Meditation is as natural to humans as breathing or sleeping. It is part of our basic design; we came into this world perfectly engineered for it. As children we go into a meditative state frequently. We spend minutes gazing at nothing, blissfully tuned out of from the world around us with no thoughts filling our minds. These are the moments of profound, simple contentment. We feel part of nature and one with the world. As a result we are free of fear and stress.
As adults we tend to call those still moments “spacing out” or “wasting time.” We tell our children to snap out of it and pay attention, and even feel guilty if we zone out ourselves? Society tells us that being productive and making things happen are what counts and that doing nothing gets you nowhere.
This was however not always the way. For most of human history this quiet-mind state was part of daily adult life. From gazing at the camp fire to daily contemplation and prayer, our minds regularly dipped into the alpha wave state, where active thoughts fall away and a more expansive, silent state of awareness takes over.
When the brain is in a meditative state, we know from scientific research, that it recalibrates the body. The heart and all the organs receive the energy they need to heal imbalances. The entire nervous system can push out the stress that otherwise stays stuck inside, accumulating over time. The emotions get a chance to harmonise, and anxiety and anger can clear or melt away. Scientific studies also show that meditation gives a deeper level of restoration and healing than sleep.
Today we are experiencing levels of stress unknown in human history. We only have to take a look at modern life to see this upheaval. Billions of bytes of information are coming at our brains every second, life is getting faster, and communities and families are breaking apart. There are natural disasters, economy in doldrums, wars are raging around the world, and disease is rampant all of which renders us mentally unsettled or depressed. As a result, our relationships and work suffer because when we are tired and our mind is foggy we fall into blame and resentment, instead of insight and understanding.
It is therefore more important now more than ever to take the time to meditate each day. It does not have to be for hours; 15 to 20 minutes every morning will do. It helps us to operate at a higher level. When things get more unsettled and uncertain outside, meditation helps us find stability, peace, and confidence on the inside. It gifts us with the ability to have more understanding in a world we otherwise have no control over.
With meditation you experience inner shifts as well. When you lose stress, gain more energy and feel happier, you change. Everyone around you changes too, for their energy is affected by yours. Meditation releases not just the present stress that you have but the stress and trauma from your childhood and your whole life begin to get lifted from your nervous system. Even the negative tendencies that we inherit from our parents or forefathers get dissolved.
