Ten years ago, if I heard the word meditation, I imagined sitting cross-legged on a braided rug for a long stretch of time with my eyes closed and weird humming noises coming out of my mouth. I equated such behavior with hippies, or really serious yogis, or at least people with long hair and an affinity for New Age magic. I also didn’t think the benefits exceeded past a little stress relief and probably a related sense of self-improvement. But as I stumbled across articles and studies on meditation, and went through my own yoga teacher training, my skepticism slowly morphed into something like curiosity.
Now I realize meditation is more than smoke and mirrors—the health benefits alone are backed by legitimate research, and plenty of it. Meditation can lower stress and anxiety, reduce your risk of heart disease and depression, improve your self-esteem, foster better coping mechanisms, help with weight management, and complement exercise performance. And at the very least, it allows our busy brains to take a little break from always thinking, striving, planning, and analyzing. Maybe you’re still not convinced, and that’s fine, but it can’t hurt to give it a try, either.