For my physical, but also mental, health, I needed to get some healthy life habits back in my life (see Exhausted). I also needed to fix my sleep and increase my focus. Now, there was one method that had been gaining a lot of popularity throughout the past few years.
If you struggle with sleep, then meditation can help you achieve deep sleep faster and stay asleep longer. In addition, the sleep is peaceful and devoid of runaway thoughts.LOliva
Daily meditation can help you perform better at work! Research found that meditation helps increase your focus and attention.Robyn Whalen
After hearing about the benefits of meditation repeatedly1, I decided to have a look. This was a year ago!
Where to start?
What is meditation anyway? I remember writing something about meditation being a heightened level of spiritual awareness, relaxation, or contemplation
(see CogitAcive.com), but to be honest, I had no idea what meditation was, or more specifically, how to meditate.
- Meditation
- The action or practice of meditating
I found a better definition2 later – Meditation is a method of training your brain to focus on one thing and redirect all your thoughts to the subject you are thinking about.
– but back then I was still not with it! Not only I could not understand what meditation was, but I discovered that there were many different meditation techniques. Should I do mindfulness meditation, concentrative meditation, mantra meditation, Yoga Nidra, transcendental meditation, etc.? The more I was reading the more confused I was. Until I watched this video:
This was the first installment of a 10-video series on how to learn to meditate, step-by-step, from the words of Om Swami. I was mesmerized and went through the all series. I even remember joking that I found my “Guru” – not knowing that Guru is a Sanskrit term for a mentor, guide, expert, or master
of certain knowledge or field, and that Om Swami is actually a spiritual leader. By the end, I knew I wanted/needed to do Concentrative Meditation.
And now what?
Yet, something was still missing. Maybe I needed more to be convinced. Maybe, I needed a guide indeed. Once again, I found all my answers in the words of Om Swami:
Mediation is taking care of your brain.
Let me stress that I am a Neuroscientist. So, when I saw this video – and later read that the Black Lotus app is “based on in-depth research and understanding of behavioural science” – I was convinced. Not to mention, once again, the benefits of meditation:
- Calmer and sharper mind
- Happier you Kinder you
- Stress free life
- Inculcate mindfulness
- Better sleep
- Increased productivity at work
- Better at relationships
- Keep anxiety away
I, therefore, downloaded the app – glad that I had now a compatible phone (see A smartphone) – and started my meditation journey.
1 There was not a single podcast – from science to technology to history – that I am listening to not referring to mediation and its virtues. ^
2 Even Wikipedia mentions the Difficulties in defining meditation. ^