Why meditate?

When you think meditation, what comes to mind?  Yogis?  Mysticism?  The sounds of a sitar?  Sitting cross-legged?  Clouds of incense?  Chanting?

Forget the trappings.  Meditation doesn't require years of training.  It isn't difficult to learn or practice.  And you don't even have to blank your mind to do it!

Okay, but why bother?  Surely life is pressured enough without trying to carve out time for this exotic practice? 

Maybe not.  Consider:

• Meditation quiets the mind.  From being very active and unfocused, the mind becomes calmer, more focused, clearer-thinking.  Breathing deepens and brain waves slow.  Blood flow to the brain increases, improving concentration and memory.  And creating a general feeling of well-being.

• Meditation is good for the heart.  It reduces heart disease.  Lowers high blood pressure.  Can even help normalize irregular heartbeat.  A recent study found that meditating for twenty minutes twice a day thinned artery walls, reducing stroke risk (by 15%) and heart disease risk (by 11%).  In control subjects--who spent equivalent time in leisure activities such as reading or exercising--artery walls thickened (Stroke 2000 31:568-573).

• Meditation strengthens the immune system.  It significantly increases the number of blood cells which kill bacteria and cancer cells.  In a study conducted over several years, this translated to more than 50% fewer doctor visits and over 50% less hospitalization time for meditators than non-meditators (Reported by Denise and Dennis Denniston in The Transcendental Meditation Tm Book). 

• Meditation increases vitality.  It reduces chronic pain (including back pain and certain types of cancer-related pain).  Helps control levels of damaging cortisol (a stress hormone). May even help prevent anxiety attacks.  Meditation's deep relaxation can boost energy and zest for life.

Interested?  Then consider the possibilities.

In essence, meditation is focus.  It involves directing your attention to one specific thing, so that your state of mind changes.  There are many things you can focus on and many ways to meditate.  Among them:

• Focus on what you are thinking or feeling in the current moment

• Focus on
  • a word (mantra)
  • a thought
  • something visual (candle flame, image, symbol)
  • a sound (drum beat)

  • your own breath

• Focus on your body's controlled movement and breathing, as with Yoga and Tai Chi 

• Focus in turn on each of the body's 15 major muscle groups, tensing and then relaxing each in sequence

And relax!  There is no wrong way to meditate.  No unsuccessful meditation.  Your experiences with meditation will vary from day to day.  So simply accept whatever occurs.  And feel good:  you are doing your body - and your mind - a favor!