I know, we don’t usually think of the words “hack” and “meditation” in the same sentence.

Meditation takes time and discipline. Trying to hack your meditation practice is like cheating at solitaire. What’s the point of trying if you’re just going to cheat your way out of it?

While these are all noble and – if I may say – brilliantly articulated objections, they are also woefully misguided.

(Yeah, that was harsh. One minute the objections are brilliant. The next minute they’re misguided. Woefully misguided at that. That Z is really particular. I think they need to meditate more. But I digress…)

You can hack your meditation practice.

You can and you should.

First, let’s look at the parts of meditation you can’t hack.

You have to pick a form of meditation that works for you – chanting, focusing on your breath, repeating a mantra, etc.

Then you have to actually do the practice, preferably daily.

You can outsource a lot of things, but meditation practice isn’t one of them. I mean, if you want to give money to others so they can be extremely chill and alert, have at it!

But in order to have some alert chill of your own, you gotta put in the time.

And yet.

While we can’t hack the time put into meditation, we can hack the quality of our meditation practice.

Anyone who’s ever meditated – or even tried to meditate once and gave up, never to try again – knows that a large portion of meditation is spent listening to an alarmingly chatty mind.

Indeed, the practice of meditation shines a shiny bright light on just how chatty the mind is.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

What does one use to chat?

A mouth.

And what does a chatty mouth do?

Move. Up and down. Yap yap yap.

But what if the mouth is relaxed?

It’s a lot harder to talk, right?

Yes! Relaxed mouth = less chatty!

See where I’m going here?!

When we relax our mouths when we meditate, we lessen the chattiness of the mind.

It’s really cool!

I would chat on and on about it, but my mouth is relaxed and I have nothing more to say.

Just kidding!

I always have more to say!

Now that you know the hack, you have to try it!  Give it a spin! (A relaxed spin, but a spin nonetheless.)

And if you’re not a meditator yet, start meditating so you can initiate your practice one step ahead of the game.

Okay, that’s it. That’s all I have to say.

Kidding again!

One more thing:

This hack also works for insomnia.

If you find yourself lying in bed, seriously not sleeping, here’s what you can do:

Relax the jaw, slow down your breathing, and repeat a mantra to yourself. (For this particular purpose, I like “I am safe. I am loved.”)

Yes, it sounds a lot like meditation, because it basically is.

And it works wonders!

Just like meditation works wonders!

Now that’s all I have to say.

Really.

What’s your experience with meditation hacks? Share your comments below!