What If You Got Meditation All Wrong? What If It Is Not Kookoo After All, but The Solution To All Kookooness

Caspar Fagerström
Nov 4 · 5 min read

I like to relax and this is how I do it, anywhere and everywhere.

In a time when our stress levels are increasing, people are experiencing various mental health problems and our attention is always up for grabs, it can feel like it is starting to take a toll on our minds. We are bombarded with stuff and people who want us to do X or buy Y, while we save up for Z. In a single day, most people are exposed to more stimuli through media and screens than we have ever been in history. Most people have access to more information than any of our predecessors and our society and advertising are trying to “influence” you subconsciously anywhere and everywhere. It is warfare between the attention at the present moment and all the noise and distractions trying to divert you from it. To keep your mind quiet is, for the most part, a continuous game of cat and mouse. You never know when you might be disturbed thus “eaten”.

In the last few years, I have dived into the mindfulness and meditation space and as a result, I have started challenging people on it. It is a topic I love to discuss with people and pick their brains as often as possible. A few months in, I started noticing a pattern amongst the people I was talking to. I met a lot of people who had this “defensiveness” towards meditation when prompted the question about their meditative practices. A common comment would be “I don’t do meditation” or “I do not need it”. Out of curiosity, I would ask a follow-up question to understand what the person meant. I would try to make the question as simple as possible by asking a question such as “What do you do to relax?”. Common answers would be; I go for walks, I exercise, I clean, I do climbing. My next question would be; why do you do that activity? Their answers would be in short; to relax. So we agreed that they pursue these activities to calm the mind. Great, we have agreed that the goal is the same, the path, however, is different. How we phrase things might be the difference between winning and losing, to be understood or not. I set out to try to unravel this mystery of meditation and how it can improve your life and how to easily implement it in our daily lives. This is the crunch.

Most people have one or more activities they pursue to relax on a day-to-day basis. If not, they go, as they told me, “kookoo”. We all need to relax our minds, we just label the journey to peace differently. What all these activities have in common is that it gets you into a meditative state. A meditative state is a calm mind that allows your mind to relax, recharge, gain clarity and create a good atmosphere for creative thinking. All our favorite adjectives in one single act.

Exercising is fantastic, climbing is amazing and going for a walk is great, but going for frequent walks when you have meetings and an 8-hour workday and your stress is increasing by the hour, is not gonna cut it. Most people experience stress on a day-to-day basis, that in turn influences their ability to execute their work; thus their quality of life. Stressful situations at work, stressful environments outside of work and your own emotional chaos in the midst of it, a recipe for failure. Stress has become a natural part of most people’s daily lives and struggles, so finding a way to manage stress in that environment is muy importante. So; how can we create peace in a chaotic environment? You guessed it; meditation my friend.

If you put all the preconceived notions what you think meditation is aside and just think about meditation as an effective way of allowing your mind to pace down, then have made your life a little more manageable. Meditation is at its core a way for the mind to accelerate from 6th gear down 1st gear through breathing and focus. It is a very effective tool for you to apply whenever there is a situation that demands a calm mind and clear thinking. As you can imagine, that accounts for most situations in life.

Every moment is a moment for meditation and everywhere is a place for it.

A core benefit of meditation is to make your mind relax, in a very efficient way. Meditation is like exercising without the need for gear and equipment. It is a tool you can use when you find yourself stressed and need to calm down, fast. For all of you caught in a hectic day, see no further, I have the solution to all your problems. Here are some situations I normally find myself meditating.

E.g

1# For those walking between meetings, you can meditate while you walk.

2# For those on the more sporty side, you can bicycle/run and meditate.

3# For those lovely folks in cubicles or at a desk, meditate in your cubicle/at your desk before entering a meeting.

4# Even in the elevator or by the coffee machine when you need a little break, no excuse for all of us peace-making-office-workers.

5# In the bathroom, instead of scrolling Insta you can scroll away from your stress through some breathing.

6# On the bus or train to work.

Be creative and prioritize yourself. Here is my 5-step-scheme that I follow every day and whenever I have time to spare. You only need yourself and some focus.

  1. Lean back in your chair/seat
  2. Close your eyes
  3. Focus on your breathing.
  4. Take a deep inhale through your nose for 7–10 seconds and exhale through your nose.
  5. Repeat for 5 minutes.

Life is hectic enough as it is, do not let the stress get you. Remember; only you can create space for your mind to think. Now, wander off and meditate young Padawan, good luck!

Caspar Fagerström

Written by

Strong believer that it all starts with the mind and that our minds hold the wisdom to our future.

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