“Meditation practice does calm us down — and this is important, but it is much more than a tranquilising technique. Meditation is a powerful way of getting deeply in touch with your life at its most essential level.”
— Norman Fischer
You’ve no doubt heard that meditation is a powerful practice, but do you know why? Meditation helps to strengthen your focus, attention and presence, which are arguably some of the most valuable qualities in modern-day life. The practice does this by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (ie rest and digest), which slows down your heart rate and blood pressure, countering the effects of stress in the body (ie fight or flight). Meditation is also a form of deep rest and healing. Research has shown that 20 minutes of meditation can be equivalent to four-five hours of deep sleep!
The beauty of meditation is that anyone can practise it, anywhere and anytime. There are so many different styles of meditation — from Vedic to Vipassana to visualisation to contemplation — so if you’re new to the practice, then it’s worth trying out a few different styles to find what you resonate with the most. We explore the myriad different styles of meditation, as well as how to practise them, in our Mindfulness Workbook.
By carving out a dedicated time to simply be with yourself — just as you are — you’re deepening your capacity to be present, curious and compassionate. We strengthen these tools in our meditation practice, but we put them to practise in the everyday moments of life that challenge us.
“Meditation will not carry you to another world,” Zen Master Hsing Yun once said, “but it will reveal the most profound and awesome dimensions of the world in which you already live.” To have a practice readily at our disposal that can enrich the moments that make up the days, weeks, months, years of our lives — what could be more valuable?
