Meditation, shall I give it a go?
The subject of meditation has become very popular in recent years. A lot of people would like to learn how to do it; some consider it to be for those who have plenty of time on their hands; others are still sceptical, thinking it is for wacky personalities and a waste of time. There’s also a lot of misconception about it. Just type the word into your search engine and see what you can find!
I have just done it myself and apart from the usual titles of ‘learn simple ways how to meditate’, ‘effortless meditation’ etc, I have also found a lot of images suggested by my search engine. You soon notice a theme – it’s usually a woman (sometimes a man), sitting in a most uncomfortable position, with their hands placed on the knees, with closed eyes. Yes, this is a typical image you get and yet there’s so much more to meditation than that.
Personally, every time I meditate I do it slightly differently. I have an outcome in mind and a meditation session helps me achieve it.
The purpose of this blog is to focus on the benefits of meditation, rather than techniques.
Meditation, shall I give it a go?
The subject of meditation has become very popular in recent years. A lot of people would like to learn how to do it; some consider it to be for those who have plenty of time on their hands; others are still sceptical, thinking it is for wacky personalities and a waste of time. There’s also a lot of misconception about it. Just type the word into your search engine and see what you can find!
I have just done it myself and apart from the usual titles of ‘learn simple ways how to meditate’, ‘effortless meditation’ etc, I have also found a lot of images suggested by my search engine. You soon notice a theme – it’s usually a woman (sometimes a man), sitting in a most uncomfortable position, with their hands placed on the knees, with closed eyes. Yes, this is a typical image you get and yet there’s so much more to meditation than that.
Personally, every time I meditate I do it slightly differently. I have an outcome in mind and a meditation session helps me achieve it.
The purpose of this blog is to focus on the benefits of meditation, rather than techniques.
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There have been many scientific studies carried out around the world to find out if there are any benefits this practice has on the mind and body. It is well-documented that meditation has tremendous positive effects on the overall health and wellbeing. New findings keep coming in in abundance. And the benefits are astounding. Meditation brings about peaceful states; it improves the mood, slows down brain waves, improves mental and physical health – for example by reducing blood pressure and heart rate, reducing stress levels and many others. |
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Meditation has been practiced in many separate cultures for millennia. The Western World is only re-discovering (or awakening to) this amazing practice now.
Our usual default state is to focus on problems and how to trouble-shoot them. We replay the same scenarios in our minds over and over again. There’s constant chatter in our minds, based on the same information, same beliefs, same thoughts, however skewed. We’re constantly re-living the past, bringing the same ideas, limitations to the present and consequently, to the future. Have you ever tried changing something in your life – in your external world – and found that the effect was no different to what you have achieved in the past? Why is that? Well, it’s simple: changing your external world by only manipulating the material environment whilst staying in the same tired emotional states (which are automatic and rarely questioned) will only bring more of the same. Therefore, if you want to bring long-lasting positive change, you NEED TO START FROM WITHIN. You need to change yourself in order to see your material world transform. “As within so without, as above so below.”
Our usual default state is to focus on problems and how to trouble-shoot them. We replay the same scenarios in our minds over and over again. There’s constant chatter in our minds, based on the same information, same beliefs, same thoughts, however skewed. We’re constantly re-living the past, bringing the same ideas, limitations to the present and consequently, to the future. Have you ever tried changing something in your life – in your external world – and found that the effect was no different to what you have achieved in the past? Why is that? Well, it’s simple: changing your external world by only manipulating the material environment whilst staying in the same tired emotional states (which are automatic and rarely questioned) will only bring more of the same. Therefore, if you want to bring long-lasting positive change, you NEED TO START FROM WITHIN. You need to change yourself in order to see your material world transform. “As within so without, as above so below.”
Imagine if you were still running an old programme on your computer. It would slow it down, make it vulnerable to viruses and wouldn’t be compatible with many applications. The same applies to your mind. Most of us run an old programme in our heads, which was established in our childhood and hasn’t been much updated since. The outcome is what you currently have in your life: your problems, challenges, limitations, fears, inhibitions, addictions etc.
When you meditate, you access the subconscious power of your mind – the unlimited, creative potential that is within you. This part of the mind controls 95% of what goes on in your head. When meditating, your critical, conscious mind switches off, it no longer interrupts, analyses, criticises, corrects, moralises, and focuses on the material world around you (your body, time and space). Your conscious mind uses all 5 senses whereas your subconscious mind uses emotions to speak to you.
When you meditate, you close your eyes, relax and become oblivious to external inputs – this helps quieten the conscious mind, and now your focus is on what’s going on deep within you.
When you limit external stimuli and keep your focus firmly on what you want to achieve in life (it’s best to work on one goal at a time), see yourself having achieved your aim with all the details, this will produce emotions associated with having achieved the goal. At the same time, you’re changing your body chemically, thus, you’re changing your thinking and re-programming your mind. With this new programme running, possibilities are endless.
The effects are astonishing. Even if nothing changes in your material world straight away, you may feel inner peace and calm, and this maybe for the first time that you can remember. The more you practise, the more profound the effects become. I have seen people change within a short period of time, they become so much calmer and happier, their skin may become more radiant, their posture straighter, more confident, emanating this inner peace that wasn’t present there before.
When you meditate, you access the subconscious power of your mind – the unlimited, creative potential that is within you. This part of the mind controls 95% of what goes on in your head. When meditating, your critical, conscious mind switches off, it no longer interrupts, analyses, criticises, corrects, moralises, and focuses on the material world around you (your body, time and space). Your conscious mind uses all 5 senses whereas your subconscious mind uses emotions to speak to you.
When you meditate, you close your eyes, relax and become oblivious to external inputs – this helps quieten the conscious mind, and now your focus is on what’s going on deep within you.
When you limit external stimuli and keep your focus firmly on what you want to achieve in life (it’s best to work on one goal at a time), see yourself having achieved your aim with all the details, this will produce emotions associated with having achieved the goal. At the same time, you’re changing your body chemically, thus, you’re changing your thinking and re-programming your mind. With this new programme running, possibilities are endless.
The effects are astonishing. Even if nothing changes in your material world straight away, you may feel inner peace and calm, and this maybe for the first time that you can remember. The more you practise, the more profound the effects become. I have seen people change within a short period of time, they become so much calmer and happier, their skin may become more radiant, their posture straighter, more confident, emanating this inner peace that wasn’t present there before.
We often want to be happy some time in the future. But the future NEVER COMES. The future is always in the future, the past has gone, we only have the here and now. So, if you want to be happy, be happy NOW. Be the person you want to be now. You’re then giving a signal to your body and mind that this thing that you want, has already happened. This is profound. The mind cannot distinguish between what’s imagined and what’s real. To your mind and body, the thing you want has already happened - you are the new person because you behave in new ways, and you feel the new EMOTIONS associated with the new state of being. And presto, your external world starts changing. You have changed from within, to without.
This needs to be practised regularly as, like with any skill, you get better at it with repetition and there is less possibility that you will lapse into the old patterns of thinking. This last point is important – if you have done something for most of your life – like thinking the same thoughts and entertaining the same scenarios, worries, ruminating on the past etc, suddenly changing this permanently is going to take some time and dedication.
The practice of meditation doesn’t require hours of floor sitting. You can feel the benefits even if you give yourself 15 minutes a day. That’s 15 minutes of self-care and self-love. What’s more important? If you think you can’t even do that, ask yourself why not. Do you hold any self-limiting and self-imposed beliefs that keep you stuck where you are? Perhaps you’re comfortable with your unhappiness, sorrow, anger and other negative emotions? You need to be honest with yourself – change happens first when you become self-aware - aware of your unconscious thoughts and behaviours.
The subject of meditation cannot be covered in a short blog. I urge you to find out more and give it a go. You will be astonished with the results. You will never look back.
