introduction to Meditation

Why is it that two people can participate in the same event, the same physical reality, yet experience it completely differently?

Your mind is truly what creates the reality you live in.

Meditation is the intentional calming of the mind. Many feel discouraged when they begin meditating because there is a misconception that you aren’t supposed to think or have thoughts during the process. This is not true. Thoughts are expected and an integral part of a meditation practice. When a thought arises, we acknowledge the thought, smile to it, let it go, and bring our attention back to the focus of our meditation. The Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, compares this process of watching your thinking to watching the clouds in the sky.

We often believe that we are our thoughts: the voice in our head is us, but again, this is not true. You are the observer, not the observed. There is no need to fall victim to this restless voice in your head. With compassion, care, attention and practice, you can begin to calm and tame this voice, so that is no longer an omnipresent cloud over you.

Take a second here to think about your thoughts, your ego. Let’s say that instead of being in your head, this voice was an actual person standing next to you. This person never shuts up. Not only do they never stop, they typically have something negative to say… something unproductive, hurtful and distracting. We want to think that we would instantly ignore that person, disregard them, and maybe even distance ourselves from them. So why do we allow this voice to persist? Why is it that we never fully look at our thoughts for what they are, the passing ramblings of the ego? Your thoughts are not reality, they are only part of what you perceive as reality. 

beginning a meditation practice

As you begin to meditate, focusing on your breath, a mantra, a visualization, the sound of relaxing music or the voice of a guided meditation, we strengthen our muscle of focus and attention. A thought arises and we entertain it aimlessly for a few moments, at which point we catch ourselves in the thought. We compassionately and gracefully let go of the thought, take our attention away from it, and back to our breath. Each time this happens, we strength this attention muscle, and we begin to “fire and wire” new, more productive pathways in the brain. 

DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF

When you are starting out, you will almost certainly have a constant stream of thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. These give you the best opportunity to become more aware, more awake, more mindful of the inner workings of your mind. Be gentle with yourself. It’s not supposed to be easy. And if it were easy, wouldn’t we all be doing it all the time? We call meditation a practice, because it is something that is never truly conquered, only worked on and strengthened.

STRENGTHEN YOUR PRACTICE WITH CLEAR INTENTIONS

These can be overarching intentions, why you want to do it in general (e.g., promote better sleep, decrease reactivity to your children, dampen your work stress, etc.), or intentions for each session. Personally, I like to begin each meditation session with a version of one of the following intentions from Buddhism for Busy People by David Michie:

By the process of this meditation, may I cultivate more love, self-acceptance, opportunities and abundance while releasing all sources of suffering to benefit myself and all other beings.

By the process of this meditation, I will become more calm and relaxed, more efficient and happier in all that I do, both for my own sake and for others.

START SMALL & LOOK FOR BENEFITS

Start small, 3 to 5 minutes a day, and build up to 10, 15, 20 minute periods. It is more important to meditate frequently (daily vs. weekly) than it is to mediate for longer periods of time (10 minutes vs. 1 hour).

As more science on meditation is explored, the benefits are substantial! Not only does it reduce stress, anxiety, depression, physical pain, anger and other negative emotions, it promotes concentration, self-acceptance, empathy, creativity, intuition, peace, happiness, memory, learning and the immune system (these are only a fraction of the published benefits).As you begin to meditate, take the time to reflect on the benefits that it builds in your own life.

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