Mindfullness and meditation websites are now attracting millions of subscribers as the busy corporate (that’s you) tries to find some type of release from the every day juggling act between commuting to/from work, the 9-10hr desk job (which according to your contract should only be 7.5), managing expectations of your family and some sort of slightly respectable active social life (and we aren’t talking about spending an hour scrolling through Facebook and Instagram at 10pm…).
Longitudinal studies continue to educate us on the overwhelming benefits that regular mindfulness has that it is now used as a performance tool across professional sporting teams, our military units on the front line and now even being engaged at school entry level. Yet much of the fluff and hype around meditation and how to actually do it is confusing to say the least with the majority of just wanting to know “how can I effectively achieve the best outcomes in the shortest amount of time with this.” Am I right?
Yes; the great majority of us (research currently suggests 91%) wouldn’t prioritise a 15 minute meditation over an hour in the gym or a long walk outside with a friend or even a session of pilates or yoga. Yet on a daily basis we consume information on the radio, television and via our good friends at Google that mindfulness aids in longevity, mental strength (strongly accepted as a viable therapy for anxiety and depression) and overall health and wellbeing. So what’s the best method of doing it?
First – let me just quickly highlight 3 key benefits that this will deliver across mind, body and soul… (Why? I want to get you motivated to not only engage in this practice but sustain it over a period of time!) Can I also just quickly point out that all of these benefits are scientifically proven;
Mind
• After 8 weeks, 24% reduction in the brains “fight or flight” centre (the amygdala) which initiates the body’s response to stress
• After 12 weeks, 11X focus when compared with a control group
• Better decision making and problem solving skills with a 32% increase in memory retention and recall
Body
• 16% reduction in resting heart rate and overall blood pressure when compared with a control group
• Marked decrease in overall body inflammation aiding in the prevention of arthritis, fibromyalgia and chronic disease
• Optimised overall functioning of cell mitochondria (the body’s energy stores) and improve immune response to common cold and flu symptoms
Soul
• After 12 weeks, subjects reported increased optimism, relaxation and spatial awareness
• Enhanced self-esteem, self-acceptance and resilience against adversity
• After 4 weeks, 37% increase in overall mood
Ok so are you keen to get cracking?
I personally struggled with meditation in the early days – not only did I not know how to do it but I found it difficult to shut my mind down for even a few minutes. Then; with a little research and downloading various apps and podcasts, I was bombarded with information that was a little overwhelming for a beginner. So, as I’m sure most of us have done, I put it down and forgot about it for months and months and it wasn’t until some work/travel/family commitments got the better of me that I realised I needed to focus on my mental health that I went hunting for a method that would suit me; easy to do, quick (sub 15 minutes) and delivered my sought outcomes of mental clarity and relaxation.
So here is my recommended 10 minute meditation technique for the busy person;
Find a quiet place (your office space is completely fine) but ensure to remove all potential distractions whether that be colleagues, phones, alerts, etc. Set an alert on your phone for 10 minutes. Close your eyes and take a deep inhale breathe for the count of four and then exhale for the count of six. Extending our exhale shuts down the amygdala in our brain (“fight or flight” response) and instead triggers the “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system which encourages our body into the deepest form of relaxation. Repeat 5 times. When you’ve completed this, visualise yourself sitting on a beautiful grass hill alone. When you look up to the sky you see dozens of dark clouds in the sky. Visualise each of these dark clouds being your stresses in life, your daily problems, the tasks you need to get done today, the disagreement you had with your boss/your partner/your friend this morning – each cloud is something that is filling up your mental space. Take a minute to appreciate these and recognise them.
Now come back to your breathing technique of a deep inhale breathe for the count of four and then exhale for the count of six. On each exhale, visualise pushing these dark clouds away and releasing them from your mind. Visualise them being dissolved by the sun shining above them and a gentle breeze removing them from your mind. After 10 exhales, visualise nothing but a beautiful blue sky and all of your stresses, worries and anxieties gone.
Maintain this breathing technique for the remainder of the 10 minutes and each time a thought comes into your mind (any thought at all), visualise it being a cloud coming into your perfect blue sky and then exhale it away again so that you remain completely focused on your breathe and nothing more.
Congratulations. You are now a meditative master 🙂
I once asked a yoga/meditation teacher a few years back how you can define a “successful meditation” – in other words, how do you know you’ve achieved a good meditation. The feedback I got was that it’s the ‘coming back’ which shows your mental strength and the development of a meditative mind. So each time your mind wanders to what you are having for lunch or a work deadline you have for today whilst meditating, being able to push that thought away and come back to your blue sky and a focus entirely on breathing is a successful meditation. When I started meditating, my mind would wander 30-40 times over a ten minute period however now I can keep it “contained” to maybe half a dozen but, regardless of that, if you can keep a focus on coming back to your blue sky you’re well on the way to delivering the key benefits that meditation will bring you for the rest of your life.
Please don’t hesitate to email me with your thoughts/feedback/questions – info@kanedraper.com
Keep smiling.