No longer is meditation reserved for the monasteries of Tibet, the zen masters of Zhengzhou, or the ascetic monks of Buddhism. The practice has swiftly emerged into western and european culture, and poses an attractive (and much less committed) muse towards mindfulness.
This paradigm shift has seamlessly infected the way many top performers manifest success – Oprah, Halle Barry, Martin Scorcese, Russell Brand, Novak Djokovic, Sir Paul McCartney, and even the late Steve Jobs, have all given credit to meditation for some part of their success.
Certainly the benefits of meditation have widely spread over the last decade, and the practice is growing extensively. Yet as the yin of stillness has increased in application, the yang of misconceptions have equally arisen.
I want to clear up some delusional and misconstructed ideas about meditation. This new-age trend has become evermore ‘hip’, and consequently a lot of truth has been lost in the midst. As a millenial myself, I do believe many more could benefit from this transcendent practice if they had a greater awareness on the subject.
Here are the Top 7 Misconceptions of Meditation.
1. Meditation is Hard
For most, this is hardly a misconception – it’s a fact. Meditation is difficult. However, its not the practice itself that is hard, but rather the torture leading up to practicing.
Think of meditation as you would any act of isolation. It is not much different than sitting on the bus or walking through a forest. All that is required is 10-20 minutes of spare time, and the rest is simple – sit, breathe, relax. If you can sit and breathe, you’ll do just fine. The relaxing comes with practice.
What makes meditation difficult is trying to execute it with perfection. It is important to understand that meditation is an art – improving is the objective, not perfecting. Art can never be perfect.
The beginning stages of meditation are undoubtedly the most difficult. They are growing pains – you have stepped into unfamiliar territory without a clue how to proceed. But it is the only stage where you will find such difficulty. You may find after a few months of practice that a day without meditation is more unbearable than a day with.
2. Meditation will not benefit me
One of the most critical points to grasp from meditation is that it works with intention. There is no point in trying to meditate if the will to do so is absent.
Like all disciplines, meditation takes time to understand. It took me over 3 months to learn. The problem was that I was only practicing once or twice per week – I had not made meditation a priority. It was not until I made the decision to practice everyday that I began to receive benefits, and 22 days later, ‘it clicked’.
There were many times where I felt like giving up, but I remained determined to practice. And I think that’s why many get discouraged – the benefits come very gradually. You won’t receive any until you put in a legitimate effort to try.
The process of learning meditation is vastly overlooked. The beginning months are so important – you learn how to cultivate discipline, patience, mental strength, and even time management. Perseverance is necessary.
Perhaps you feel that meditation is not required to feel good – totally fair and reasonable. However, in the pursuit of mindfulness and a stress-relieving life, do not disregard the benefits that meditation has to offer. They are real and worthwhile.
3. I don’t have time
This is my favourite excuse.
All you need it 10 minutes a day. 10 minutes. Even if you work 80 hour weeks, 10 minutes a day barely adds up to one hour a week. Maybe this means waking up 10 minutes earlier, cutting out time for lunch, for supper, for that Game Of Thrones episode.
There are 10 080 minutes every week. If you cannot dedicate 70 of those minutes to a mindful activity, whether that is meditation, working out, playing sports, or yoga, then you should. Health should always be a priority.
“If you cannot find 10 minutes to meditate, meditate for an hour”. Those who are so busy they cannot liberate any time need to liberate it the most.
4. Sleep is my meditation
There is no denying that sleep provides remarkable therapy. Rationally speaking, it is more important than meditation – try going a few nights without sleep and see how you feel. Sleep helps balance your mood, regulate hormones, sharpen attention, sustain memory, and survive in general.
But it is not meditation.
An important distinction between the two is that meditation is conscious; sleep is unconscious (with exception to lucid dreaming). Whereas meditation provides the ability to manifest what you consciously desire (gratitude, love, abundance, etc), sleep runs on a subconscious program.
Subconscious programs can be both beneficial and destructive – you will project what you are feeling. Sleeping with a low frequency will manifest toxicity; sleeping with high frequencies will project abundance. That is why it is important to go to sleep with positive thoughts.
On the contrary, meditation projects whatever you want to manifest. You have the ability to choose. Practicing meditation will guide you in the direction of mental clarity and peace, and will inevitably influence your subconscious sleep program into positive manifestations.
Sleep & meditation uplift each other. They are the peanut butter & jelly of dynamic duos. Sleep improves the quality of meditation, and meditation enhances the manifestations of sleep.
5. You must ‘think of nothing’
I don’t know how this conviction still remains the most important ‘rule’ of meditation. It is less convincing than selling real estate to a baby.
The mind is always thinking, no matter how much you force it to stop. Thinking of nothing still translates to thinking – you are just thinking of not thinking.
The idea ‘think of nothing’ stems from the requirement to focus on the present moment. Thoughts of the mundane, like what you are eating for supper, the movie you saw last night, or the cute girl at the gym, should be eliminated from meditation.
Thankfully, the mind possesses the incredible ability of concentration. The goal should not be to eliminate thought, but rather to direct it. Focusing on the present moment – the breath, the trees, the wind, the body, the sun – is the best way, and the only way, to eliminate distractions.
6. It is too boring
Absolutely it’s boring! Imagine walking into a party and everyone is sitting in silence, hands below their belly, humming a sonorous ‘OM’… That would not be much of a party.
Yet this is besides the point of meditation. Boring can be peaceful, it can be mindful. I have many friends who do not meditate for this reason alone – they miss the point. Meditation is not about being boring or exciting, it is about peace.
Ironically, those who enjoy the monotony of breath and solitude will relish meditation. Including myself. The feeling afterwards is a feeling of gratitude, happiness, and inner wealth – certainly not that boring. Neuroscience can back this up – meditation increases serotonin in the brain and decreases cortisol, the stress chemical.
Meditation can be fun if you want it to be.
7. My hobby is my meditation
I’ve had this debate with my cousin, one of my dearest friends, for a long time. He proclaims that video games are his meditation – they relieve stress, they cheer him up, they comfort him and they are always there when he wants to play. They make him feel good.
He misses the point of meditation (sorry Alec). I have seen many others makes this inference, it is a common, but critical, misinterpretation of what meditation is supposed to be.
Meditation, while the intention is also also feel good, is about connecting with yourself. It is a removal of stimulants, not an interaction with them. When you remove stimulants (video games, sports, TV, books), the only source of energy you are procuring is from within.
Meditation is an art of self-awareness, and meshing your mind with external entertainment creates a barrier between you and your thoughts. Hobbies are healthy to have, don’t get me wrong. But meditation has much less traffic.