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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Do you usually use a timer when you meditate or do you stop when you feel "done". If you don’t use a timer, how do you know when to finish?

I’ve usually been meditating with a timer set for 20 minutes, however I’ve been experimenting a bit with ending it early when I feel like I have calmed my mind. I’m not sure what approach I prefer, so I’m curious to hear others experiences.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I always use a timer. Sense of time can change when meditating and there have been times that when my timer wasn't set or malfunctioned I accidentally meditated longer than I meant to, which can be an unsettling experience, and create distracting fears in future sessions.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Wow! That sounds intense, I don’t think I’ve ever meditated for longer than 30 minutes. Do you always meditate till your timer go off, or do you use it as a kind of maximum timer?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

yes, I always meditate until the timer goes off - once you set the timer you don't think about the clock or time anymore, and you trust the timer with that task so your mind can ignore it. :-)

I usually meditated 1 - 2 hours / day back then. Longest session was over 3 hours. I preferred sessions that were 1 hour because it seemed like 45 minutes was a minimum for getting to a decent level of concentration for me, and so I could sometimes enter a pleasurable flow state and things would be "happening" at that point.

this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Meditation

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