When you hear the word “meditation” you probably think of a Buddhist monk sitting on top of a mountain. In your head, this dude has been there for days, maybe even years, and is so calm he barely moves. He’s enlightened, and he’s totally unattainable.
In reality, meditation is much simpler than moving to a monastery in the Himalayas. Anyone can meditate and many more people than you’d probably expect do it. It doesn’t mean they’re sitting at home on a Friday night chanting the word “om.” Meditation can be simple, quick, and done anywhere. Think of your mind as a muscle (not your brain, but your mind) and meditation as the workout you do to make it stronger.
Simply put, the practice of meditation is clearing your mind. Doing this means focusing on your awareness and training your mind to focus on one thing in an effort to clear out all the other noise. The goal is to achieve a state of calm for a sustained period of time.
Anyone who has tried to meditate before knows that it’s much harder than it sounds. Many beginners get frustrated because they are having a hard time clearing their minds and not getting caught up in their thoughts. This frustration leads them to abandon meditation and say it’s “too hard.” Many teachers, however, say the secret of meditation is that it’s not easy for anyone. That’s why it’s called a practice. It takes skill and experience to be able to totally clear your mind, and many people who have meditated for years still can’t do it. The practice of meditating is in the experience; meditating successfully is a journey, not a destination.
Meditation is an ancient practice used across cultures for centuries. Recently, scientific studies have found that meditation has measurable effects on both your body and mind. It has been shown to lower blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and improve the blood circulation throughout your body. Many meditation practices focus on breath work, so it also physically slows down your breathing and allows more oxygen to circulate in your bloodstream.
Mentally, meditation has been shown to decrease anxiety, lower stress, elevate mood, and reduce cortisol levels in the brain. Studies have shown that people with consistent meditation practices benefit from these effects even when they’re not meditating. It has been shown to allow practitioners to better manage their anxiety and stress in the long run.
Meditation is exercise for your brain, and just like working out, there are a lot of different ways to do it. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. These are some of the most common meditation styles.
This is one of the most popular forms of meditation and is built on the assumption that you will not be able to completely clear your mind. That’s okay! Mindfulness meditation encourages you to acknowledge thoughts as they come and let them pass through your mind without judgment. It usually involves focusing on a specific thing, like your breath, to help divert focus away from your thoughts.
This form of meditation is arguably the most popular worldwide and the most scientifically studied. It’s popular among celebrities (the Beatles were fans and so are David Lynch, Jerry Seinfeld, and Ellen DeGeneres) and is a more structured form of meditation than some others. It involves focusing on a mantra (a word or series of words that you repeat aloud to help focus your thoughts). Usually, to learn Transcendental Meditation, you must seek out an accredited teacher.
As mentioned previously, a mantra is a word or series of words that are repeated to help focus your mind. By focusing on the words, the theory is that your mind is able to clear itself of other thoughts more easily. Some people find this type of meditation helpful because it provides you something to do. If you find focusing on your breath too difficult or sitting with your own thoughts too scary, starting with mantra meditation might be good for you.
Thanks to the popularity of meditation, new apps and classes are popping up everywhere. Most of these use guided meditation, in which a voice or teacher guides you through the meditation process, either by taking you on a journey to visualize in your head or simply talking you through the process of breath work and mindfulness. This type is especially good for novices, as they might have a hard time sitting in silence for a sustained period of time.
One of the biggest hurdles some people face when beginning a meditation practice is sitting for a long period of time. Whether it’s a physical response like joint pain or more of a restlessness, those people may be better suited to movement meditation. This type allows you to move through a series of poses, like yoga, or any sort of other sustained and/or repetitive action, like going on a walk or even cleaning your house. The goal isn’t to raise your heart rate but instead allow your body to go on autopilot and let your mind focus on itself.
No matter what form of meditation you choose, the biggest hurdle can be actually starting. Many people get intimidated by meditation itself and think that if they can’t sit in silence for half an hour that they won’t be able to meditate. Remember that a meditation practice is about going through the process, not about doing it perfectly from the very beginning. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be uncomfortable. There is no such thing as failure in meditation. To get started, here are some simple steps: