Morning Meditation: How to Start Your Day Calm and Focused
How you begin your morning can influence the way the rest of your day feels.
For many people, the day starts almost immediately with stimulation. You reach for your phone, check messages, think about everything you need to do and perhaps start worrying about problems before you've even got out of bed.
Within minutes, your mind can already feel busy.
A morning meditation offers a different way to begin. Instead of immediately reacting to everything demanding your attention, you deliberately create a little space to settle your mind, notice how you're feeling and prepare yourself for the day ahead.
I'm Sharon Shinwell, a UK clinical hypnotherapist, counsellor and psychotherapist with more than 25 years' professional experience, and I've long believed that small practices we can realistically incorporate into everyday life are often more useful than complicated routines we struggle to maintain.
You don't need to meditate for an hour or become an expert. Even a short, regular morning practice can give you a calmer and more purposeful start.
If you'd prefer to be guided rather than meditate alone, I've created A Calm and Purposeful Morning, a daily guided meditation specifically designed to help you begin your day feeling calmer, clearer and more focused.
What Is Morning Meditation?
Morning meditation is simply meditation practised near the beginning of your day.
There isn't one correct way to do it.
You might spend a few minutes focusing on your breathing, noticing sensations in your body, listening to a guided meditation or simply sitting quietly and observing your thoughts without becoming caught up in them.
The important part isn't creating a perfectly empty mind.
It's giving yourself a period in which you're not immediately responding to emails, news, social media, work, family demands or your own mental to-do list.
Think of it as creating a small gap between waking up and getting swept into the day.
Why Meditate in the Morning?
One practical advantage of morning meditation is that you're doing it before much of the day's noise has begun.
If you tell yourself you'll meditate later, life has plenty of opportunities to interfere.
Work runs late.
Someone needs you.
You're tired.
You decide you'll do it tomorrow instead.
Making meditation part of your morning routine can remove some of that negotiation.
But there is another reason I particularly like morning meditation: it gives you an opportunity to notice your mental state before you become absorbed in it.
Perhaps you wake up already thinking about a difficult meeting.
Perhaps you're replaying yesterday.
Perhaps you're anticipating everything that could go wrong.
Meditation doesn't magically remove those concerns. It can, however, help you notice that they're thoughts occurring in your mind rather than instructions you have to follow for the next twelve hours.
What Are the Benefits of Morning Meditation?
People meditate for many different reasons.
Some want a calmer start to the day. Others want to improve concentration, develop mindfulness or create a little separation from habitual worry and overthinking.
A regular morning meditation may help you:
begin your day more calmly;
become more aware of your thoughts and feelings;
practise bringing your attention back when it wanders;
create a pause before reacting automatically;
approach the day with greater intention;
develop a regular mindfulness habit;
take a few minutes for yourself before other demands begin.
I wouldn't suggest thinking of meditation as something that guarantees you'll have a stress-free day.
You'll still encounter traffic, difficult people, unexpected problems and things you can't control.
The more realistic aim is to practise meeting the day from a slightly steadier starting point.
How Long Should a Morning Meditation Be?
There is no ideal length that everyone needs to achieve.
If you're new to meditation, five or ten minutes can be enough to establish the habit.
You can gradually practise for longer if you enjoy it, but don't make duration the measure of whether you're doing it properly.
Twenty minutes that you continually postpone because you don't have time is less useful than five minutes you actually practise.
Consistency matters more than ambition.
How to Start a Morning Meditation Routine
Keep it simple.
Choose somewhere reasonably quiet where you're unlikely to be disturbed for a few minutes.
You don't need a special meditation room, candles, incense or a particular sitting position. Sit comfortably in a chair, on the sofa, on your bed or anywhere else that works for you.
Then decide when meditation will happen.
For example:
Wake up → bathroom → drink of water → morning meditation → breakfast.
Linking meditation to something you already do each morning can make it easier to remember.
Try to avoid making the routine unnecessarily elaborate. If meditation requires fifteen minutes of preparation before you even begin, you're creating another reason not to do it.
A Simple Morning Meditation for Beginners
If you'd like to try morning meditation without a recording, start with your breathing.
Sit comfortably and allow your body to settle.
You can close your eyes if that feels comfortable, or simply lower your gaze.
Notice your breathing without trying to force it into a particular rhythm.
Feel the breath entering.
Notice the breath leaving.
Your mind will wander.
That's normal.
When you realise you're thinking about breakfast, work, yesterday's conversation or what you need to buy later, simply acknowledge that your attention has wandered and gently bring it back to your breathing.
Then it will wander again.
Bring it back again.
That repeated return is part of the practice.
You haven't failed because you had thoughts.
Do I Need to Clear My Mind?
No.
This is probably one of the most common misunderstandings about meditation.
If you sit down expecting to stop thinking completely, you're likely to become frustrated very quickly.
You notice a thought and think:
I'm doing this wrong.
Then you notice yourself thinking about doing it wrong.
Now you're annoyed that you're thinking about thinking.
Meditation isn't a competition to see how long you can maintain a completely blank mind.
Thoughts will arise.
The practice is learning to notice when your attention has been carried away and then returning it to whatever you're using as your focus.
What If My Mind Is Particularly Busy in the Morning?
Then you've noticed something useful.
You don't need to wait until your mind is calm before you meditate. If that were the requirement, many of the people who could benefit most from practising would never begin.
Suppose you wake up thinking:
I have far too much to do today.
You don't have to argue with the thought.
You can notice it.
There's the thought that I have too much to do.
Then return your attention to your breathing.
Ten seconds later, your mind may produce:
Don't forget that email.
Notice it.
Return.
The aim isn't to force the thoughts away. It's to practise not following every thought the moment it appears.
Morning Meditation and Mindfulness
Meditation and mindfulness are closely connected, but they aren't quite the same thing.
Meditation is a deliberate practice you might do for a particular period of time.
Mindfulness is the broader practice of paying attention to what is happening in the present moment.
Your morning meditation might therefore become a place where you practise mindfulness, which you can then bring into the rest of your day.
You might notice yourself drinking your first cup of tea rather than scrolling through your phone at the same time.
You might actually listen when someone speaks to you.
You might notice tension building in your shoulders before you've spent three hours carrying it around.
Small moments of awareness count.
Should You Meditate Before or After Breakfast?
There isn't a universal rule.
Some people prefer meditating soon after waking because their mind hasn't yet become occupied with the day.
Others find it difficult to concentrate when they're hungry and would rather eat first.
Experiment.
The best time isn't the one somebody on the internet says is optimal.
It's the time you can realistically turn into a regular habit.
Should You Check Your Phone Before Morning Meditation?
If possible, I would avoid it.
Not because phones are inherently bad, but because they can instantly hand control of your attention to somebody else.
One notification leads to an email.
The email reminds you about work.
You check the news.
Then social media.
Ten minutes later, your mind is processing dozens of pieces of information before you've deliberately decided what you want to give your attention to.
Even if you don't want to keep your phone out of the bedroom, consider delaying your usual checking until after your morning meditation.
Those few minutes belong to you.
Morning Meditation Before Work
Morning meditation can be particularly useful when you have a demanding working day ahead.
It can be tempting to use those first few minutes to mentally rehearse everything you need to accomplish.
But repeatedly running through the day doesn't necessarily make you more prepared.
Sometimes it simply means you start working mentally before you've actually started work.
Instead, use your meditation to settle.
There will be time to look at your diary, prioritise tasks and solve problems afterwards.
Meditation Doesn't Have to Make You Feel Wonderful
This is worth saying because meditation is sometimes presented as though every session should leave you floating into your day in a state of perfect tranquillity.
It won't.
Some mornings you'll feel relaxed.
Some you'll feel distracted.
Sometimes you'll be impatient.
Occasionally you'll spend most of the meditation thinking about something completely unrelated.
That's all right.
You're developing a practice, not trying to manufacture a particular feeling every morning.
Try Setting an Intention for the Day
Towards the end of your morning meditation, you might choose a simple intention for the day.
This isn't about predicting that everything will go perfectly.
It could be something as simple as:
Today I'll slow down before I react.
I'll concentrate on one thing at a time.
I'll be a little more patient with myself.
I'll notice when my mind is rushing ahead.
An intention gives you something useful to return to during the day without creating another demanding target you have to achieve.
Guided Morning Meditation or Meditating Alone?
Neither is inherently better.
Some people enjoy silence and prefer directing their own practice.
Others find that the moment they sit quietly, their thoughts take over.
A guided morning meditation gives your attention something to follow. Instead of continually wondering what you're supposed to be doing, you can listen to the guidance and allow it to lead you through the practice.
This can be particularly helpful when you're beginning meditation or trying to establish a regular routine.
Over time, you may choose to combine both approaches.
A Calm and Purposeful Morning Guided Meditation
I created A Calm and Purposeful Morning specifically as a daily meditation to use at the beginning of your day.
Rather than immediately launching into everything that needs your attention, the recording gives you time to settle, become present and prepare yourself mentally for what's ahead.
It's intended to be something you can return to regularly rather than a meditation you listen to once and forget.
The aim isn't to promise a perfect day.
It's to help you begin it with a little more calm, clarity and purpose.
How to Make Morning Meditation a Habit
The biggest obstacle is often not knowing how to meditate.
It's remembering to do it.
Try attaching your meditation to an existing part of your morning rather than relying on motivation.
Keep the recording somewhere easy to access.
If possible, use roughly the same place and time.
And if you miss a morning, don't turn it into a reason to abandon the entire routine.
You haven't ruined anything.
Start again the following day.
Take Mindfulness Beyond the Morning
Your morning practice doesn't have to exist in isolation.
Once you become more accustomed to noticing your thoughts, your breathing and what is happening around you, you can bring that same awareness into ordinary parts of the day.
You might pause for a few moments before starting a new task.
Eat lunch without simultaneously answering emails.
Notice when you're rushing unnecessarily.
Listen more carefully during a conversation.
Or take a short break from your screen and simply notice how your body feels.
If you'd like a more structured way to develop mindfulness as an everyday practice, I've also created A Mindful Day — Daily Mindfulness Meditation Programme.
What About Meditation During the Working Day?
The morning isn't the only useful time to pause.
By lunchtime or mid-afternoon, you may have spent several hours concentrating, solving problems, responding to messages and moving from one task to another.
Taking a deliberate break can provide a useful dividing line in the day.
Rather than carrying the mental momentum of the morning straight into the afternoon, you can stop for a while, step away from work and refocus.
That's why I created Reset and Refocus, a guided meditation specifically for the working day. It's designed for people who want to use a period of downtime to mentally step away from work before returning to what they need to do.
A Few Minutes Can Change the Way You Begin Your Day
Morning meditation doesn't need to become another task on a long list of things you believe you should be doing.
Start small.
Give yourself a few quiet minutes before the demands of the day take over.
Notice your breathing.
Notice where your mind goes.
Bring your attention back.
And then get on with your day.
You won't necessarily feel transformed after every meditation.
But over time, you may discover that beginning the morning with a little deliberate calm feels very different from allowing the outside world to decide where your attention goes from the moment you wake up.
Sharon ShinwellUK Clinical Hypnotherapist, Counsellor & PsychotherapistCreator of Self Hypnosis UK
