It's Simple, Really!

What’s Your Excuse?

According to science, meditation has far reaching benefits. According to those that practice, it can change your life. In order to receive the most benefits, I recommend making it a part of your daily routine like brushing your teeth or making your coffee. It doesn’t take long, even ten minutes a day has been shown to be beneficial. And the biggest benefit I have found is that it helps me to be mindful throughout my day. This leads to greater happiness. So … meditation = happiness! Who doesn’t want to be happier?

Many people find the word “meditation” intimidating. The thought of sitting for hours in complete silence isn’t for them. Others think it’s too “woo woo” for them, conjuring up images of hippies with hairy armpits and smelling like patchouli. There are more excuses than you can shake a stick at. Here’s a look at a few and my response to those excuses:

Meditation is too hippy-dippy, airy-fairy, new-agey for me.  Or what I like to call the Meditation = Woo Woo syndrome

• There are many, many studies, by reputable sources like Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins & UCLA (ok & Berkeley too) that show there are actual physiological changes that happen in a person’s brain when they regularly mediate.  
• There are celebrities (Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, 50 cent, Goldie Hawn).
• Athletes have discovered the benefits and use it to improve their performance (LaBron James, The Greenbay Packers).
• And many politicians that have a regular practice - not enough but Congressman Tim Ryan, Ohio, who has become an evangelist for meditation – his book, “A Mindful Nation, How a Simple Practice can help reduce stress, improve performance and recapture the American spirit”  Imagine a world in which all politicians meditated … ahhhhh.
• There are entire corporations that promote meditation in the workplace (Google, Apple, Nike, HBO).
• There are many, many articles in mainstream magazines like Forbes, ESPN & Time touting the benefits.

My mind is waaaaay too busy – there’s no way I can clear my thoughts
There are lots of strategies to keep focused. I’m going to tell you a little secret – I’m an introvert. That’s not the secret – the secret is - and back me up introvert brothers & sisters – our minds are CRAZY busy.  That’s the nature of being an introvert – we have a longer neural pathway for processing stimuli. Information runs through a pathway that is associated with long term memory and planning. In other words, it’s more complicated for introverts to process interactions and events. And we get over stimulated more easily than you extroverts.  So, if I can do it, you can do it.

I don’t have time to meditate 
There’s an old saying  “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.”  Any time you put into meditation is well spent.  Start small, even 5 minutes.  10 minutes show have been shown in clinical tests to make a difference. 20 minutes works wonders.  How much time do you spend watching TV, or on Facebook?

With my bad hips?  I can’t sit cross-legged for even 5 minutes 
The days of sitting in a full-lotus or any lotus on the floor are over.  If you want to sit on a meditation cushion, that’s fine and know that it will get easier as your hip flexors are stretched over time.  It is recommended by some because it is the most stable position and because it’s traditional.  The thing is, Buddha didn’t have a chair to sit on when he meditated under the Bodhi Tree for seven days as he attained enlightenment.

I’m not religious, (or I’m not Buddhist, Hindu, etc.) and meditation is a religious (Buddhist, Hindu, etc) thing
There are many forms of meditation, some tied to a religion, many not.  In fact all the major religions of the world have some form of meditation – praying, chanting, contemplation, .  I teach a secular form of meditation that everyone can practice and benefit from.

I can’t sit still
It’s ok to fidget at first.  With a regular meditation practice, over time the fidgeting will slow down. No one starts out sitting perfectly still.

Meditation is lonely – it’s scary to be alone
Many people don’t like to spend time alone.  Our culture has devalued solitude.  It hasn’t always been that way & it’s not as scary as you think.

Meditation sounds boring
With our fast-paced life, isn’t it nice to have some time when you have no obligations or anything to do.

So, give it try, what do you have to lose but maybe ten minutes a day. And with so many distractions these days, ten minutes should be easy to find, and ten minutes of silence is a gift that just keeps on giving.