| There is a famous story of a Kundalini Yoga | | | | effective. On its own everything just start to |
| Master who was desperate to increase the | | | | transform. Others, over time, have also probably |
| amount of time he spent doing his daily meditation | | | | found that this amount of time has worked well |
| practice. The story says that the Yogi nailed his | | | | for bringing about positive changes in themselves |
| pony tail to the wall so that when he would start | | | | and so the number has become the de facto |
| to dose off, he would be rudely awakened by his | | | | standard for a starting practice. |
| contraption, and that this technique allowed him to | | | | The next stage is 30 minutes, 2 times daily. On |
| successfully meditate for 22 hours daily. Are you | | | | my trip to Zen Mountain Monastery for their |
| ready for that? Luckily, 22 hours of daily | | | | Zazen Training program, 30 minutes was the |
| meditation is not a prerequisite for spiritual growth | | | | minimum time requirement for any zazen session. |
| or enlightenment, but the point of the story is | | | | Also, interestingly at Zen Mountain Monastery, you |
| that the ask is not cheap either. So how long | | | | could request to be struck with a cane on your |
| should one meditate for daily? | | | | shoulders (at special acupressure points) to help |
| Before we go into the numbers it is important to | | | | you stay awake, drain emotional junk out of your |
| clarify exactly what type of meditation we are | | | | system or as an aid to go deeper. This is called |
| talking about here. There are many schools of | | | | keisaku and it can work as an alternative |
| meditation, each with their own techniques and | | | | technique for you if you don't have long hair like |
| methods. Here, we are referring to the | | | | our Yogi friend above. So work your way up to |
| meditations that are done being mostly physically | | | | 30 minutes of meditation, and try to do that |
| still. So this would include zen meditation (zazen), | | | | twice daily if possible. |
| vipassana, insight meditation, jyana yoga, the | | | | Finally, you should build up to 1 hour of steady |
| Silent Mind (SM) Meditations, and meditations that | | | | meditation practice everyday. For extracting the |
| utilize an object for concentration (3rd eye | | | | maximum benefit from a meditation program this |
| meditation, mantra meditation, visualization, sound, | | | | is the golden number. To get to the experience of |
| trataka (candle flame gazing), 3 step rhythmic | | | | "Big Mind" as Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki |
| breath (3srb) meditation or similar variation of | | | | describes the detached state, or the "Big Self" as |
| breath meditation, etc). The other types of | | | | described by the Advaita Vedanta teachers, or to |
| meditations involving dance (shiva tandava - dance | | | | get to the explosion of insight as put forth by J. |
| of death), Osho's meditations (kundalini, dynamic, | | | | Krishnamurti and the Silent Mind Meditations, 1 |
| etc), laya yoga meditations, and other such | | | | hour of meditation is usually needed. This is |
| meditations have specific time requirements to | | | | primarily because it takes some time for the |
| work their magic and I am not referring to them | | | | thinking process to slow down and for us to |
| in this discussion. So, now on to the numbers. | | | | extract ourselves out of the daily drama of our |
| The minimum time one should aim to set aside | | | | little egos. So there you have it. Start and aim for |
| for daily meditation is 20 minutes. Why 20 | | | | 20 minutes of daily meditation and then build up to |
| minutes of meditation? From my experience I can | | | | 1 hour. You will find everything you are looking |
| say that 20 minutes daily proved to be very | | | | for, as you will discover that everything is you. |