A medicine may or may not be a pill, but meditation is always medicine.
Today I want to talk about THAT medicine.
It is scientifically proven that meditation can benefit your brain by increasing focus; reducing stress, anxiety, and depression; improving memory, emotional awareness, and OVERALL HAPPINESS.
Doesn’t that sound like a good pill to take?
I have to admit though – it took me many years to understand this fact.
Being born in the 50s, I was a teenager during the Flower-Power years. I loved The Beatles! John was my favorite, and I still have all my vinyl records tucked away in a safe space.
Then “all of a sudden”, George started going oriental into the “Meditation Land” meeting with Ravi Shankar.
MEDITATION BECAME VERY POPULAR.
In my world, I could not understand why there was so much hush-hush around it. You had to pay big money to learn the art of meditation and you got your private mantra – A MANTRA NEVER TO BE TOLD TO SOMEONE ELSE – or else…
BAD THINGS WOULD HAPPEN TO YOU.
Yes, that was the “story”.
I personally, was more into science and was repelled by the mysticism that was built up around the business – which was big that time.
Years went by and I did not think about meditation at all.
UNTIL ONE DAY, in 2015 – I attended a big event in California about “Building Your Online Business”, as I had started my own business ‘AskDrAnnika‘ a few years earlier and was ready to go global.
There were around 900 people in the room, and the session was about “Taking Good Care of Yourself While Working Online”.
He said: “NOW WE WILL MEDITATE TOGETHER”.
I WAS STARTLED.
My first thought was: “You are crazy, I don’t have a mantra and I guess most people don’t have one”.
Then he asks: “How many of you meditate?” and about 100 HANDS went up. That confirmed my suspicions – he was crazy to do meditation with just that small group of people.
BUT THEN he said: “We will all do this together. We will use the word ‘RELEASE’. Close your eyes and repeat the word SLOWLY OUT LOUD, if you can.”
And we all sat there, eyes closed, slowly repeating the word ‘RELEASE’ for 10 minutes.
AND IT WORKED!
Since that day, I use meditation as a tool in my de-stress work toolkit. Not my ‘teenage version’ of hush-hush and big business – BUT AS A FREE TOOL TO USE FOR ANYONE.
One of the most studied BENEFITS of meditation is STRESS RELIEF. It even relieves anxiety and can even boost your immune system.
THINK OF IT LIKE THIS:
“Your brain is a computer, with many windows and programs open at the same time. Meditation helps you close out windows you don’t need and use for the moment.”
That way, you can focus on what is essential and you will PERFORM ON A HIGHER LEVEL.
Today, I know there are a ton of different ways to meditate, and we all have different preferences. There is the “Breathing Anchor”, “Mantras”, “Guided Meditations”, or just simple walking, coloring, painting, stitching, or other textile handicraft.
You just need to find out what works for you.
I myself am a fan of textile handicraft meditational effects, and I have been doing textile projects all my life like weaving, sewing, stitching, and so on. So I, for one, am a witness to its calming effects.
I now encourage you to now TAKE A SHORT BREAK before you scoot on to your next thing.
Close your eyes and say the word “RELEASE” slowly for a few minutes, and may the rest of your day thereafter be calm, effective, and fun.
If you liked this – GET MORE EFFECTIVE TOOLS HERE.
Happy Meditating,
