Meditation is Good Medicine

Some 20 years ago, my therapist suggested I try meditation as part of my daily routine.  I smiled politely while my inner voice was loudly resisting. My mind was closed, and images of cults and monks and ashrams danced through my head. I thought: “That is great for people who have nothing to do all day but pursue some fanciful notion of inner peace.”

But I knew he would be persistent, and it would come up in session after session until I either gave in, or he decided we needed to dive deeply into my resistance to this globally accepted and loved practice.

What I Found

My life kind of sucked back then, so after reading about some highly successful people who meditate regularly, I decided if it was good enough for them, maybe I should open my mind a bit. This list includes Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Sting, Heather Graham, Kobe Bryant, Martin Scorsese, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Aniston, Arianna Huffington, Steve Jobs, Julia Roberts, Tom Bergeron, Clint Eastwood, Katy Perry, Paula Abdul, Tim Ferris, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Gere and dozens more. Love them or hate them, this is a pretty impressive list of people who swear by meditation.

Dr. Jonathan Haidt’s writes these words in his book, The Happiness Hypothesis: “Suppose you read about a pill you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Would you take it?   That pill exists. It is meditation.

Having read Haidt’s book and encouraged by an impressive list of people who credit meditation for their emotional well being and even success, I decided to give it a try.

In The Beginning

It looks so easy when you see someone meditating but it is SO hard. I remember thinking: “It doesn’t work and more importantly, I don’t have time for this.” Then I read this Zen proverb. “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes each day – unless you are too busy, then you should sit for an hour.”

I realized, to the extent it is uncomfortable or difficult to calm the mind, is an indicator of the importance of it for your well-being. I dug into my discomfort and committed to a daily practice of meditation. Some days I could only manage a minute or two before my inner dialogue took over and started driving the bus. At time it seemed I would never be able to quiet the noise in my head.  And to make matters worse, the noises around me stole my focus and seemed ten times louder than normal. I persisted and found ways to settle into the routine, to block out the noise, and to actually meditate. 

Today, meditation is a critical part of my routine and if for some unexpected reason I can’t meditate in the morning, my day can quickly feel out of control until I get myself re-centered. I am a little less stressed and less crazy than I was 20 years ago, my life is great and a big part of that has been meditation.

In the balance of this blog, I am going to write about the benefits of meditation and in a future post will talk about some of the different types of meditation and techniques that have helped me on my journey.

Why Meditate?

Once you have established a meditation practice and routine, it will give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that will benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. During times of stress, you can meditate which will help you reduce the feelings of being overwhelmed and out of control. Meditation helps you stay centered and maintain inner peace.

The benefits of meditation don’t end when your meditation session ends. It can help carry you more calmly through your day. I have developed micro meditations for myself which I can use throughout the day when I feel stress or anxiety or just need to settle back into a place of feeling back in control of my mind and body. These usually simply involve taking a two- or three-minute break and dropping into my breathing to slow my heart rate and clear my head.

Emotional and Physical Benefits

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations
• Awareness that our thoughts can be controlled
• Awareness that our thoughts can be much different than reality
• Building skills to manage your stress
• Increasing self-awareness
• Focusing on the present
• Reducing negative emotions
• Increasing imagination and creativity
• Increasing patience and tolerance
• Lowering resting heart rate
• Lowering resting blood pressure
• Improving sleep quality

Meditation and Illness

Meditation is useful if you have a medical condition, especially one that may be worsened by stress.

A growing body of scientific research supports the health benefits of meditation. And it has long been known that numerous illnesses can be brought on by stress.

Research suggests that meditation may help people manage symptoms of conditions such as:

• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic pain
• Depression
• Fibromyalgia
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Ulcers
• Sleep problems
• Tension headaches

It is important to discuss meditation as part of your overall health plan with your doctor. I am not suggesting meditation as a substitute for traditional medicine. I am suggesting the benefits of a regular meditation practice are often overlooked as part of our overall health and well-being practices.

Now, as someone who has been converted to meditation, I would no more cut it out of my routine than I would a healthy diet, exercise and a good sleep routine.

Look for my upcoming blog on how to get started with a meditation routine as part of your daily healthy living plan.  I will talk about how to get started, explore some of the different types of meditation and how to find what works best for you.