5 Reasons to Start a Meditation Practice..
Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island in the past several years, you’ve seen what amounts to a degree of social collapse and massive change worldwide. Every day, we are bombarded with headlines of political, social, economic, environmental, & personal disasters across the globe. Make no mistake- the world is changing at an exponential rate, and we, as human beings, aren’t wired for this degree of upheaval.
What makes it worse is that none of this is under any one person’s control. This constant exposure to long term stress, along with the individual struggles that each of us are facing in our jobs and relationships are, I believe, heavily contributing to a world where many of us are simply no longer OK. This is clearly apparent in the huge upswing of mental health related problems that are facing our communities today.
Fortunately, for those of us who decide to take some control over our lives, there is something we can do. Best of all, it’s easy to start, and completely free.
That something is meditation. In recent years, there has been much research on meditation, and we now have solid science that supports the practice as something that is enormously beneficial for both mind and body.
So, what is meditation exactly?
There are actually many practices that can be understood as meditation. But, for simplicity’s sake, a good place to start is that meditation is an ongoing, committed personal practice that strives to bring balance and clarity to the processes within the mind. This can, but doesn’t necessarily include relaxing the body.
A good place to begin is with basic, seated meditation such as zazen. Zazen is the foundational practice of Zen Buddhism. However, the method itself isn’t at all dependent on religious affiliation .
There is much free information and resources on how to begin a zazen practice online. Also, check your local listings, as in recent years, most areas have developed meditation groups and instruction.
That being said, here are 5 reasons to begin and maintain a meditation practice:
1. Meditation can help to improve your mood and overall sense of well-being.
Regular meditation has the effect of mood stabilization due to the sense of stillness and clarity that it develops. Many mood issues stem from an overactive mind that is constantly ruminating about events in the past and future. Learning to quiet this ongoing chatter helps tremendously to induce a much better sense of well being. Calm is king. Clarity is queen.
2. Meditation can help to reduce stress and anxiety levels.
Meditation significantly reduces stress because it brings us into the moment, and into greater touch with our minds and bodies. When we can mindfully immerse in the moment, we gain greater control over the stress response, and can experience a greater degree of internal peace. Once we become familiar with how this process works, we can learn to reproduce it in the long term.
3. Meditation can help to improve focus and concentration.
One of the chronic problems that we experience today is that we live in a world of constant distractions. This contributes to things like not being able to concentrate fully, experiencing “brain fog”, and not being able to complete our usual tasks. Many people feel trapped in states like this, and aren’t sure how to get back on track. Persistent meditation cultivates concentration and focus through the inner stillness produced by the practice. For someone who struggles with focus, this seems hard to understand at first, but the proof is in the practice. It definitely works.
4. Meditation can help to promote better sleep.
Not sleeping enough is a problem that many people regularly deal with. Again, this is mostly due to an overactive and overstimulated mind. Once again, meditation serves to calm us by learning physical and mental stillness. When we can learn to unplug, it is immensely beneficial to our sleep patterns. Once we are experiencing a better quality of sleep, our overall stress and anxiety levels will diminish.
5. Meditation can help to boost your immune system.
Current research is beginning to show that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind at a level that is much more profound than previously understood. While meditation isn’t a substitute for professional medical care in the event that something is wrong, it can go a long way in keeping us healthy in the first place. A healthy mind contributes to a healthy body, and vice versa. When we have a good mind/body balance, every system in our bodies can operate at peak efficiency which contributes to a greater degree of health and wellness. While our physical bodies require exercise to maintain health and fitness, so too do our minds. In some ways, meditation can be thought of as the gym for the mind.
Holistic and exponential effects.
At the beginning, it might seem that meditation isn’t doing much. It can be accompanied by initial feelings of frustration, because people today are generally conditioned to want immediate results with little effort. Meditation doesn’t work like that. While the task itself may seem simple, the work isn’t easy. It takes time and dedication to reap the benefits of the practice. However, if the work is put in, the results will come.
Initially, we may feel a bit calmer, and more relaxed. Soon, we realize that we are more in control of our emotional states, and we aren’t having outbursts like we may have before. It then becomes easier to have patience with difficult people. As time goes on, it becomes much more difficult to disturb our state of inner peace.
This becomes a holistic quality that extends to pretty much everything in life that we encounter. When the practice has become a long term thing, the results become exponential, and we find that every aspect of our life has been improved- from our health, to our mental state, to our relationships, to our productivity & our patience. Just a little research will reveal that a high percentage of very successful people say that meditation is an essential part of their daily routines.
In my own life, I see clearly what’s going on around me and in society in general. There are no signs of it getting better anytime soon. Meditation has significantly helped me to effectively deal with the world around me, and maintain a strong sense of meaning in my life. With some practice and a bit of patience, I really believe that it can help you too.
In conclusion, I hope that this short article has inspired you to learn a bit more about meditation. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. I’m here, and happy to answer.
Best regards,
Myron Gaudet
