3 Modern Meditation Techniques That End Stress In 15 Minutes A Day

If you are terrified by the 8 steps to start meditating but really want to try it and figure out what the hype is all about, this article gives you the super-easy way to start meditating and feel the effects in 15 minutes per day (and not even every day).

It seems like meditation is the new Kardashian, right?

Everyone is digging it and spending hours (they must never sleep) meditating and finding inner peace. Just not you.

You tried.

And then you tried again.

And again. And it just didn’t work - you have so much to actually do, that’s kind of impossible to stay still for 30 minutes, and when you have everything done (like that ever happens) you are too tired to do anything but sip on a glass of wine and tune off.

But it’s getting a little embarrassing to confess that you can’t meditate because everyone seems to be having so much fun with it.

In fact, they have it all wrong.

Meditation is not the new pop culture thing but a lifestyle practice from thousands of years ago (when people didn’t have Facebook and worked 3 meters from their homes) and it needs to adapt to modern human lifestyle.

We aren’t going to discuss the benefits of meditation because you have already read 345,765 articles about it.

Let’s just talk about how to effectively make it part of our everyday lives in a way that’s convenient and stress-free.

In fact, meditation is not sitting silent for 30 minutes.

Meditation means one simple thing - being 100% in the present moment.

Like for example, when you drive home from work and you list all the groceries you need to get in you mind, and then think about where you should park, and should you pay cash or credit card….and so it goes....this is anti-meditation.

Meditation teaches us to be present 100% in each moment, live it and focus on it thus reducing stress, anxiety and fear of life.

The 3 15-minute meditation techniques that you are about to read will help you do exactly this in an unusual way. There is no sitting or lotuses involved.

Meditation Techniques For The Modern Human

Colors

You will think I am joking but get an adult coloring book full of mandala illustrations.

They look something like that:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="227"] Mandala Coloring Sheet[/caption]

You can download free mandala illustrations from here. It helps you clear your mind and it unlocks your creativity.

Mandala is proven to have therapeutic effects and is used by modern psychologists all the time. It is 100% meditation because you need to concentrate on the detail - you can’t do it right and think about your business lunch tomorrow. It takes hours to finish a complex mandala coloring sheet but you don’t need to do that.

The great thing is that even doing it for five minutes per day will help your mind unwind. Get the book and just color one corner of one page. The next day add to the pattern, five minutes, three colors, nothing much. You can even do it while waiting for the cattle to boil with your tea or while eating lunch at your desk at work (we all do that, don’t worry).

It’s fun I promise.

Space Out

This is game I played with myself (yeah, yeah not crazy at all) when I was a little girl.

The game is simple - find a spot on the wall, or somewhere in the room and concentrate your sight on it for as long as you can.

Time yourself!

The goal is to focus on one single point for as long as you can and it’s totally okay to start with 10 seconds (yeah, just 10 seconds, you can definitely do that).

As you do this every day and time yourself you will notice that the seconds become minutes and after a few months you will be able to space out for as much as 10 minutes. I call it space out because the challenge is to do this in a noisy or busy environment like a supermarket or a party. You are completely focused on one moment and everything else loses importance.

Another variation I recently discovered is to count (in your mind) while you breath out and in - breath in and count, then restart when you breath out. As you do this you will notice how your breaths get longer and longer, and that’s awesome - reduced heart rate and stress, here we come!

Tell a story

As a writer I always observe people and try to make up their story - who they are, where they are going….Works great when you are stuck in the waiting lounge and don’t wanna zombify on your smartphone.

But I realized that it’s a great meditation technique because while I make up people’s stories I forget about all the problems and anxiety from my day.

You can do it with people, place, stuff...Anything...When you feel overwhelmed, just look around yourself and choose someone or something and create their story in your head. Make it adventurous and fun! You decide where it goes….

This practice, if you enjoy it and do it often, will unlock your creativity, give you a perspective on the world, allow your brain to work out complex problems and clear up your mind from unnecessary junk.

Conclusion

Well, that’s it!

3 modern meditation techniques that are actually easy and fun and everyone who has a busy life can fit into their lifestyle.

The point of meditation is not to stress you out additionally by taking away time from your responsibility and errands. It is a technique that will help your mind become more effective by clearing the junk and allowing space to create solutions.

If you are a monk that can sit in a temple and stare at the clouds all day long, that’s great and you have time for all the mindfulness and deep meditation that you want. But with most of us that’s not the case - and people who say they meditate one hour per day every day obviously need to get a job!

For the modern human, spirituality is one of those things we do when we have more time, and obviously that’s never.

That’s why we need to make spirituality fit our modern materialistic smartphone-obsessed lifestyle.

And it’s possible when we learn, chew and do it our own way - the practical 15-minute way.

Which of the three fun meditation practices will you try tomorrow? And where? On the bus, at the office bathroom, or the supermarket?

If those easy everyday mindfulness practices sound like something you dig, you should check out the Happiness Workbook for more (it’s free and really hilarious at times).

Antonia Zorluer is a designer, writer and content marketer. She writes for businesses at work and for pleasure at her personal happiness blog mintyhideout.com where you can find inspirational stories and tips on using writing for a better life. She loves to connect and talk happiness and writing on Twitter and Google +. 

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