Meditation

"Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there – buried under the 50, 000 thoughts the average person thinks every day."
Deepak Chopra

Meditation is at its heart a very simple practice of focusing your awareness on something. Your breath, on a candle, an area of your body, physical movement or sound…the options are endless.

Many people have different ideas about meditation – that it’s not for them, that it is difficult and that they have no time. If we have time to breathe, we have time to meditate.

If a machine works 24-7 it cannot maintain high productivity levels over time. Meditation is the best way of finding the off-button – which is the key to sustaining good quality thinking and a resourceful, productive and happy mind. Meditation is a workout for your mind, making it strong, balanced and flexible. Meditation saves time as we think and work significantly more effectively and productively when meditating. It is a way of cleaning your mind. The practice of focusing the mind has the effect of cleaning it. Science tells us that we have 50-70,000 thoughts a day – ninety percent of which we had yesterday and most of them we probably had 5 years ago. Habitual negative thought patterns form very deep grooves which meditation helps us change.

Initially it takes courage to meditate. Everything we have been avoiding shows up when we close our eyes – things we do not want to think about. This happens but very quickly we find solutions to the problems we have been avoiding and they get solved. And we find peace.

The benefits of meditation are subtle and immediate. Over the last few years, my students have experienced a tremendous range of physical, mental and spiritual benefits including overcoming anxiety and depression, balancing of thyroid, blood pressure and other health problems, greater problem solving abilities, improved sleep and relationships, better focus, higher energy, peace, happiness, calm and joy. Meditation significantly increases the will and courage to live a life true to yourself saying yes to what life has to offer and no to things that are not in your higher good. What exact benefits you will get only practice will show. But you will definitely have a clearer mind, more energy, improved focus, greater courage, happiness, fun, joy and excitement to take on new challenges.

Yoga means union – Union of mind, body and soul. When we feel balanced and connected within, we naturally feel in harmony with the world around us. Over time, the practice brings us into alignment so that what we think, feel say and do are all moving in the same direction. When our head, heart and hands work together, we feel happy, connected and confident.

What do all these people have in common?
Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, Jennifer Anniston, Paul McCartney and Russell Simmons, Ellen DeGeneres, Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks, Miranda Kerr, Rupert Murdoch.

The answer is they all meditate. Why do so many of the world’s most successful people start their day with meditation? They meditate for the amazing benefits it brings at mental, physical, emotional, creative and spiritual level.

Research has shown so many benefits including reduced anxiety and depression, improved management of thyroid and blood pressure disorders, reduced migraines, greater wellbeing, improved immune system and energy, better concentration and memory, better connection and relationships. Calodagh has seen amazing benefits in her clients including overcoming anxiety and depression, and even reverse health problems, a sound nights sleep, a quiet and calm mind, increased energy and vitality, and improved relationships. Meditation gives them the ability to focus on what they do want – whatever that is and experience joy and develop their own personal creativity and engage with themselves, life and people moment to moment. Meditation greatly boosts our creativity and problem solving abilities and brings inner peace and happiness. Have a look at the feature on Nationwide to hear more about the amazing benefits of Japa meditation.

Meditation is a simple practice with life-transforming benefits. It has enormous potential for anyone looking to let go of stress, anxiety, depression and the past. It has even greater potential for improving your relationship with yourself and others, personal development, boosting your general confidence, wellbeing and leadership skills, and will ultimately help you realise your potential.