditate? A meditation of 10 or 30 minutes? And how often?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many different pieces of advice and recommendations for how long you should meditate, as well as how often you should meditate. Some say you should meditate for an hour each day, but you may not have that much time available on a daily basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, you'll find research-based recommendations for how long and how often you should meditate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise in popularity of meditation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meditatie kan ons helpen onze mentale en fysieke gezondheid te verbeteren, en het is de laatste jaren echt steeds populairder geworden. Onderzoek wijst uit dat zo’n 15% van de mensen meditatie heeft geprobeerd. Regelmatige meditatie kan ons helpen om angst en stress te beheersen en om onze emoties onder controle te houden. Steeds meer mensen vertrouwen op hun meditatie beoefening om hen te helpen zich gecentreerd en kalm te voelen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what happens when the demands of life limit the time we have to meditate? If you miss a day, how bad is that? Is 5 minutes a day enough to experience the benefits of meditation? Or should it be 10, 20 or 30 minutes a day that you meditate? Unfortunately, there isn't one easy answer for everyone, but there are several helpful pointers on how long and how often you should meditate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long should you meditate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness-based clinical therapies such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR<\/a>) usually recommend practicing meditation for 40-45 minutes a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Transcendental Meditation (TM<\/a>) tradition often recommends 20 minutes, twice a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interventions based on the Relaxation Response (Benson<\/a>, 1975) also often recommend 20-minute meditations. Traditionally, a meditation like the shamatha meditation (a breath-focused meditation) is practiced by monks and nuns in Tibetan monasteries for ten or fifteen minutes. The monks and nuns do this several times a day. However, there is no absolute requirement with these numbers as far as meditating is concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Je zou op deze manier naar meditatie als lichaamsbeweging kunnen kijken. Er is geen optimale tijdsduur voor sporten, evenals er ook geen perfect en precies aantal minuten is om te “moeten” mediteren. Bij zowel lichaamsbeweging of meditatie is het belangrijk dat de hoeveelheid tijd die je eraan doet, voldoende is om je een beetje uit te dagen, maar niet zozeer dat je er geen zin in hebt of uitgeput voelt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make it a habit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Making meditation a regular part of your day is more important than how long you meditate. For that reason, the time you meditate for the longer term should also be workable for you. It won't do you much good to meditate for 90 minutes one day if you happen to have the time, and feel guilty for the rest of the week if you can't live up to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with exercise, even a small amount of meditation seems to have benefits if your schedule doesn't allow you to do your usual amount of meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voorbeeld: stel dat je drie kilometer per dag gaat joggen. Op een dag heb je het druk en kun je maar een halve mijl doen. Kun je dit beter doen dan op de bank zitten? Ja. Zal het je net zo goed helpen als twee mijl uitlopen? Dat is onwaarschijnlijk. Meditatie is vergelijkbaar – er lijkt geen magische minutengrens te zijn waarbij je, als je te weinig tijd hebt, je tijd aan het verspillen bent. Iedere minuut aan meditatie is meegenomen, als je maar de regelmaat inbouwt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does science say about how long you should meditate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, three recent studies do offer some scientific guidance on how long it is right to meditate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the research of cognitive scientist Dr. Amishi Jha found that in a sample of U.S. Marines preparing to go on a deployment, meditation sessions of just 12 minutes yielded cognitive improvements. A 2018 study found that 12 minutes a day Kirtan Kriya<\/a>meditation was sufficient to produce significant positive changes in blood dementia indicators. A third study showed that 10 minutes of daily meditation significantly improved the performance of undergraduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this mean we should all meditate for 10 to 12 minutes a day? No, but it does suggest that some of the effects of meditation start around 10 minutes. Ten minutes, evidence shows, seems to be a minimum threshold for some of the benefits of meditation. For many people it is also a very feasible amount of time that you can spend on meditation on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how often should you meditate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meditation is similar to exercise in that we practice a skill. The more we practice the skill, the better we can use it. For that reason, it is best to meditate daily if you can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike with exercise, you don't have to take a rest day for your muscles, so a day off is not necessary. In addition, it is good if you could meditate daily, because then you have a real habit<\/a> van weet te maken. Echter, als je niet in staat bent om dagelijks te mediteren, is het belangrijk om niet te hard voor jezelf te zijn en jezelf voor het hoofd te slaan omdat je “te weinig discipline” hebt. Daarvoor geldt: compassie voor jezelf behouden is ook belangrijk!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How
How often should you meditate? Preferably daily, make it a nice habit! (fig<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meditation works best when we commit to doing it regularly, whether daily or just very regularly. By maintaining that regularity for long periods of time, we can become more familiar with our minds than we otherwise could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short summary with recommendations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you have 10 minutes a day to devote to meditation, it is already good because it will be useful to you. 20 minutes will probably be a bit more useful, that's true. But remember that if you decide to meditate for 10 minutes a day, on any given day once you have formed the habit of 10 minutes a day, you can always build up to 20 minutes of meditating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of us, it's about taking the time and sitting down to meditate regularly, not so much for how long. Remember the following tips to create a regular meditation habit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n