Meditation: Sit-Ups For Your Brain
Meditation can be a very scary and daunting idea. Before I began meditating, the word usually conjured up images in my mind of slender, highly enlightened people sitting high on mountain perches, legs crossed, wind in their perfect hair, completely undistracted by the world around them. That is so not what my meditation looks like.
I am not a naturally good meditator. My mind wanders aimlessly while doing it, I get bored, my back hurts, and I often give up easily and early. Despite my complete lack of proclivity for the practice I keep coming back to it because I know how important it is. Calming the mind is one of the most important tools in staying healthy. Distracted and unproductive thoughts are a renewable toxic burden that can keep us very sick. I don’t want that.
Meditation is called a “practice” for a reason. You get better at it the more you do it. Just like exercising any other form of muscle, building a meditation practice takes a lot of work. And the people who need it the most are the ones who have the hardest time with it (just like sit-ups – I used to hate them).
Perhaps you would be willing in this upcoming year to try and incorporate some form of meditation as a daily practice? I suspect that 2021 is going to require a lot of calmness; meditation could be a real gift.
Below are some ideas for simple ways to meditate.
1. Micro meditations. Short 30-second meditations throughout the day. These can be done while walking, sitting or almost any other activity. Just take 30 seconds to focus on only your breath. See how many times you can do this in a day.
2. 10 minutes of meditation before falling asleep at night. This one is great because it will invariably make you tired enough that you doze off.
3. Focus on breathing or an intention while doing a repetitive activity. Jogging, knitting, chopping vegetables, etc.
4. Observe your mind. Find some time in each day to watch your thoughts. See where they frequently drift. You might be surprised at where your brain spends most of its time.
Like anything, if we start a new habit and do it a little bit everyday it will become a an old habit in no time.
Good Luck and Good Health,
Dr. Chris Chlebowski