Most people are aware of the benefits of meditation. There has been a lot of research and there are studies that show what it can do for you. for example, neuroscientists have found that when people meditate "they shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex - brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex," which means they become calmer and happier than before meditation.
Meditation helps you relax, reduce stress, handle everyday life more effectively and it even helps with health problems. Many successful business owners even recognize the benefits of meditation as it helps them become clearer, more focused and more successful in their businesses. Yet many people don't meditate or say they can't do it.
One of the most common reasons is time. Another reason tends to be that people have so much going on in their lives and their minds that they have a hard time sitting still for any length of time.
There are several misconceptions about meditation, and once you understand them, it might make the act of meditating easier than you think:
Time - many people think that if you're going to meditate you have to do it for at least an hour at a time and they just don't feel they have that kind of time. Meditation does not have to be for long periods of time like that. You can benefit from even 5 or 10 minutes of meditation each day. The most important thing is that you do it and do it regularly, not how long you do it for each time.
You have to be good at it - meditation is not something that you have to get good at. It is not a skill to be mastered in that you don't have to do it a certain way. The harder you try to become good at it, the harder it will be to do.
Thinking - many people say they can't meditate because they can't stop thinking. If you try to stop thinking you never will. It's the same as if I told you NOT to think of pink elephants. The thing that would immediately pop into your mind would be pink elephants. If you tell yourself that you have to sit still and not think for 10 minutes, of course your mind will immediately move into thought. Yes, the goal is to be able to empty your mind and be still. But that doesn't mean that thoughts won't come into your mind. As they do come in, you simply notice them and let them pass, then move back to stillness - until the next thought comes in. Notice it and let it go and move back to stillness.
When you first start to do this it will seem difficult. But over time, the periods of stillness will increase and you'll find that the thinking will become less. But that won't happen if you try to stop the thinking.
Ritual - many people think that meditation has to be a big ritual. I had a student once who became very upset when I asked the class to sit and meditate on something for about 5 minutes. She assured me that meditation could only be accomplished by carrying out certain rituals, lighting candles, etc., and it had to be for a minimum of one hour. If you make your meditation practice rigid in this way, it will become harder to do and harder to find the time to do it. It then becomes about the practice itself, rather than what you want to accomplish from meditation, which is stillness.
Sitting still - another misconception is that you have to sit still to meditate. You can actually do a walking meditation or weave meditation into almost anything that you do throughout the day. What that means is that you simply do the action with complete awareness. You focus entirely on the activity that you're doing and be completely present - being aware of your breathing as you do it, how your body feels, etc.
There are many ways to meditate - you can focus on your breath as you breathe in and out; you can count as you breathe in and out; you can focus on specific areas of your body; you can focus on specific words or mantras; you can focus on an object, such as a flower or a candle flame; you can meditate to soft music or practice a guided meditation. However you do it, the important thing is to just do it.
But don't make it something you HAVE to do. Make it something you want to do. I think you'll find that as you make time for meditation in your daily routine it will become something that you won't want to miss. It will become something you look forward to, rather than something you feel you SHOULD be doing. Start today and you will soon experience the benefits. But take it slowly. Don't make it something you have to get good at. Pick a method that sounds good to you and do it, but don't push it. Relax into it and you'll enjoy it so much more.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Linda_Binns/80710
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