Observing Zen Monks meditating for hours may make you believe that living a more balanced life filled with joy, happiness, and focus takes years of practice, sacrifice, and was not obtainable for the vast majority of people.
This is actually a widely held mis-conception - as the powerful benefits of meditation can be felt by everyone, with as little as ten minutes a day. Recent research has shown that meditating has dramatic positive effects in as little as a 10-minute session. Several studies have demonstrated that subjects who meditated for a short time showed increased alpha waves (the relaxed brain waves) and decreased anxiety and depression.
Researchers studied participants with MRI brain scans while they meditated, and found that meditation activated several of the autonomic parts of the brain, including those that controlled digestion, and blood pressure - which are normally out of our control. By lowering stress, and allowing these vital body functions to work free of any extra burden - ailing medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and digestion problems are much less likely to occur.
So what does a state of Meditation infer? In his book, “What is Meditation?” (Shambhala Publications, 1999), Rob Nairn talks about it as a state of “bare attention.” He explains, “It is a highly alert and skillful state of mind because it requires one to remain psychologically present and ‘with’ whatever happens in and around one without adding to or subtracting from it in any way.” Meditation cleanses your mind, cleaning it of negative thoughts and other obstructive clutter.
If there are so many positive benefits to meditation, why don’t more people practice it? Our biggest objection is that we don’t have 10 minutes to take out of our busy lives and meditate. The irony of this is that if we took out the time, as little as 10 minutes a day, the physical and psychological benefits would be much greater than any extra time spent working. Meditation is as simple as sitting in a chair in a quiet room and focusing on ones breathing, or listening to a CD of sounds.
I’m sure you have 10 minutes today to meditate and see the positive benefits to your mind and body. You can start by trying a free demo of one of the most commonly used meditation courses, allowing you to experience different states of meditation, or just by sitting down and taking some quiet time to allow yourself to observe your mind.
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