The busier life gets, the more we need to meditate. Meditation is an opportunity to clear your mind of stress and tension. By doing this, you gain a clearer state of mind that allows you to operate more easily and efficiently. That’s just what a busy person needs! Of course, when we’re busy, that’s when we least want to take a break for meditation.
At the end of this blog post, you’ll find the podcast interview with Jim Larson, who has taught meditation for over 40 years.
Stress blocks your experience of love and happiness
Meditation is the means to removing those blocks. Those blocks are the negative impressions that have been stored inside.
Think of a baby’s inner glow – that’s a natural state within us that we can access via meditation – even as adults! Meditation restores your connection with your highest self – your inner wisdom.
Each of us has some agitation, and the mind blames external circumstances. Fear, anger, worry, is already inside of us. We hook it onto an external situation, blaming something outside of us for our misery.
People often struggle to experience peace daily because we are so overwhelmed, and there are so many demands on us in our modern lives.
We store emotions and stressors. The mind records all the business of life and is greatly impacted by intensity of life.
The more we meditate, the less of this negativity we carry. Any agitation that does arise, it resolves more quickly. Meditation helps us clean up our internal environment so that we can move through events more easily and with less (or no) stress.
The four states of consciousness: waking, sleeping, dreaming, meditative.
The meditative mind allows you to experience inner quietness. It allows stressors that are stored within to dissolve bit by bit.
There is a breathing meditation technique that feels like a shower to my mind – it cleans away dirt and stress residue. This technique then allows me to sit with a quiet and calm meditation, which helps me stay focused, alert and emotionally centered.
Many people have had a taste of meditation. Training in a method of meditation allows us to train the mind in how to experience peacefulness on a daily basis.
Health benefits of meditation
The benefits of meditation have been well-established through hundreds of studies, like this one.
- Brings back your connection with yourself
- Helps blood pressure, heart rhythm
- Improves depression, anxiety
- Improves emotional control
- Improves cognition
- Promotes better brain function
- Increases gray matter in brain, helping stave off gray matter
Types of meditation
- SKY meditation is a specific breath pattern that brings the mind into meditation, regardless of how the mind or emotions are at that time. The breath is deeply connected to the emotions and to the mind. Example: when you are afraid, you gasp or breathe rapidly. When you are sad, you sigh or breathe heavily. There is a rhythm of breath for every emotion. Using your breathing to influence the mind and emotions is very effective.
- Other meditation styles include mantra, mindfulness, etc. Using breathing meditation first is most helpful so that your other meditation technique becomes easier.
How to make sure you have enough time for meditation:
Thirty minutes per day is all that’s needed. We need to prioritize time for meditation. How are you using your time right now? Is it bringing you deep value? Most of us are spending our time making money so that we can become more comfortable . . . but how long does that last? How many people fail to be permanently happy or comfortable, despite all the money we may have? Happiness and comfort come from within. Create the internal conditions so that you can be internally happy and comfortable. Summon some willpower, and surround yourself with others who are doing these practices.
Meditation is profoundly helpful
The benefits of meditation are thoroughly established. Techniques for meditation are now widely available. You can find the link to Jim Larson’s guided meditation next week. Or grab my guided meditation by registering here, free.
My advice is to schedule time into your calendar for 30 minutes to meditate over the next three days. Honor that time. Tell people to not disturb you. Follow these guided meditations to help you get started right away.
Where to find helpful meditation resources:
About our podcast guest:
Jim Larsen has taught thousands of people meditation over the last 40 years. He currently teaches a highly effective ‘Breath Meditation’ in addition to traditional meditation practices full time for the International Association for Human Values, IAHV.org.
Jim regularly leads advanced meditation retreats and silence programs and teaches stress relief training for veterans in a program called Project Welcome Home Troops, PWHT.org. Jim led trauma relief programs in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and has taught meditation and breathing practices in prisons and to depression and cancer patients.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
13 responses to “Reasons you need to meditate”
An insightful article. It’s amazing to me how slow science has been to catch on to the benefits but it is exciting to see meditation practice becoming more mainstream.
Bonnie, I agree! Thankfully, science has really caught on, and this has sparked a wave of interest among people who might not otherwise care about how meditation could help them. Grateful that this is so.
I think the most valuable point you make comes in the form of questions: “How are you using your time right now? Is it bringing you deep value?” When you consider the time so many of us spend on TV, online games, even just kvetching…it probably would be pretty darn simple to “find” 30 minutes each day. So glad I got my session in before reading this post! 🙂
Kathleen, that’s funny! Glad you got your session in too. Ha! =)
Meditation is so valuable for supporting life balance. My only issue with this article is that you don’t really need 30 minutes to meditate. If you don’t have 30 minutes, less time is still beneficial. Even 30 seconds can make a difference.
Hi Scott, time concerns do take precedence for so many of us. 20 minutes is recommended by leading meditation teachers worldwide as the minimum daily practice. Examples include Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Dalai Lama, etc. Thirty seconds would be great for relaxation and centering, which is essential to do regularly throughout the day. I have a hard time fathoming that you are truly meditating in 30 seconds.
” it cleans away dirt and stress residue”. Love that!! I never meditated ( or at least on purpose ) until about 2 years ago. I’m still learning!!
Kelly, thrilled to hear you’re already using meditation. I started the practice 18 year ago, and I am definitely still learning. It’s just amazing how deep the practice goes. I guess this is why it’s been around for thousands of years! =0)
Hi Frances! I am ALWAYS trying to explain to my patients how important it is to meditate. It benefits, mind and bodily health, and also fertility! I love having another reference point for them. Great topic!
Very insightful article on the positive effects of meditation. I agree with Dorothy that this is a great reference article for meditation.
And since we all probably know someone in need of meditation benefits, feel free to share this with anyone who would benefit. Thanks for your support, Lilia!
Like Kelly and others meditation at least formally is new to me. In addition to the post, I appreciate Scott’s comment “…even 30 seconds can make a difference.” as the time encouraged is what I think stops so many from discovering the positive effects of meditation. I am grateful someone shared with me “start with seconds & see if it works for you”. I get more is better, yet starting and finding what works for you may net the most positive benefits of all!
Awesome – good to hear that works for you, Cindy!