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You’ve heard, no doubt countless times, that the way you approach your morning sets the stage for the rest of your day. Starting your day by frantically replying to emails or crossing off other obligations? You’re infusing a sense of urgency and reactivity into everything you do. Feeling exhausted and behind before you’ve even gotten out of bed? That sort of unwanted low-key lethargy can also linger. Making time for a quick 10-minute morning meditation before doing almost anything else? It might just bring you back to feeling like, well, you.
Sitting quietly with yourself can be profoundly beneficial whenever you make space for it, with well-documented benefits for your physical, psychological, and emotional well-being. But a morning meditation practice can be particularly beneficial.
Bringing intentionality to your early day through morning meditation allows you to experience the calming and focusing benefits of the practice throughout the rest of your waking hours. Research also suggests that, at least for some of us, self control is strongest in the hours after waking. That reserve of self regulation may make it easier to maintain your focus during meditation, a boon if you find it daunting to sit still.
Early morning is also a time when you may be less likely to be interrupted, which means you’re more likely to create a habit of morning meditation. Scientific research indicates any patterned behavior can benefit you in numerous ways, including reduced anxiety, although morning routines and rituals have drawn significant attention and research in recent years regarding their ability to center your thoughts and create a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to the day.
Kendra Adachi, New York Times best-selling author and creator of The Lazy Genius podcast, distinguishes between a physical morning routine and a mental morning routine in one of her early episodes. She explains the latter as thinking and feeling “rushed, frustrated, in a perpetual state of trying harder,” something that’s easy to fall into without even being aware of.
Although Adachi doesn’t mention meditation, she does emphasize the importance of finding some space for yourself. Not only does the mere presence of a morning routine allow you to set yourself up to be calm and focused, she says, “I think that a morning routine helps you feel like yourself so that you’re not frantically searching for yourself throughout the day.”
Taking those moments for yourself, whether you sit quietly on your own or try the following 10-minute morning meditation, can remind you that although you cannot control each situation that you encounter throughout your day, you can control how you show up.
A 10-Minute Morning Meditation Practice
This guided morning meditation by Lodro Rinzler, a teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and author of Walk Like a Buddha, offers a simple exercise to help you set the lens through which you experience the day ahead.
This article has been updated. Originally published January 20, 2015.
About Our Contributor
Sonia Jones is the founder of Sonima.com, a wellness website dedicated to helping people improve their lives through yoga, workouts, guided meditations, and life advice. The balanced approach to wellness integrates traditional wisdom and modern insights to support vibrant and meaningful living.