Anyone on the spiritual path is familiar with the practice of meditation, taking time to sit and quiet the mind. As the practice of quieting the mind becomes more widespread and popular we are finding that not only spiritual seekers but also people in a variety of fields including science, psychology and even business are using meditation is an important key to benefit our everyday life.
What kind of meditation should we practice?
If we are new to meditation it can be overwhelming trying to find a practice, a teacher or way that feels right. One of the simplest and yet very effective methods of meditation is to focus on the breath, our lifeline to presence. When we take time to center ourselves every morning and evening, bringing awareness to breath, we naturally drop into the present moment which unlocks a whole host of benefits.
This can be as easy as taking 5 minutes each morning and evening to sit and literally become aware of the breath. When thoughts, memories, or emotions arise, we simply watch them and let them go, again returning to the awareness of breath.
Most people who first begin to meditate find it very difficult to still the mind. Like anything, it takes practice! The mind incessantly chatters and in traditional teachings is likened to a monkey that leaps wildly from tree branch to tree branch, unable to settle.
With a bit of diligence and patience, eventually we will begin to glimpse a quieter, more still aspect beyond the chattering. The thoughts are like clouds that drift, continuously changing form and shape through the true, clear nature of mind which is vast and limitless as the sky. The breath awareness serves to bring us back to the true nature of mind time and time again, literally rewiring our brain to a more peaceful and quieter state.
The Benefits of Meditation
1) Physical Health
Increasingly, studies are showing the positive health benefits of meditation including reduced stress and anxiety. We now know that stress is one of the major contributors to our ill health. Combine this with poor eating habits, excessive media consumption and lack of exercise, our mental states become even more agitated.
Choosing to bring the simple practice of meditation into our lives naturally changes our physiological state which is then reflected in better health. For example, consistent meditation helps us slow down and pay closer attention. We can then be more aware of how much food we are consuming and how this affects our bodies. Our sensitivity increases and we recognize when we need to drink more water, sleep more and ingest less unhealthy foods.
2) Focus and Discipline
Although meditation can be very difficult at first, it does eventually pay off. Just like training the body, training the mind requires some effort and practice. When we commit to a daily practice, albeit only five minutes a day, these five minutes can seem like an eon at first as we sit on our meditation cushion and struggle to stay attuned to our breath.
At this point, it is very easy to drop our practice; however, coming back to it each time enables us to strengthen our focus and cultivate a deeper discipline. This regularity naturally affects other areas of our life including our work and health, bringing more clarity through persistent effort.
The Buddha, after a great many years of searching, determined to reach enlightenment once and for all, sat diligently under the Bodhi tree for 40 straight days and nights without moving. This intense focus and disciplined effort led him, stage by stage, through the process of meeting his own mind and becoming the Buddha, or ‘awakened one.’
3) Mindfulness
Over time our practice of meditation inevitably leads to a stronger sense of mindfulness. In meditation traditions such as Yoga or Buddhist practices, mindfulness is a particular approach to our lives that is free of judgment and moving toward deeper acceptance.
As we loosen our fixations on the external world, we begin to see how emotions, thoughts, and desires naturally rise and fall away. This leads to a less reactive state of being and an ability to stay centered in challenging situations.
We also begin to see how our mental concepts and stories about our lives often limit our ability to rest in a more peaceful state of being and we can slowly learn to drop these attachments and become more open and spacious to every moment in life.
4) Ability to Manage Crisis and Life Transformation
As our mind settles over time, we build a foundation of centeredness. Like a bird that comes back to rest on the branch of a tree, giving our mind a place to rest becomes crucial to our wellbeing, especially in times of crisis. Learning to navigate the inner emotional storms of negativity and reactivity, when much bigger life changes happen such as death, divorce, or trauma, we find a place of refuge to help us move through the hard times.
Having cultivated a sense of knowing that things will pass can often give us hope when we feel especially lost in confusion, rage and sorrow. It is a sense of being in a dark forest, and our practice is a light to help guide us through. Even though we still have to take the steps to move through and out of the darkness, we have a guide to follow.
5) Deepening Empathy and Compassion
Finding that deep restful place within allows for an incredible open and spacious heart to emerge, one that accepts all of life and its ups and downs. The natural arising of a profound compassion follows this touch with our own inner light and love.
Not to be confused with feeling pity or sad for someone else, this is a clear view of others’ pain and suffering and the ability to see their reality without being dragged into it. My spiritual teachers carry an incredible sense of lightness and humor to each and every situation, a way to meet the days with joy and without resistance.
6) Tuning into the Intuitive
Eventually we find that continued meditation practice enables us to access deep and insightful parts of our being. We may notice clarity surfacing in other aspects of our daily life. Our dreams become clearer, synchronicities appear, reflecting our inner clear mind with the external world.
We start being able to tell the difference between intuitive insights and reactive emotions. We are naturally led to find what feels joyful in our lives, to seek out like minded people and community and do things that bring us more joy and happiness.
7) Deeper Sense of Life Purpose
As our meditation practice grows, we begin to find incredible comfort in that restful, easeful place of quiet calm center. We can return to this place more than just once a day, several times a day even. Our practice becomes a kind of deep seated nourishment, a well spring of love and compassion that always lives within, even if we have been clouded by our own pain and ignorance. As our bridge to our inner heart grows and expands, so does our connection to our personal gifts and what we have to offer the world. We find that our inner center, our spiritual heart becomes effortlessly reflected in our outer world.
With a very small amount of effort, we can begin to transform our lives from chaotic and difficult to a more peaceful and connected path. Meditation is the key to unlock our personal power, love and the infinite wisdom that lies within.
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