Following on from the post on 20 minute yoga practices, here are some meditation practices of the same length. Just 20 minutes can bring you a real sense of calm, and a huge change to your mood. I hope you enjoy these- would love to hear from you if you do!
You can also sign up to my online Sangha- check it out here, and use one of these as your chosen practice
1. Do a 20-minute meditation of your choosing.
Maybe you’ve been on a meditation retreat or you've done a class where you learned the basics of a meditation practice. Time to put this learning into practice! Get your comfortable spot set up and set your timer for 20 minutes.
2. Mindful body scan
Body Scan is a mindfulness practice commonly used in mindfulness courses. Here is an incredibly relaxing body scan (video) from Tara Brach.
3. Use a meditation app l
Like : Calm (subscription based but you can sign up for a free trial)
Headspace (good for beginners, but much of the content you have to pay for)
or Insight Timer (has a huge library of meditations and most of the app is free.
4. Walking meditation.
Some instructions here, again from Tara Brach.
5. Guided meditation for releasing obstacles
I’ve done a number of Faith Hunter’s yoga classes on Alo Moves (which is a subscription-based platform for yoga and meditation). She also has a number of free videos on you tube. I like this meditation for releasing obstacles (video) with an intro/explainer before she goes into the meditation. Worth checking out some of her yoga videos too if you have the chance!
6. Visualization for pregnancy.
Visualization/relaxation for pregnancy – This is an audio recording I did for a doula client recently. It’s a relaxation/visualization exercise which takes you to your special place- you know, the place where all is well, you feel completely relaxed, maybe the beach, the hills, the forest.. that choice is yours. The video goes straight into the breathing- so get your comfortable spot set and take a moment to get settled before hitting the play button.
7. Practice loving kindness
Metta Meditation, also known as Loving Kindness meditation, is a practice from the Buddhist tradition. It is a practice that promotes deep healing and compassion for yourself and for others. You can listen to one here . This is quite a deep practice, part of which is about extending compassion to someone you have difficulties with. As such it can be very challenging for some, depending on your personal circumstances.
8. Just breathe!
I have three videos of breathing practices on my website (scroll down past the yoga videos). Each is 10 minutes long, so you can pick two and there's your 20 minutes.
9. Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra (meaning ‘Yogic Sleep’) is a relaxation technique which induces deep physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. Try this audio recording of Yoga Nidra with Louise George. Be warned, you may go into actual sleep!
10. Try Vipassana or insight meditation.
This is meditation in the Theravada Buddhism tradition, practiced throughout Southeast Asia. This video explains a little about the practice and moves into the actual instruction after about 2 minutes.
Would love if you try some of these out- and let me know how you get on! If you come across any great recommendations, let me know and I'll add to this list.