Blog

14 Tips for a Better Meditation Practice

Meditation Practice Tips

Those new to meditation may find it challenging, not only to feel successful in their practice but also to maintain consistency.

It’s totally normal for beginners to experience discomfort or frustration when exploring meditation because meditation is a skill that you only get better at with practice. And it’s definitely about progress over perfection.

The challenge can prevent many from even getting started. Only about 14 percent of Americans have meditated at least once.

You may experience boredom, restlessness, doubt and other feelings that can be challenging in the beginning. But sitting with your mind and helping to flex that control muscle is full of benefits, such as stress management, creativity boost, increased patience and more.

Specifically, about 53 percent of people who meditate say it improves memory and concentration, and meditation is thought to reduce insomnia by as much as 50 percent.

The following are 14 tips to help you build a solid meditation foundation for an overall better experience that you can stick with.

Start early

It’s helpful to meditate first thing in the morning if you can. Doing so can ensure that you actually do it before the day gets more hectic. 

Morning meditations are also a great way to start the day! Feel free to pair it with a glass of lemon water before or after for an added health bonus.

Commit to consistency

To build your meditation practice into a habit, it’s helpful to commit to doing it at the same time each day. If that’s not in the morning, when is a good time that makes sense for you?

Including meditation as a regular part of your day-to-day life is the best way to make it a lasting habit.

It’s OK if your mind wanders

Often, many beginners feel like meditation should feel like waving a magic wand for instant focus and relaxation. This isn’t the care, but that’s OK.

Your mind will naturally wander, but instead of getting frustrated, use that as an opportunity to flex that mental self-control muscle. Every time your mind wanders, pull it back. Even if that’s 100 times in five minutes, your effort is worthwhile and something that can strengthen over time.

Get creative about the location

While it can help to meditate in the same place daily for consistency, don’t be afraid to break out of the mold now and then. In addition, you might not be able to meditate in the same location every day. And that’s OK.

Fortunately, you can meditate just about anywhere, whether that’s at home, work, a park or elsewhere. The key is that you can find stillness and not be disturbed.

Of course, if there’s an easy place in your home where you can reduce clutter and promote stillness and focus, that’s perfect as well.

Explore comfortable positions

Don’t worry about the stereotypical images of people sitting cross-legged to meditate if that position is uncomfortable (or even distracting) for you. In fact, many find it uncomfortable, so you’re not alone. 

You don’t have to force yourself to sit up too straight since that could force your mind to be too uptight. You can sit in a chair or on a couch. Your arms and legs can be uncrossed, with your feet flat on the floor. Also, feel free to place a cushion or rolled-up towel underneath your backside if that helps set the back naturally upright.

Take the time to experiment with different positions to identify what works best for you.

Breathe naturally

While meditation involves focusing on your breath and using it to focus your mind, don’t stress about the breath specifically or try to alter it.

Your best approach is to allow for natural breath, and notice the rising and falling sensations it creates in your body.

Embrace discomfort

Whether you’re new to meditation or have been practicing for years, it’s not uncommon to experience anxiety, restlessness or even irritation. But don’t try to resist these emotions. Instead, give them your full attention and allow them to come and go.

By doing so, your mind will learn to recognize them for what they are and not get caught up in negative patterns of thoughts. Of course, this is a skill that’s beneficial outside of meditation as well.

Start with short meditations

Baby steps. Baby steps are critical for building new habits that can be sustained. Your first meditation does not need to be 60 minutes long or even 30 minutes long.

Instead, start short and build up over time. Start with 2-minute meditations. Then, when you feel ready, try 5-minute meditations and so on.

This is important because if you set the initial goals too high where they don’t feel achievable, you’ll just feel frustrated. Focus on achievable goals, and give yourself grace as you build up to longer meditation practices.

Try guided meditations

If you’re looking for a little help, there are many guided meditations out there, whether they’re on YouTube, podcasts or even meditation apps. Meditation-specific music may also be appealing.

Search around and see what might appeal to you. If one doesn’t suit you, keep looking until you find something that works. Everyone is different, so a bit of trial and error is necessary.

End your meditations slowly

While your daily to-do list might be knocking at the metaphorical door, don’t dive right into your day at the end of your meditation. Allow yourself to end your practice slowly.

This will be different for everyone, but it could include some light initial movement, stretches or anything else. Give yourself the time to enjoy the benefit of meditation. Don’t rush out into your day as if the practice never happened at all.

Check-in with yourself after meditation

After each meditation practice, take a moment to tune into how you feel physically, emotionally and mentally. 

Does your mind feel clearer? Are you calmer? Are you more focused?

The more you understand how meditation is impacting you, the more committed you’ll be to meditating consistently.

Record any excuses to not meditate

If you decide not to meditate, write down the reasoning for not meditating that day. This can benefit you because you’ll notice any trends. But in addition, the act of writing down any excuses will help minimize it and make it less likely of an excuse in the future.

Especially when you compare a written-down excuse to the importance of your mental health, you’ll more than likely resist excuses more and more.

Find an accountability partner

Accountability partners are fantastic in all health and fitness activities, whether that’s meal prepping, working out and so on.

You don’t have to meditate together or even at the same time. But if you have someone to check in with daily who’s also looking to meditate consistently, this will help keep you on track and resist personal excuses to not meditate.

No judgment

Resist the temptation to judge any meditation practice as good or bad or even whether you’re improving.

Sometimes, when we’re eager to see progress, we can feel like something might not be worth doing if we don’t see “enough” progress. But meditation is far more subjective than that. Definitely take note of how you feel afterward, but don’t feel like you should walk away from meditation with deep insights or dramatic life shifts.

Stay present in the moment, just like you’re striving to do in your meditation practice.

In conclusion

Meditation is not an all-or-nothing experience. There are ebbs and flows in every practice. Remember to be patient with yourself, and keep all the health benefits of meditation in mind. Your effort is worthwhile.

Learn more about meditating with this Meditation 101 video by Kaia FIT founder Nikki Warren.

Kaia FIT is a women’s fitness and nutrition program that empowers women to become the best version of themselves through personalized coaching in a group environment. We prioritize community to help connect women to each other for additional support and accountability. Caren Roblin is the owner of Kaia FIT Sierra, with four studio locations in Reno-Sparks.

Recent Blogs

7 Day Reset

We’ve incorporated inspiration and motivation to help you rock all 7 days. In the next 7 days you will make shifts in your mind and body that will boost your metabolism, improve sleep and increase energy.

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

This is a self paced reset, so you can start when you are ready but we recommend to continue with the reset each day once you begin to see the maximum results.

All it takes is 7 DAYS. What are you waiting for?

Kaia Tri is a ten-week triathlon training program with workouts three times a week, which is an optional extra during our spring and summer CORE sessions. We swim, bike, and run, with some cross-training classes too. By being able to set a personal pace, our triathlon training program is suited to beginners tackling their first race and intermediate athletes looking to improve their finish time.

Our mock triathlons run several times to familiarize women with the course route. We finish the season with a Triathlon Training Camp which includes paddle boarding and power workouts. The next day is our exhilarating and fun Triathlon race day for all Kaia Tri women to enjoy working out in a beautiful location. Friends are welcome too!

SANDBAG

Kaia Sandbag combines traditional fitness with unconventional training methods. With sandbags, the weight shifts and moves in an unpredictable fashion. This piece of equipment is integrated into our conditioning & strength building workouts to simultaneously develop strength, power, endurance, mobility, and balance – with an additional emphasis on developing overall core strength and stability.

New to sandbag training? No problem! Beginners are always welcome.

TRX SUSPENSION 

TRX® Suspension Training® body-weight exercise simultaneously develops strength, power, endurance, mobility, durability, balance, flexibility, and core stability. Whether you’re younger or older, out of shape or a pro athlete, injured or at the top of your game, TRX Suspension Training meets you where you are and takes you where you want to go. TRX Suspension Training leverages gravity and the user’s body weight to enable hundreds of exercises that can be instantly scaled for any user to reach any fitness or training goal. The easily-scalable nature of TRX Suspension Training makes it a practical solution wherever you are on the fitness continuum.

Need a little extra boost to keep your body guessing? Our TRX/Cardio class is an excellent complement to any Kaia FIT session. TRX workouts, which can be used by anyone at any level, builds true functional strength and improves flexibility, balance and core stability all at once. Mixed with cardio, the classes give every member the perfect balance of challenge and success.

*TRX classes not available in all areas. Please contact us your local studio.

CROSS-TRAINING

Our trademark Kaia Cross-Training™ classes are a unique mix of cardio, functional movement, and both weighted and non-weighted exercises.

Cross-Training benefits:

Each day brings a new workout. We have an elite group of advanced coaches who infuse each workout with their own flair and focus, meaning you’re never going to repeat a workout, avoid burn-out, and fitness plateaus.

Keeping the body guessing is key to sculpting lean muscle mass. We also have a 3-part modification foundation: Balance (non-impact); Strength (mid-impact) and Kaia (high impact). Each exercise has its own progression so that everyone can feel successful.

As a part of our program, we also offer nutritional guidance to help you make healthy food choices and keep your fitness on track.

What are you waiting for? Join us today!

BARRE

Our barre-based class is a unique combination of postures inspired by ballet, yoga, Pilates and Kaia. Using the barre as a prop to balance, you’ll complete a series of isometric holds combined with high reps of small range movements to elongate and tone your major muscle groups.

In addition to the barre, classes incorporate pilates balls, yoga blocks, and/or resistance bands for increased endurance, challenge and focus. Following each set of holds, you’ll rest and recovery with a short series of stretches and poses to increase flexibility prior to advancing.
Kaia Barre is a low-impact class that perfectly complements our program offerings. Meet us at the barre and try your first class for free!

Participating locations may vary. See the schedule page for more details.

DANCE 

Our dance fitness class is rooted in traditional dance. We use those foundational moves and offer a class that is easy enough for beginners yet challenging enough for the more seasoned dancer. The simplicity of the routines allows you to keep moving with ease. Although this is a workout, it feels more like a dance party with your girlfriends.

RUNNING 

Improve your speed, skill, endurance, stamina, and strength with our Kaia running program. The program works on developing running skills that can increase speed, endurance, and overall fitness. The program is designed for you to run at your pace and and help you see improvements every step of the way.

The Kaia training is a simple, progressive program designed for women of all ages and all fitness levels. Whether you are a walker, jogger, or runner, you will be able to join this program and move at your own pace. Research has shown that even 20 to 30 minutes of running (two to three times per week) is enough to help you lose or maintain weight and improve many other important health markers, i.e. your cholesterol, blood pressure and insulin response.

Don’t be intimidated by the Kaia Run program name, each class will have walkers, joggers and runners. Keep in mind that the first mile is the hardest mile you will ever run. Once you get off the starting block, things only get easier. All you have to do is be patient and disciplined in your training, and that is where Kaia

POWER YOGA

Kaia Yoga combines mind and body with a power yoga and core-strengthening weekly workout with Pilates-style techniques. We focus on balance, strength, and cardiovascular fitness through stretching, strength training and dynamic movement to improve overall fitness levels.

By creating long, lean muscles, Yoga promotes improved coordination, greater flexibility and a fuller range of motion, with a strong body that’s less prone to injury. Yoga keeps the mind centered and reduces stress through positive thoughts and a sense of mindfulness, which also inspires mental strength and confidence.

Yin Yoga, or restorative yoga, is a quiet contemplative practice. It targets the deepest tissues of the body, our connective tissues – ligaments, joints, bones, and the deep fascia networks of the body. Poses are held for 1 minute or more and transitions between poses are gentle and slow. This class is an excellent compliment to our other classes, provides dedicated stretching, and is known to reduce stress and anxiety.

6-WEEK BRIK BOOTCAMP

Our BRIK Bootcamp sessions are offered three times a year and are designed to help you reach your health and fitness potential, and you’re welcome to start anytime!

Our BRIK Bootcamps are six weeks long and feature classes daily.* This programming fits in seamlessly with our regularly scheduled classes, and it’s as easy as 1-2-3:

  1. Register for BRIK Bootcamp HERE (included for Platinum & Gold Memberships)
  2. Book your classes through our branded app and Show Up
  3. Let our expert coaches do the rest!

These sessions offer great results in weight and body fat loss and an increase in strength and cardiovascular endurance. Our nutritional support will boost energy, help you de-bloat, increase sleep quality, and enhance your overall glow.

BRIK Bootcamp includes:

In between BRIK Bootcamp, we offer a variety of classes to meet you at your level! We also have nutrition and fitness challenges, in addition to fun opportunities to spice up your routine. What are you waiting for? Join us today!

CYCLE

Cardio based, calorie torching workout with certified spin instructors. It’s a party on a bike!

Try a Week Free

WHAT IS KAIA FIT?