By Steve Gillman

The benefits of a daily meditation routine are many, starting with stress reduction and a healthier brain and body. But one of the things that many people notice when they meditate is that it also clears the mind and makes it easier to concentrate and work more efficiently. That makes a meditation a great tool to use prior to starting each work day.

Meditation

(Flickr photo by Ian Burt)

The simplest form of meditation you might try before starting work is a breath-watching session of about five to fifteen minutes, depending on the time you have available. If you have meditated much before, you are probably able to relax and get yourself into a meditative state without too much trouble. Just breath deeply a few times through your nose, let your eyes close and release the tension from your body one muscle group at a time.

After this initial preparation, let your breathing fall into a normal and comfortable pattern–but continue to breath through your nose if possible. As you do so, pay attention to the air coming and going from your nostrils. When your mind wanders, as it most likely will, bring your attention gently but firmly back to your breath. Aim for at least ten minutes of this before you open your eyes, stretch, take a deep breath and stat your work day.

You could do this at home–and you should if that is where you work. But it’s most effective if it is possible to do it just before you start your daily tasks. If there is not a quiet place where you are employed, do the meditation in your car right after you arrive, and be sure to get there early enough to allow the time for this.

What if you have difficulty with a daily meditation like this? Perhaps you have not meditated before or find that you get distracted too easily. The solution might be to use brainwave entrainment. You can buy CDs which use this technology, or go online to download recordings for your MP3 player. The latter is more convenient; it is easy to carry your MP3 player anywhere.

With these recordings, you only have to listen with your headphones or ear buds and your brainwaves will be guided into an alpha state and deeper. The technology makes it very easy to meditate almost anywhere you can sit quietly and uninterrupted. An added benefit is that you don’t have to count breaths or otherwise try to estimate how long you have been meditating. You simply listen and allow the hidden beats to do their work until the recording ends.

If you have time you can use the more common thirty-minute meditation recordings. Otherwise look for one that is ten minutes. Generally the good ones will have you in a meditative state in the first few minutes, especially if you relax and take a few deep breaths beforehand. A ten minute daily meditation like this at the start of each work day can really clear the mind and prepare you to think efficiently and effectively.

Resource: Best Meditation CDs