5 ways to meditate in the shower [+ How to]

Meditation is a practice that offers benefits beyond relaxation. It can improve your concentration and focus, relieve stress, and even keep you from getting sick.

And the best part about it? You don’t need to carve out extra time in your day to do it – you can literally incorporate it into your daily shower routine!

Yes, you heard me right, your daily cleansing ritual could now also become your meditation time!

Here are 5 ways to meditate in the shower and how to go about it:

1) Imagine washing away all negativity

The first and probably most useful way to meditate in the shower is to imagine washing away all negativity.

Open your meditation with a visualization of all your troubles, worries, and negative emotions swirling down the drain.

Imagine yourself standing in front of a showerhead letting all these things go, letting them flow out of your life.

Cleansing yourself of all negativity is something that has been practiced for centuries.

Clearing yourself of all these feelings will help you feel lighter and more positive, more in tune with your higher self.

Next, you want to let go of any shame you might be carrying around with you.

That old programming that tells you that you don’t deserve to be happy or comfortable.

Wash it away along with everything else. And make room for peace, love, and joy to come flooding in.

You see, cleansing rituals like this have been used in different cultures for centuries, but you don’t need to associate it with any certain belief in order for it to work for you.

It works in much the same way as a thought experiment.

You can use it to give yourself a mental cleansing and then work on feeling lighter and better about your life on a daily basis.

The shower is the place you cleanse your body of any dirt, but during your meditation, it can also be the place where you clear your mind of any troubles.

As you are washing your body, imagine scrubbing away all the negativity that came with your day and then washing it away in the shower.

That’s how you use your shower to cleanse yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

The power of visualization is truly amazing – and this technique will help you bring it into your life.

Whenever I use this technique, I am left feeling completely clean and refreshed, through and through.

There is nothing better than stepping out of the shower feeling like a newborn baby.

But this is by far not the only meditation you can do in the shower:

2) Do breathwork

Another way to meditate during your daily shower is by using breathwork to do so.

The breath is the center of life. It connects you to the present moment and helps you to navigate your thoughts.

It is your guide to healing, clarity, and meditation. When you breathe, you are activating both your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.

You are also increasing your oxygen intake, which helps your body to relax and regenerate.

You can do breathwork while in the shower, and it could take the form of a simple breathing exercise, or even just being mindful of your breath throughout the shower.

You see, the shower is a great place to do this because there are literally no distractions around that could pull you away from keeping your focus on your breath.

You know that feeling when you are breathing and it feels like the world has stopped?

How during the shower, do you tend to forget about everything and just feel those moments of stillness?

I look at it as a form of meditation. And I actually experience this almost every morning in the shower.

If there is one place in our lives where we can be at ease, it is the shower.

Now: what I like to do is choose a certain breathing pattern that I will then focus on while letting the water run over my body.

One of my favorites is box breathing, especially when I’m feeling a bit anxious.

Box breathing means you inhale for a certain amount of seconds (maybe start with 4), hold the breath for the same amount of time, exhale for that same amount of time and then hold it again before repeating the cycle.

Do this for a few minutes and your nervous system will calm down almost immediately.

And the best part? You don’t even need to remember to do this while showering. Just get into your breathing pattern, allow yourself to simply be in that moment and enjoy the feel of the water washing over your skin.

Breathing has always been one of my favorite things to focus on while meditating.

It does feel like a meditation – really, really deep and connected with every single cell of your body.

The warm water can be super beneficial when trying to relax, but if you want to wake up your entire body and also use breathwork, you could try taking cold showers.

The reason why I like cold showers is because they are a lot more stimulating to your nervous system than hot ones.

The cold water helps to wake up your body, and you can also do simple breathing patterns while standing in the shower and fighting the urge to get out of the cold.

These techniques have been used for centuries and have had quite a few documented benefits.

You might even find that it actually helps you to relax more if you use the shower as an opportunity to do so.

But cold showers are a topic for another time, let’s take a look at what else you can do in the shower:

3) Focus on the sound of water and do a mindfulness meditation

Water is a very powerful and cleansing element. Being mindful of the sound of water during your shower can help you to release the past and focus on the present moment.

It will help you to be more present and mindful in the here and now.

Try to be as present as possible and really focus on the sound of water.

Use the sound of the water to guide your meditation and help you to be present in the moment and forget about your worries or stress from your daily life.

Mindfulness meditations are really useful when trying to become more mindful in your day-to-day life or when you simply need a little bit of extra relaxation.

You see, in our everyday life we often forget to be mindful – we go about our days, running from one task to the next. We get distracted, forgetting what we should be doing and end up doing something else.

At some point, we realize that we’re not where we should be and then have to start all over again. Sometimes our anxiety increases and sometimes it decreases.

We can practice mindfulness in the morning, and try to stay in the moment by listening to the sound of the water until you’re relaxed.

Try to notice the different sounds and noises that the water makes – the rushing or gushing sound as it comes out of the nozzle, the trickling sound as it goes down your body, the sound of it hitting the ground.

Focus on the different sounds, and try to clear your mind of all the thoughts that come into your head. Let go of any negative thoughts and just focus on the water sounds.

This will catapult you into the present moment and give you a break from your worries and problems.

It can help you to take charge of your life again, instead of being on autopilot all day long.

Speaking of autopilot, you can take charge of your emotions in another way, too:

4) Do a gratitude meditation

One of the things we lack the most in our lives is gratitude.

There are so many things to be grateful for, yet we often end up focusing on the negatives, getting stuck in cycles of unhappiness.

How can you combat that?

Keep a gratitude journal or meditate on what you are grateful for.

Take your shower as an opportunity to reflect on what you are truly thankful for.

Being mindful of the things you are grateful for will make meditation more meaningful.

Try to focus on just one thing that you are grateful for at a time.

Let the feelings of gratitude wash over you and through your day.

Journaling or meditating on gratitude has been proven to make us feel happier, improve our sleep and even strengthen our immune system.

This gratitude meditation can also be used as a positive visualization meditation, letting yourself see what you want in your life.

Let the gratitude wash over you and gently push away all your worries. See yourself with everything you want in your life, feeling happy and healthy.

Truly letting your body feel the joy of gratitude is deeply healing and can help you bring inner peace into your life.

And if you’re interested in some more interesting things to do in the shower, here’s one for you:

5) Do a body-positive meditation

If you are struggling with body-image issues, feel free to do this meditation with your eyes open, looking in the mirror.

This can be a great meditation to do while you’re in the shower, as you can fully appreciate taking care of your body.

But you don’t need to be looking into a mirror for this to work.

Let the water flow over your body and be a reminder that you are taking care of yourself.

Try to focus on what your body is doing, the different things it is doing for you, and let it be a pleasure.

Feel the water flow down your back or on your skin.

Focus on the feeling of being clean, refreshed, and relaxed because you took care of your body.

Let the water flow over you and be a reminder that you are taking care of yourself and are worthy of love.

You see, we get so stuck on how our body is supposed to look like, that we completely forget to savor the way our body feels and the things it does for us.

Let the water flow down your body and be a reminder that you deserve to be happy and comfortable.

Focus on how amazing it is that you get to feel the warmth of the water and how nice it feels to scrub your body.

The fact that you get to smell soap and feel the water tickle you, is a nice reminder while you take your shower.

Why is the shower such a good place to meditate?

The shower is a great place to meditate because the sound of water is very powerful.

In fact, all the elements are powerful, but water is associated with emotions and feelings, so it can be very helpful in meditation.

Water is also healing and soothing, so it’s actually a place where you can be very relaxed, very focused, and very activated at the same time.

All of these things are great for meditation. Plus, you’re already in the shower, and you can’t put it off. You have to meditate now, so you’re not tempted to put it off until later.

The thing is, while meditation is not supposed to be something you necessarily multitask at, I know that life can get really busy.

If I’m being honest with you, I don’t always have the time or motivation to sit down for a 10 minute meditation every day on top of doing all the other stuff that needs to get done.

Combining habits, like meditation and showering or brushing my teeth and repeating affirmations has really helped me to stay on track with my spiritual habits, and I don’t have time to waste.

If you want to get in the habit of meditating (and you really should!) and are finding it hard to make time for it, try to combine it with showering.

How long do these meditations have to be?

All of these can be really short meditations.

These are short meditations that you can do while you’re in the shower and it honestly doesn’t matter how long you do them for.

You don’t have to do a long meditation in the shower. Most of the time, people try to do too long of a meditation every day, and it just doesn’t work out because they can’t stay consistent.

Instead of meditating for 30 minutes for 3 days and then stopping, it is much more beneficial to meditate for 5 minutes every day.

Of course, you might not want to waste any water, so you can keep your meditation as long as your usual shower would be – maybe that’s 5 minutes, maybe it’s 10 – whatever feels good to you.

There is no rule here, if you meditate for 3 minutes in the shower, it counts, too!

And remember, it’s not about what you’re meditating about – it’s about your meditation, so whatever is happening right now, that’s okay. Just let go of that and focus on the shower and what you’re doing there.

Why is water such a powerful element?

Water is associated with emotions and feelings. It’s a very powerful energy that can be very helpful in meditation.

Meditating near a source of water, like a waterfall or the ocean, can be helpful because it helps you to get grounded and relaxed.

You don’t have to go to a fancy place or find some special water source that may or may not be nearby.

Water is very accessible and very easy to find, and it’s a powerful element that can help with meditation.

This is why your shower might be the perfect place to start meditating.

As I mentioned earlier, the water can also act as the perfect visualization of washing negativity away.

If you’re the kind of person who easily gets frustrated and angry, then I definitely recommend meditating in the shower.

Even if you aren’t a very emotional person, I’m sure that there are things in your life that make you more upset than others.

Meditating near or in water can be amazing for you.

How to make this meditation even more powerful?

You can add crystals to your water. Crystals are very helpful for clearing your energy and helping you to be more present in the moment.

They are a great addition to any meditation. If you have a certain crystal that you like to use or you have a certain purpose in mind, you can add that crystal to your shower to help activate its energy and make it more powerful.

You can also add essential oils to your water if you are using a bathtub.

Water is helpful in meditation, but adding essential oils to it can help you to focus on one particular purpose or one particular intention.

For example, you can add some lavender essential oil to the water to help you to relax or to help you to be calmer during your meditation.

If you don’t have a bathtub, you can drip some lavender oil on a wet washcloth and lay it down or hang it up in your shower – the steam will dispense the oil in the whole room!

Of course, you can also light candles in your bathroom to set the mood even more.

It’s not necessary to have crystals, candles, or oils, but if you are a person who likes to set the mood, it might be helpful for you to incorporate those elements into your meditation.

How to integrate meditation into your shower ritual

So, how to you actually do it?

You want to do your shower ritual as you normally would.

You want to get the water warm so it’s not freezing cold, but you want to make sure you’re not getting so hot you’re going to get dizzy or pass out.

Honestly, there is no big secret to doing this, you simply have to start!

Why not try it out today – simply be a bit more mindful during your shower or use one of the techniques I’ve taught you above!

Trust me, you will never want to shower any other way again – this turns a daily chore into something beautiful to look forward to!

Good luck!