You’ve heard meditation helps you lead a saner, more productive, happier, less reactive, longer existence. Perhaps you’ve even read the loads of research on how it can change the physical and chemical composition of the brain to make this happen. Yet here you are, reading this blog because you still need to start. So, let’s do just that: start your meditation practice…right now.

You’ve done it!

By reading this, you’ve made a little pact with yourself to start the meditation discipline. And that’s the most important element: commitment. Your anti-aging cream doesn’t work unless you put it on every night; neither does meditation. All you need to do is find a tiny window of time, just like you do for any other self care. Find what works for you, my husband meditates in the morning. I’m not a morning person, so I meditate after lunch. And just like brushing your teeth, you know that you could be lazy and skip it, but you won’t. Hold yourself accountable for the first two weeks with phone reminders or the like, once you’ve got a solid foundation and start feeling the effects, you’ll wonder how you ever cheated yourself out of the benefits of meditation in the first place.

Why it works

You don’t have to meditate for hours to get these benefits. In fact, just 10 minutes per day can help you absorb and retain information, and re-wire your brain to a more positive “default pathway”. What do I mean by “default pathway”, you ask? Good question. We have neurons in our brains that fire to one another to create our behaviors and reactions. The more you use a certain neural pathway, the more likely it is to become your default. If you are a negative thinker, find yourself falling into negative self-talk, feel anxious or stressed, or are often angry, that neural pathway is the path of least resistance and will become your default pathway. But don’t worry, there is hope! Regular meditation can help create positive pathways and rewire your defaults.

By now you should have an idea of where you can fit up to 10 minutes of meditation. Is 10 minutes too much, too soon? Start at 3 or 5 minutes and work your way up. Next, you’ll find what kind of meditation is most palatable. Beginners often like guided meditations, where a kind of “experience tour guide” curates your journey. Sounds luxurious, no? It is. We’ve got great guided meditations on Power Life’s YouTube channel, some of which are led by yours truly. You can also find apps like Simple Habit. I love the recordings on Do Yoga with Me, which I know I will finish less stressed than I started. If a meditation is longer than my time frame, I set a timer with a soothing tone on my phone to exit early. But be sure to never jar yourself out of a meditation. Let yourself leave the experience in a slow, happy, peaceful pace.

Meditation can also be device free (it was for thousands of years). Try something simple like slow, deep breathing with attention on that single act. That single-pointed focus is the key to meditation. My daughter loves laying in nature, closing her eyes, and listening to all of the sounds around her. Focusing on that, without distraction is meditation. Your could try laying in nature and concentrating on one element, like wind. Notice how it ebbs and flows, intensifies and recedes. Make that the only thing present in your mind, because it is the present moment, and when you think about the present, you can’t ruminate about anything else.

Don’t be hard on yourself.

It is normal to feel like a meditative failure at first (we all do in the beginning, heck sometimes I still do). Your job is to observe your mind, it is normal for your mind to wander but when it does gently bring it back without judgement. A family member of mine claims he can’t try meditation because his mind “just won’t stop”. And while it may feel that way for him, the mind is plastic: it has neural plasticity, or the ability to remold, change through growth, and reorganize. Just like training a dog that won’t stop jumping on people, training the mind to calm is a skill that, with a little work, can be attained, if not mastered.

And now you’re off. You don’t need luck. Just ten minutes and one thing to focus on. Oh, and one other thing: the thought that you are worthy of being happier, healthier, and more at peace. Because you are.