Do these thoughts sound familiar when you’ve begun to try meditation: This is taking forever! How long until I feel something? Am I even doing anything?!?!

Our normal thinking mind will grasp at anything to latch onto, and many of us have had thoughts like these. However, meditation is a profound practice, and benefits can be gained right away.

Whenever we start anything, we naturally want to know if it’s worth our time, what the benefits are, how long it takes, and so forth. In everything we do, we think about those aspects. Regardless of the activity—whether it’s learning a new sport, mastering an instrument, or acquiring a language—everyone will advance at their own speed.

Some people will have a natural talent and ability, some people will need to work a little harder. But what we do know with 100% certainty is that everybody can get benefits and can improve with practice.

Whether it’s basketball or meditation, when we learn basketball, we might start with dribbling and bouncing the ball. You can get decent at bouncing the ball on the first day and perhaps not too bad at shooting. However, defense and certain other maneuvers like layups may be a bit more challenging.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t get some benefits right away. Meditation works in a similar way. You may not reach a super heightened state of awareness after your first session, but you may notice you’re a little more relaxed, a little more easygoing, with less tension, and possibly even reduced back or shoulder pain. If done properly, you can truly notice some benefits right away.

However, it’s also similar to learning a language—a long process. We don’t need to rush ourselves in meditation. It’s truly about developing patience and avoiding super tight deadlines and demands on ourselves. It’s about accepting where we are.

Being fully in the moment, we’re not attached to any future outcome whatsoever. Meditation is about being here, now—there is no goal we hope for while we’re meditating. Although we may have goals we achieve, meditation must simply be about sitting down, closing your eyes, and giving yourself that time and space. As far as the thinking mind goes, that’s all there is to worry about; the rest falls into place.

If you go play basketball and, on your first day, you want to be Michael Jordan, you’re going to get really disappointed, and you might quit because you aren’t living up to your expectations. Therefore, we must set reasonable, small goals, which essentially means being fully present in what we’re doing at the moment.

When starting meditation, I often like to tell people that the full results, the complete benefits, and the feeling of peace and ease may take time to develop. Reaching a place where we can meditate without letting it generate negative emotions within us requires patience. Initially, our minds might wander to thoughts of things we’d rather be doing or what we’re going to eat next.

Over time, it evolves into a peaceful joy. That’s when the real magic happens, nourishing us and feeding our soul.

We’d like to tell people that, on average, it can take between one and three months. It’s very common for people to eventually say, ‘Wow, how did I ever live without that?’ While some may experience benefits sooner, it can take up to six months if done consistently. I usually recommend about 20 minutes a day but also advise people not to push themselves beyond what they can handle.

Some people can do a minute, five minutes, or 10 minutes, and that is okay because they need to find their limit and avoid pushing themselves too far. It’s important to make it sustainable. Slowly and patiently, they can gradually increase their time, and working up to hopefully 20 minutes is a great goal. If you can manage 20 minutes twice a day, you’ll double your benefits and enhance the speed of progress.

I highly recommend starting and ending your day with meditation. However, everyone is different, and people are at different levels, so it’s essential to work your way up slowly.

When I first started meditating, I was the worst meditator. I was so fidgety, couldn’t sit still for two seconds, constantly scratching my head and chin, and squirming as if I wanted to be anywhere else. I thought, ‘This is not for me.’ But I stuck with it.

Within about two months, I could sit still for an hour or longer. I don’t even know how I lived without meditation; the benefits are so profound. The difference is noticeable when I miss a day, which is almost never because it’s so impactful. I strive to be the best person I can be for all my loved ones, so I make an effort to do it every single day, and I almost never fail.

Occasionally, life gets in the way, but we do our best. Instead of regretting or feeling bad, attacking ourselves, we choose to love ourselves even more. We can’t wait to get back into it, so we just resume right away. We make it a point never to miss a day unless it’s an extreme, unforeseen emergency that makes it impossible. Because we practice it every day, we can still get through challenging days since we have those tools in our spiritual tool belt—being mindful and present.

The ultimate goal is to make our daily life a meditation practice, living in that meditative state at all times—fully present, using our mind as the tool it is when we need it and not letting it use us 24/7 with incessant, constant, repetitive, negative, unconscious thoughts. Achieving this is possible, but it takes time.

They say the Buddha trained for seven years, delving into meditation and spirituality. Finally, he sat under a tree for 49 days, and on that last day, he attained supreme enlightenment. So, be patient. While it may take time, you can experience benefits right away. Even if you may not notice them, others might see the positive changes.

The more aware you become of subtlety and nuance, the more present you become through meditation. It’s at this point that you’ll truly realize the significant impact it’s having, and you’ll wonder how you ever lived so long without it.

Meditation Hasn’t Been Benefitting Me. When Can I Give Up?

Most people can’t sit down and instantly clear their minds, they think they might be doing it wrong. Or worse, they think they just can’t meditate and that meditation is not for them. But if I were doing something my entire life – thinking – and suddenly tried to stop, it might not happen as fast as I’d like it to.

Luckily, meditation is not about clearing your mind of all thoughts. It’s about becoming conscious – or mindful – of your thoughts. The more aware we become of our thoughts and the more we sit still without distraction to simply observe our mind, the more our minds stop mindlessly creating suffering and the more we consciously choose for it to create joy and peace in our lives.

Sometimes people have certain expectations about their meditation practice. They expect perfection right away or they think it’s not for them. If suppressed emotions bubble to the surface, that is a wonderful thing. It means they’ve been pushed down for too long.

That’s where they cause problems like illness, stress, anger and hot tempers. Whatever comes up in meditation is good and healing. It’s like having a good cry at the therapist’s office. Don’t rush your feelings or expect change overnight. Stick with it. If you’ve been suppressing emotions for decades, allow time for you to heal through meditation.

Experiencing anxiety while meditating is also a sign that underneath your conscious mind, there is anxiety you have yet to deal with. Not letting go of expectations is one of the biggest meditation mistakes that can cause anxiety. The more unpleasant meditation is at the start, the more necessary meditation becomes.

Are Lacking Results Indicative of Doing Meditation Wrong?

Yes, no, sorta. Oftentimes, we are not aware of 5 or 10 percent changes in our moods, thinking and behavior. But that doesn’t always mean there’s no change. Sometimes, only when we look back over a long period can we see the change in our lives. 

But remember, the more meditation can be for the sake of meditation itself, the more meditative we can become. In Zen they say, you are a master the moment you sit down onto the meditation pillow. Just sitting is the purpose.

There is also no wrong way to meditate. Zero. Sitting as still as possible for 10 minutes with eyes closed is hugely beneficial in regulating our nervous system, relaxing, processing our thoughts, making some space in our day to decompress and give the day some breathing room.

Some meditations can produce different effects. If your mind is very active, a meaningless mantra in the mind tends to be helpful. If your mind is not restless and more focused, mindfully focusing on your breath can help raise our consciousness and expand our awareness due to observing the subtle nuances of each breath in a way that we cannot achieve from reciting a mantra.

For How Long Should I Meditate to See Results?

For some people, meditating for 10 seconds or a minute might be all they can do when first starting out. Luckily, there is science to back up that just a few seconds can provide numerous benefits to the mind and body.

Over time, try working your way up a few seconds or minutes each day or week. Eventually, 20 to 30 minutes, once or twice a day, will be enough to give you all of the extraordinary benefits meditation can provide. Numerous scientific studies show that just 20 minutes a day leads to significantly greater joy, patience, focus, and quality of life.

No matter what it is we put our effort into, we naturally want to see some results. So, the question really is, “How long do you have to meditate to see results?” Meditation is much like working out; the more effort you put in, the more results you will see.

The answer is that just five to 10 seconds of meditation is effective. Just one moment of bringing your attention to the present moment, and setting down the weight and baggage of the past and the future. Feeling that weight off your shoulders because you’re fully present, and there’s nothing else but this moment, that can change your whole day. It can lead to more moments of just a few seconds throughout your day, where you can remember that feeling and repeat the process.

Anytime you can meditate is the best time to meditate. For however long you can meditate is the right length of time for you. The benefits are infinite; five to 10 minutes is more than enough time to activate the rest, recovery, and relaxation state of the parasympathetic nervous system, as opposed to the sympathetic nervous system. This is when our body is in fight or flight mode, ready to pounce or run away due to stress.

The body doesn’t know it’s modern-day stress. And we’re not really in danger. If this stress isn’t healed and the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for healing, calm relaxation, and stress release, isn’t activated, long-term stress can transform into depression. 

This is the body’s response to the chronic fight or flight state not being addressed, and it is exhausting. Frequently, a lot of stress is followed by depression, literally zapping us of energy.

Just five to 10 minutes is more than enough to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing our body to de-stress, heal, and process whatever it’s gone through in the day. It doesn’t have to be significant; it could be traffic or anything you were worried about, such as a loved one. Anything that generates stress inside has to be processed.

Just a moment of meditation, whatever is right for you, whatever you can do at this time, is perfect. Five to 10 minutes is more than enough time.