“Mostly, I meditate with a timer as an upper bound, before I have to do the stuff I have to do during the day.
I never get close to it but I just do it anyway because it gets rid of the anxiety of if I decide to meditate and I miss something because of it.
Usually, I just stop after I get this feeling of contentment and clarity, where my eyes just naturally want to open.
But I see others saying that you should keep going until the amount of time you prescribed for the session, even when you don’t feel like continuing or it’s difficult.
I’ve heard people say that this is when insight is granted or comparing it to the last couple of hard reps in a gym, and if you stop now you’re basically throwing all the time you’ve used away.
Is this true?
I’m worried that if I increase the difficulty of meditation, I’ll enjoy it less and get some resistance to starting it, which may make me miss some sessions.”
Your approach to meditation is healthy.
When you are meditating and get to where it feels like a natural place to stop meditating this is the right time to stop meditating.
As you mentioned, forcing yourself to continue meditating has negative effects.
Keep going as you are.
The greatest benefits of meditation come from meditating regularly rather than meditating for specific lengths of time.
Edwin Leo 