How to Start a Meditation Practice at Home

These are the steps to take to start a meditation practice at home. They include choosing a place to meditate, decorating your place, and committing to a time to meditate.

Step #1: Choose a Place to Meditate

Your meditation area should be a very quiet and calming place where you can meditate uninterrupted. If you have enough in your home to make one room your meditation room, that would be ideal. However, designating an area of a room for this purpose is perfectly acceptable.

No matter whether you have a dedicated room or a space in a room to meditate, make sure that the room is not surrounded by noise and is a place where you can meditate without being interrupted.

If you decide to meditate in your bedroom, choose a time of day when you will not be disturbed.

Step #2: Decorate Your Meditation Place

Decide how you will sit while you meditate. For many, a meditation cushion (zafu) and meditation mat (zabuton) are the best choice. These are the traditional items used to be seated on during your practice. However, sitting on a chair is perfectly acceptable.

Your area can be decorated in any way that makes you happy. For some, simple decorations of a few hanging pictures is enough. For others, they may find that having a small table with some inspirational statue helps their practice.

No matter how you decide to decorate your area, make sure to keep it clean and clutter-free at all times.

Step #3: Commit to a Time of Day to Meditate

Meditation should always be done at the same time each and every day. For most, meditating first thing in the morning, right after you wake up, is ideal. Many people also meditate a second time in the evening just before they decide to go to sleep.

Setting a specific time of day to meditate and meditating at this time each and every day is one of the most important elements to having a successful meditation practice. Some people find it difficult to make this commitment. However, if you view this as something you do each and every day in the same way that you wake up, wash your face, brush your teeth, get dressed, etc., it becomes part of your daily routine. Pretty soon you will look at this as a normal element of every day.