With the new year approaching, you may be thinking about what resolutions you’ll want to establish for 2022. A common resolution that people want to try always seems to revolve around meditation resolutions.

Meditation promises the benefits of gaining a new perspective, clearing the mind, reducing stress and anxiety and bringing peace to your mind, body and life. And after a tumultuous year, this is exactly what people would want and need.

If you’re curious about trying meditation and want to give it a go, here are 6 meditation resolutions that you can try in the new year:

Release the idea that meditation isn’t for you

Meditation is something that can be hard to understand. How can people sit still for so long? How can they remain focused for the entirety of their session? It can lead people to think that they can’t meditate or it isn’t for them.

Contrary to belief, meditation is for everyone. Even if it’s difficult and challenging at first, and for most, it will be, it all comes with practice. Like most things, you need to learn how to do it and keep doing it until you get better and it gets easier.

Integrate meditation into your routine

Like anything else, meditation will generate the most benefits when you do it on a regular basis. You’ll get more practice in doing it, and so will gradually become more comfortable with calming the mind.

Find a time and place that will work best for your meditation resolutions. Most people find that early in the morning when they first wake up, or in the evening or night, right before bed, are the easiest times to find the space to meditate.

Try waking up 5-10 minutes earlier so you can sit straight up in bed and meditate. Or, use meditation as a tool to wind down and relax before sleep.

Be realistic about your meditation

There are some people who can meditate for up to an hour but when you first get started, this may seem like an impossible feat. Fortunately, meditating for 5-10 minutes can still reap benefits.

When you start meditation, set an alarm, to begin with, for 5 minutes at first. This way, you can get used to sitting still in such an on-the-go lifestyle. It may take some time to get used to but you’ll progress over time by setting your alarm back a minute or two back each time you meditate.

You can also choose to meditate 1-2 times a week before increasing the number of days. Eventually, you’ll be able to meditate for longer.

Embrace and acknowledge your thoughts

Another meditation resolution to try in the new year is to know that it’s okay to ‘fail’. There’s a misconception that to meditate \successfully, you need to have no thoughts at all and a completely clear mind but that’s not true at all.

Thoughts will come, always. However, when you’re meditating, just acknowledge the thought and then turn your mind back to focus on the breath.

There’s no right or wrong way to progress when meditating so if you feel that you’ve failed, then just recognize the little disturbance and get back on track. Each time you do this, you’re actually teaching your brain to always re-focus on the breath, creating new pathways to follow.

Try different meditation practices

When you hear the word meditation, what image comes to mind? A person sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, palms on their knees? While you definitely can meditate in this position, it isn’t the only way to do so.

What might work for one person may not work for others, so try different meditation practices to identify the one that works best for you.

You can try sitting in various positions such as on a stool or chair with your feet planted to the ground or on your knees or lying on your back. You can even try walking meditation which consists of alternating periods of sitting with periods of walking. This is a good one to attempt if you need to incorporate some movement into your practice.

You may even change up the style depending on the time of day. Walking meditation may be a great one to do during your lunch break or in the afternoon to break through that afternoon slump, while it would be nice to do a sitting down session, just before bed.

Use meditation tools

If you need some guidance to your meditation resolution, then don’t hesitate to use the many meditation tools available to you—whether it’s going to a class and having a teacher talk you through the practice, or using an audio track in the comfort of your own home.

These will make meditation seem less daunting and much more accessible to beginners.

Be still

Incorporate these 6 meditation resolutions in your routine so you can practice meditation and find the peace and beauty in stillness, especially after such a tumultuous year.