“What is meditation?” Great question. There are so many myths and misconceptions around meditation, and I’ll get to those in a minute.
First, how about you? When you think of someone meditating, do you imagine someone sitting with a rigidly straight back, cross-legged, maybe in a quiet room with a look of patronising bliss on their face? If that’s the first image that pops to mind, no wonder, it’s certainly one that we see in the media – and Instagram (don’t get me started)!
Personally, I have a much more relaxed view on meditation. Basically, meditation is a practice that helps us to relax the body and ease the mind. To me, that answers the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ question, don’t you think?
What meditation is and isn’t
Ok, so let me come back to the myths and misconceptions because maybe these will help to round out an understanding of meditation.
- “Meditation is neither a spiritual nor religious practice, although it can be if the practitioner chooses to engage with it in such a way.” This is one of my favourite lines when I talk about meditation. I’d love to take credit for it, but it was originally said by Dr. Amishi Jha. Dr Jha is a neuroscientist who studies attention in her lab at the University of Miami – check her out; she does fascinating work in this space.
- We don’t have to sit still to meditate. We can actually meditate while we’re walking, standing or lying down.
- When we meditate, we’re not immediately given a pass straight into the land of Bliss Balls and lollipops. Over time, what happens is that we can develop the capacity of Distress Tolerance.
Why meditate?
If you’re looking for other reasons to practice meditation other than to relax your body and ease your mind, no problem. Let me ask you another question. When it comes to meditation, what are you curious about? What is it that has motivated you to ask about meditation, what’s behind that? I find that by following my curiosity, I’m also following something that has meaning for me.
Maybe you are curious about:
- How meditation can help you to sleep better,
- How you might use this practice to help manage stress and anxiety, or
- The neuroscience around meditation and contemplative practices.
Perhaps you’re curious about all of these things or none of these things. Why you decide to practice meditation is totally up to you and whatever your reason for doing so is completely right. Meditation is a personal practice, a personal practice that can also benefit those around us.
I’ve been meditating consistently inconsistently for more than 30 years. My reasons for meditating change and so does my practice. At the end of the day, it’s my practice and I’m a grown-up who can meditate any way that is right for me. And so can you.
Curious about how meditation and mindfulness can help you to mind your mojo? Let’s stay connected.