Why Meditate Twice a Day?

Sometimes people ask why we meditate twice a day.  Why do we need to meditate in the morning after a night’s sleep?  The answer is that Transcendental Meditation brings a different type of rest to the nervous system than sleep.  Also, the brain behaves differently during TM than it does during sleep.  After sleep, people often feel they need a little time to wake up or they still feel tired.  After morning meditation however, TM practitioners frequently feel more awake, more refreshed, more clear-thinking and more energetic.

The other principle is that if we give our nervous system a decent night’s sleep and meditate first thing in the morning it will be well rested.  A well rested nervous system responds differently to stressful stimuli during the day than a tired nervous system.  We know what external pressures feel like when we’re tired and how easy it is to feel overloaded.  The same tasks and the same work is easier when we’re rested and refreshed.  The idea with Transcendental Meditation is that we feel more refreshed after meditation on a daily basis and thereby pick up less stress.

Evening meditation again brings deep rest to the nervous system and dissolves stress accumulated during the day.  It can also act as a useful barrier between work and leisure time.  So this is why we meditate twice a day.

The practice itself is easy; all we have to do is find somewhere to sit and 20 minutes and start!