Deepening your practice comes from commitment, capturing small moments of mindfulness, variety, self-care, and your senses. Here are some suggestions that you may find inspiring.

The Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute recommends these five tips for a deeper meditation practice.

SIYLI is a nonprofit organization supporting he work of those on the front lines of society: civil servants, public & mental health workers, nonprofits, and educators.

I’ve edited their recommendations for length and I’ve added some of my own thoughts, but you can find their full article here.

1) Think About Your Intention Before Each Meditation

As you sit down to begin your meditation, spend just a few moments on what your intention is for this meditation.

Is it to improve your focus? Reduce stress? Build emotional awareness? Having that in mind as you begin your meditation can help you guide your mind as you meditate.

2) Maintain Momentum with the “1 Minute Meditation”

A big part of having a deep and rewarding meditation practice is consistency. Meditation builds on itself over time. Each sit increases your ability to focus, to be present and to explore your mind.

Missing meditations can interrupt your momentum and prevent your meditation practice from deepening.

If you’re in a rush, spend just one minute meditating. That way, you can keep your “momentum” until you’re able to sit for a longer period of time.

3) Be Mindful of Your Interest Level

Getting bored with or detached from your mindfulness commitment?

Note mindfully when this happens. Treat it like any other kind of resistance that surfaces during meditation.

Let it be and don’t resist the resistance. Acknowledge it compassionately, and simply let it pass.

4) Use a Regular Meditation Spot to “Anchor In”

Anchoring is a term from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a field of study that examines how the mind encodes experiences. One thing that researchers have found is that people tend to associate strong emotional states with objects, places and people that were around when they experienced that emotional state.

Use this. Anchor your states of mindfulness, peace, depth, focus, etc. to a specific location. All you need to do to do this is to pick a consistent place to meditate in. Pick two or three that are convenient to you and in which you know you can spend at least a few minutes practicing mindfulness.

Over time, this specific spot will become associated in your mind with those deep mindful states.

5) Mix Things Up

Finally, remember to experiment with different kinds of meditation.

Once you’ve been meditating for a while, consider going back to meditations that you’ve done in the past. It’s not just revisiting, it’s often a return to a mindfulness tool that becomes more powerful and effective because of the experience you’ve developed. Don’t anticipate that you’l be bored because you’re going back to approaches you’ve already tried. 


HSP Suggestions

As a highly sensitive person, I know that meditation has unique benefits for fellow HSPs. Two HSPs who share this view are Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo. They run Highly Sensitive Refuge. You can find them on Facebook, if you’re on that platform.

Again, I’ve edited this for length and have added my own thoughts.

How to Be More Mindful as an HSP

Here are three ways for highly sensitive people be more mindful in their daily life:

1. Remember that you are not your thoughts and feelings.

You are simply an observer of your thoughts and feelings. This is a powerful message for HSPs who often feel so overwhelmed by thoughts and emotions that they become mentally and emotionally flooded.

By becoming aware of your thoughts and feelings — and observing them in a nonjudgemental way as they come and go — you will become more present.

2. Focus on your senses.

One of the best techniques for becoming more mindful is to bring your awareness to every sense. What can you hear, see, touch, and feel right now? What are the sensory inputs around you and inside you at this moment?

Pause to smell the aroma of coffee or ocean air. Admire the beauty and diversity of nature in your neighborhood.

I appreciate the expansion of our ability to sense things. We live in such a mental world. I found this article on exercises to increase sensory awareness.

3. Practice regular self-care.

Regular self-care is important for anyone, but for highly sensitive people who process stimuli deeply, it’s even more important.

Self-care involves taking time for yourself and doing the things you love — the things that connect with your spirit and make you feel alive.

Self-care can help you lose your churning thoughts and worries if you pour all your love, intention, and attention into whatever self-care activity you’re doing.

Practicing self-care in a mindful way keeps you “topped off” so you can nourish not only yourself but also be more present and energetic for others.