Should you incorporate a morning meditation into your daily routine?

Among other things, morning meditations can lower stress, increase creativity, boost energy, and improve focus.

In this article, I’ll review the best meditation and how to stick to your routine.

A few years ago, I read two books that convinced me to incorporate a meditation practice into my morning. One book was called The Morning Miracle, and the other one was called Atomic Habits.

The Morning Miracle book totally changed my outlook on why I should have a regenerating morning routine, while Atomic Habits helped me make my morning routine into a habit.

What are the benefits of morning meditations?

The research on meditation is really impressive!

• Lowering Stress. When you are chronically stressed (due to busy schedules, finances, kids, etc.) a stress hormone called cortisol increases in your body. High cortisol levels can lead to side effects like weight gain, sugar cravings, and insomnia. Morning meditations reduce stress and cortisol levels (1). Meditation’s cortisol lowering effect is one of the main reasons why it helps many different conditions.
• Anti-Aging. Forget about the face cream (maybe not completely). Meditation slows down how quickly your brain ages (2).
• Growing Your Empathy Muscle. Empathy is understanding what it may be like to “walk a mile in their shoes.” We need more empathy in this world. Meditation increases the grey matter volume in your brain, leading to increased feelings of empathy (3).
• More Creativity. Regular meditators generate more creative ideas and focus for longer periods of time (4).
• Reduces Emotional Outbursts. Have you ever snapped at your spouse over something silly? I know I have! Meditation regulates your emotional responses and helps you respond to situations instead of reacting.

I used to spend way too much time scrolling on my phone, checking emails and social media in the morning. I would scramble to get ready, eat breakfast, and run out the door in a rush. This type of routine is not conducive to a stress-free and productive day!

My Favorite Morning Meditation

When I first learned about meditation, I was very curious, but doubtful. Oh, I could never quiet my mind, I told myself.

I jumped around meditation apps that tied me to my phone. But, I didn’t want to rely on my phone, and it was counterintuitive to use my phone to soothe my mind (since it was a major reason why I needed meditation in the first place). I would have a few day streaks of using these apps, but would quickly fall off my routine. I later learned that most of these phone apps are only mindfulness exercises, not meditations.

Then, I learned about Ziva Meditation.

Ziva Meditation is a style of meditation involving 3 main aspects: meditation, mindfulness, and manifesting.

Since we already reviewed the awesome benefits of meditation above, let’s review the other two aspects.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness focuses on physical awareness (like breath) to expand your awareness of your present self and how you are feeling in the moment. Every Ziva meditation session begins with a brief mindfulness exercise.

Manifesting

Manifesting is intentionally creating what you want in your life. Our thoughts are incredibly powerful and we can actually rewire our brain with positive thoughts! The end of each Ziva meditation involves a few minutes of manifesting. As a Christian, I often use this time to practice gratitude or pray, but there are many different ways you can incorporate manifesting into your meditation – no matter what your spiritual beliefs may be.

With this three-pronged approach with Ziva Meditation, you can use all parts of your brain!

Mindfulness helps you deal with stress in the current moment. Meditation helps to rid stress from your past. And Manifesting helps you plan for the future. Sounds pretty good to me!

The best part of Ziva Meditation is that the founder, Emily Fletcher, teaches you exactly how to do it in just 14 days through an online course. It only takes about 15 minutes per day to learn, and you will notice measurable differences in your physical and mental health.

Personally, I noticed less acne, resolution of nighttime teeth grinding, less reactivity, better sleep, and improved focus. After consistently meditating with the Ziva technique for a few months, I had my highest financial earning month for the blog! It’s that good.

Read more about my experience with Ziva Meditation in this blog.

How to Stick to Your Morning Meditation

At this point, you are mostly convinced that morning meditations are a good thing!

Now, how can you create a system that will keep your meditation routine consistent?

Creating a habit requires four main factors, according to the Atomic Habits book:

1. Make it obvious.
2. Make it attractive.
3. Make it easy.
4. Make it satisfying.

Let’s briefly review each of these steps to form your successful plan.

Make it Obvious

There are a few tricks to making your habits more obvious to you.

My favorite trick is called habit stacking. To do this, identify a current habit you already do each morning, and then stack your new ideal behavior (a morning meditation) on top.

For example:

After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

I made the decision to stack my coffee with my new meditation habit. Pouring a cup of coffee was already an established routine in my morning, making it easier to pair the desired behavior.

After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will do my Ziva Meditation.

This could also work after showering, after eating breakfast, or while sitting in your car before walking into work. The key is to tie your meditation routine to something you already do each day.

P.S. meditating at ANY time of the day is better than none! If morning meditations are too unrealistic for your lifestyle,  you can absolutely practice a Ziva meditation at any time of day.

Make it Attractive

Atomic Habits says that you’re more likely to find a habit attractive if you get to do one of your favorite things at the same time!

You can use temptation bundling for this: pairing an action you WANT to do with an action you NEED to do.

Habit Stacking + Temptation Bundling looks like this:

1. After [CURRENT HABIT], I will meditate.
2. After meditating, I will [HABIT I WANT].

What is something you enjoy that you can bundle with your morning meditations?

Mine was simple and food-driven haha!

1. After pouring my cup of coffee, I will meditate.
2. After meditating, I will sip my coffee and eat breakfast.

Other ideas for temptation bundling include listening to your favorite podcast while getting ready, sipping on your coffee on the comfy chair, or checking social media (we all love this one, right?!).

Make it Easy

Make your morning meditation easy by learning the right way to do it with the Ziva Online Program.

Emily will teach you that it’s completely normal to have thoughts during meditation. She will give you the exact blueprint on how to meditate on your own, to make it simple and easy for you to practice anywhere.

No weird gongs, crystals, or oil required. The Ziva program teaches you that you don’t have to sit like a monk to meditate. You can meditate sitting on the couch, on your commuting train, or even in your car (while safely parked obviously).

If you can make your meditation convenient, you’ll be more likely to follow through. When would be the easiest time to incorporate meditation into your day?

Make it Satisfying

We are more likely to keep a habit when it is satisfying to us.

Luckily, meditation has so many satisfying benefits including:

• More positive energy
• Better sleep
• More focus and creativity
• Empathy
• Less reactivity
• Improved libido
• Lowered stress hormones
• Less acne

And so much more! Sounds pretty satisfying, right?

If you’re like me, you may believe that you suck at meditating. But, this simply isn’t true.

First of all, you may have heard incorrect information about meditation. Thoughts are NOT the enemy during meditation. They are normal!

Second of all, we don’t practice meditation to get better at meditation.

We practice meditation to get better at LIFE!

Kick start your morning with a meditation practice that fuels your day!

If you want to take out the confusion, and quickly learn how to effectively meditate without any phones, check out the online Ziva Meditation Program today.

Or, learn more about my experience with Ziva here.