Start Small and Build
It is a common misconception in the new age world of meditation that a person new to meditation must sit down for 45 minutes to an hour with the concentration of a 15 year practictioner.
If you are at all interested in starting a consistent and rewarding meditation practice, this is, in fact, a terrible assumption to begin with.
When first beginning a meditation practice, everything about the practice will be new. You will have to acclimate yourself to sitting still for a certain period of time, to hearing your thoughts for the first time, to the distractions that inevitably arise.
Imagine putting a permit driver on the freeway before ever letting them sit behind the wheel! Or a person in a Ferrari without ever having taught them to drive manual transmission - ouch!
What is most important when beginning is to start with a small yet consistent amount of time that is of quality rather than quantity. The period that you meditate is empowered. If you are not used to concentrating on something other than your thoughts you will eventually do just that - and that's not meditating.
Another common misconception is that a longer time spent meditating is better. As Mary Poppins has been known to say, "Enough is as good as a feast."1 The appropriate amount of time to meditate is that which gets the job done by gradually strengthening your concentration. As a beginner this should be no more than 5 minutes a day, two times a day ideally, until sufficient concentration is possible. When you are able to concentrate for 5 minutes by switching from a chakra focus to the music without letting thoughts intrude then you can consider increasing your meditation time.
So whether you practice for 5 minutes or 30 minutes a sesssion, remember that it's the quality, not quantity, that is important.
1 "Mary Poppins" movie, 1964, Walt Disney
