There’s an old Zen saying:
“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” 🙂
Before I discuss the time one should set aside, I want to begin by saying that to be completely honest: “the quantity of your meditation time is not as 
important as the quality of your meditation time.”
There are people who try to sit for 30-40 minutes, yet sometimes these people aren’t really meditating because they aren’t sitting with attention & focused awareness on their breath, mantra, or other object of concentration. They may be sitting in the right posture, etc…, but while they sit, their mind is all over the place. Then, there are some who sit for 5 minutes, yet their mind is so concentrated & focused on their breath, mantra, etc… that they experience a very deep & much more profound meditation than the individual who sat for 30-40 minutes.
Another thing I want you to be aware of is: “consistency is much more important than quantity.”
What I mean by that is – it’s better, especially when first beginning your practice, to try and sit everyday than it is to try and force yourself to sit for a certain amount of time. You may need to start with baby-steps. And 5 minutes of daily meditation will be better for you than doing 40 minutes today & 40 minutes next week.
Meditation is not a marathon; and it’s not about trying to force yourself to sit for some magic amount of time. If you do try to force yourself to sit for a certain length of time your meditations are only going to become frustrating, tedious, and a chore. In fact, you are probably not going to stick with the practice if you feel you have to force yourself to meditate for any amount of time.
Now that I brought those 2 points to your attention — I will say that with time we do want to aim for 20 minutes of daily meditation. Ideally, we would want to work ourselves up to 20 minutes, twice a day. But, remember, in the beginning, it’s ok to start slow.
In fact, if you have never sat for a formal meditation, initially you might find that even 10-15 minutes is much harder than you think.
Therefore, begin with 5 minutes. Then after a week increase it to 7 minutes; the next week increase it to 10 minutes; 4th week increase it to 20 minutes. Following this format, you will have worked yourself up to the 20 minute mark in a month’s time. (Please bear in mind that was just an example, you can increase your time at your own pace.)
Again, meditation is not a race; & it isn’t about who can sit the longest. But, I can tell you from personal experience that if you do 20 minutes of daily meditation you will begin to notice profound changes in your life. For example, you may notice that you seem to have more patience; are calmer; less angry; etc… You may find that things which irritated you before now seem to just roll off your shoulders. And there are a million other things you may notice, but we’ll save this topic for another post.
Now, you might be saying – “why 20 minutes?” – “Is there any evidence that 20 minutes is effective?”
Yes!
If you have read some of my other posts you’ve heard me mention this research before, but it bears repeating because of the profound results of the study. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, has shown through MRI images that 20 minutes of daily meditation physically changes the brain’s structure. Meditation actually increases our brain tissue. And because of this study, we can say that meditating for 20 minutes a day is equivalent to taking our brain’s to the gym. (An interview with Dr Lazar can be found by clicking here. & You can also check out a previous post on how meditation changes your brain.)
So, 20 minutes is what we should aim for. If it takes you time to get up to that 20 minutes that’s perfectly fine! Start with whatever feels comfortable & work your way up from there. But, just get yourself meditating because it is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime.
I wish you luck in your practice. With dedication, perseverance, and hard-work you are bound to be successful & reap all the benefits which meditation has to offer.
May your days always be filled with an abundance of happiness & peace,
Anthony
