The Benefits of Meditation

When I began my meditation practice, I was horrible at it. Yes, horrible.

As it is often called, my monkey mind was all over the place. Thinking about food, the things I needed to do that day, my bills, did my paycheck arrive, etc.

The whole purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind in order to hear, and all mine was doing was screaming. So loud that at one point I actually muttered to myself, Shut Up!

I found meditation to not be beneficial to me and rightfully so. It was hard! Sitting still, being quiet, just breathing....these are things that I was not accustomed to. My energy was always go! go! go! and settling my energy and my mind was the last thing I knew how to do.

But, I persisted. Two minutes turned into five. Five turned into 10, then 20, then 30. You get the picture. You see, I actually got better at it the more I practiced it.

Here we are ten years later and I am heading to my first 10 day silent meditation retreat where all we do all day is....Meditate. It is designed to help you consciously come back to the present moment whenever you need to by practicing it all day. And although I can now meditate for an hour or so, this is going to be a challenge. Why? Because I still like to move. But, I am ready for it.

Why You Should Practice Meditation (Even If You Think You Can't)

You know the feeling...your mind is racing at 11pm, you're doom scrolling to try and silence the mind to fall asleep. But none of it seems to work. Modern life can be exhausting and most of us are running on empty.

But, meditation is one of the few tools that actually can help turn the volume down. And that is the whole point. Not to stop the thinking mind completely, but just enough to hear the messages meant for you and in the process, you find peace, calm and lower stress.

You see, Meditation is a simple training exercise of beginning to notice when your mind wanders and bringing it back to the present moment through your breath. And with time what happens, you get better of tracking your thoughts and bringing it back to presence and second, your body's stress responses slows down.

Over time, a regular meditation practice offers: Peace, Inner Calm, Improved Focus, Lower Stress Levels, Better Decision Making and yes, a healthier $ex life. The last one throws people when I say it, but it is true.

The Number One Obstacle

The number one thing keeping individuals from starting is the narrative that they are doing it wrong when your mind wanders. The actual practice is noticing when it wanders and coming back to your breath. That is the entire practice. It is mental training and in the same way you work your muscles in an exercise class, you train your mind by coming back to the breath every time it wanders.

How to Start

So how do you start....you just try it. Find a meditation that works for you. Make it simple and easy for yourself. Don't get down on when you feel like you are not getting it right. Aim for five minutes and move ahead from there. Stop worrying about getting it right and trust that you are getting it right. The idea is to just start.

You don't need the perfect app, meditation pillow or 30 minutes. You just need five to ten minutes and a willingness to try. I offer a free meditation on my website. Try it out and let me know how you do.

Happy Meditating!