Everyone knows the value of physical exercise. We are taught this in school, our doctors tell us this when we have check ups and even popular culture reminds us that so-and-so lost her baby weight by exercising as well as eating healthily.

Why don’t we place the same value on exercising our minds? Is is because we have not, as a culture, bought into the value of meditation? I wonder whether part of the problem is that many of us want that quick fix, which meditation is not. It’s a long term commitment with a long term impact.

Research into weight loss reminds us that weight that is lost slowly and steadily tends to stay off, whereas weight that is lost quickly, using an approach that does not entail a long term change in what you eat, how much you eat and so on tends to be gained again once the diet ends, usually with an extra few pounds for good measure!

Meditation is like this – you have to commit to a regular practice, getting on your cushion every day and the benefits will occur – if you are willing to put in the effort.

Learning to put the brakes on, is how I experience the effect of my meditation practice. When you regularly sit, observing your thoughts, but not reacting to them, you learn how not to react immediately to every frustrating situation that life presents you. You learn how to pause, before you react.

This may not seem a big deal to you, but consider, perhaps a series of hypothetical consequences: if I don’t shout at the call center guy, perhaps he won’t honk and scream at the guy who carves him up in his car on his way home, this guy then won’t get annoyed with his kids for disturbing his football game on TV, and his wife will then not shout at her husband for making the kids cry! More mellow happiness all around just because I sat on my cushion and meditated for 20 minutes this morning and exercised my brain, bringing myself into a more balanced state of mind.

Chose a time to meditate every day: for example, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier every day. Chose a place to sit, in a chair, cross-legged on the floor. Lengthen your spine, rest your hands on your thighs, keep your eyes open and bring your attention to your breath. Notice the swell of the belly as you inhale and exhale. When thoughts pop into your mind, label them “thinking” and without judgement, but with kindness, bring your attention back to your breath. Meditation is not about having an empty mind.

Just Do It – if not for you, then for me, because we are all interdependent after all…!

©Tamsin Astor-Jack, Yoga Brained LLC