Meditate daily or occasionally?

Effects of daily Acem Meditation

• Helps to maintain a regular practice and makes it easier to get into meditation mode.
• Can lead to increased efficiency and concentration in everyday life.
• Can reduce stress levels and help us handle stressful situations better.
• Can help us fall asleep more easily and get a better quality of sleep.
• Can contribute to personal development and increased self-awareness.

Effects of occasional Acem Meditation

• Can provide relaxation and energy, but the effect may be less than with daily meditation.
• Can be useful in stressful situations or when we need a break from everyday life.
• Can be a good alternative for those who do not have the time or opportunity to meditate daily.

It is important to notice that it might take time to experience the positive effects of meditation and that it may be wise to meditate regularly over a longer period in order to discover the full benefits in our daily life.

Why am I falling out of the meditation habit?

Many people who have learnt Acem Meditation find that they establish a good habit during the beginner’s course and perhaps for a period afterwards. But then they fall out of it.

There may be many reasons for this: changes in life situation, in daily routines, or increased work pressure.

Surprisingly, the reason can often be found in the meditation itself, which now has started to work on deeper levels of us. This might lead to more challenging meditations, even though we might not be fully aware of it.

How Acem meditation works on deeper levels of the mind

Relaxation comes every time we meditate. When we relax, unfinished psychological material rises to the surface. The increased capacity following our relaxation, allows the mind to work on issues that we so far haven’t been able to access.

Regular meditation means more relaxation, thereby bringing deeper levels of us into play.

This may be stress that holds a harder grip on us, or psychological residues of a more fundamental nature.

At first, this material might express itself as bodily tension or restlessness. There are no words at this stage. Later, we might discover thoughts, feelings, and images connected to this slightly deeper psychological residual.

Can deeper meditation cause resistance to meditate?

When deeper psychological tensions move towards the surface, opposing forces are also activated in us. We might find it more difficult to sit down, without fully realizing why.

We miss a meditation or two, and then suddenly a few days have passed before we remember that we’re actually doing Acem Meditation. This is how the meditation habit might disappear over the horizon.

Correct and good meditation can therefore ironically lead to us losing our habit. At this point of our meditation journey, we will profit from the follow-up offers provided by Acem – online or at an Acem center.

How to get back into the meditation habit?

Three activities, in particular, are helpful for those who want to re-establish a meditation practice or to a good habit after the beginner’s course:

Guidance

Both individual guidance and group guidance can offer new perspectives on what we actually do when we meditate. Verbalizing what the challenges are in our meditation at this point, can be of great help.

Contact Acem for a guidance appointment, which may take place in one of Acem’s centers or online.

Follow-up courses

Acem has several follow-up courses, which may help to establish a meditation practice and understand more about the phases we go through when meditation begins to work on deeper levels of our psychology.

Retreats

Acem offers a variety of retreats, from one-day mini-retreats to week-long retreats.

Traveling to a retreat often helps us move forward in the meditation process and get new motivation to meditate in everyday life.

Many meditators participate in one or more retreats annually to benefit from the deepening that takes place during longer meditations.