Why Meditate?

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When asked in a recent interview to list her daily practices for general well-being, Bella Hadid replied, “Meditation” as one of the first.

She isn’t the first of the fame pack to herald spiritual practices as one of their grounding pillars. From George Harrison to Katy Perry, Oprah Winfrey to Johnathan Van Ness - celebs love the results of a regular connection to themselves and perhaps something bigger.

Of course a celebrity condoning something doesn’t mean it’s useful for the rest of us…however I do find it exciting that so many are recognising the benefits of a regular practice. Plus, when those with influence or status say something is worth doing, the masses tend to follow suit! It’s a la mode, daaarling…

Meditation, I think, can seem very intimidating. Of all the Yogic practices, it’s considered by many to be one of the more difficult. “Sit STILL for an extended period of time and think of…nothing?! No thanks.”

With this misunderstanding of meditation, no wonder people are put off! Sure, there are styles of meditation where the ultimate goal may be to totally empty one’s mind, but I’ve never massively jammed with this, partially because having a goal for a mediation seems, well, typically Western of us.

We always WANT something from whatever we do. We desire an end result. A big foreworks-display style outcome that allows our more logic-centric society and therefore brain, to look on and say “ Ah yes. Measurable value. Let’s pop this on the list of things that give us something in return”. We’re very transactional, you see.
This isn’t to say we aren’t allowed to appreciate the benefits from a regular practice - there are PLENTIFUL - I just think we need to find a motivation that serves us in the short term as the manifold benefits of meditation often take a little time to make themselves known.

I digress…

If it’s not, “Thinking of Nothing”, what IS meditation?

I am personally a bit of a meditation floosy. I’ll flit from style to style but most often settle on Breath-led practices or Vipassana Meditation; a Buddhist technique where we focus on observing our thoughts, feelings or sensations as a modality to lead us into a state of soft presence. Lovely stuff.

So what ARE the benefits of a regular practice?

• Improved sleep.

• Lower levels of anxiety.

• Improved resilience.

• Better focus.

• Improved appreciation of others’ perspectives.

• Gaining wider emotional awareness.

• Increased patience and tolerance.

• Improved imagination and creativity.

• Improved sense of knowing yourself and your behavioural patterns.

  And more….

These days, practicing meditation couldn’t be easier, with led ones online….including my very own Podcast! Yep, free mediatitions for YOU to do whenever you fancy!

Check out The Body Breath & Being Podcast where I upload weekly, short-form meditations of varying styles to support your practice - enjoy :) x