Meditation


Oprah Winfrey, Lebron James, Bill Gates, Kendrick Lamar, and Joe Rogan. These are some of the celebrities who meditate to improve performance and happiness.

 

They’re following in the footsteps of Buddhist and Taoist monks, who have trained their minds with meditation for thousands of years.

 

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime.

-Sogyal Rinpoche

 

Importance of meditation

Here are mind-altering benefits:

 

For your entire life, things have been happening to you. Some good, some bad, most of which you have processed and dissolved, but a few stuck with you. Over time, more and more stuck with you, and they almost became like these barnacles stuck to you…

 

How do you get those barnacles off you? What happens in meditation is you’re sitting there and not resisting your mind. These things will start bubbling up. It’s like a giant inbox of unanswered emails, going back to your childhood…Resolving them doesn’t take any work—you just observe them.

 

Over time, you will resolve a lot of these deep-seated unresolved things you have in your mind. Once they’re resolved, there will come a day when you sit down to meditate, and you’ll hit a mental “inbox zero” …It’s a state of joy and bliss and peace. Once you have it, you don’t want to give it up.

-Naval Ravikant

 

How to start today

For beginners, American spiritual teacher Ram Dass describes how to do mindfulness meditation:

 

Start with short sessions. Practice 4–5 minutes, then take a 1-minute break before starting again. Over time, the contrast between meditation and everyday life will gradually dissolve. More and more, you will find yourself in your natural, pure presence, without distraction.

 

The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention even at extraordinary times, to be of the present, nothing-but-in-the-present, to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life.

-Peter Matthiessen

 

Buddha spent 6 years meditating on the essence, causes, and cures for human anguish. In the end, he came to the realization that suffering is not caused by ill fortune, by social injustice, or by divine whims. Rather, suffering is caused by the behavior patterns of one’s own mind.

-Yuval Noah Harari

 

Personal notes

I meditate during yoga, deep breathing, and before sleeping. When thoughts and feelings arise, I acknowledge them and let them pass through me. It’s like a stone thrown in a lake—splash, then ripples fade…

 

Meditation has made me aware of my mind and body. I observe how my body feels moment to moment. I observe what brings me joy and suffering.

 

If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.

-Dalai Lama


References


Grabowski S. (2020, March 1). Celebrities and athletes who meditate every day. Mindful Steward. https://themindfulsteward.com/celebrities-and-athletes-who-meditate-everyday/

 

Importance of meditation

Khoury B et al. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res. 78(6): 519–528.

 

Bamber MD, Morpeth E. (2019). Effects of mindfulness meditation on college student anxiety: a meta-analysis. Mindfulness. 10(2): 203–214.

 

Goyal M et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. 174(3): 357–368.

 

Luberto CM et al. (2018). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors. Mindfulness. 9(3): 708–724.

 

Cásedas L et al. (2020). Does mindfulness meditation training enhance executive control? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in adults. Mindfulness. 11: 411–424.

 

Boccia M, Piccardi L, Guariglia P. (2015). The meditative mind: A comprehensive meta-analysis of MRI studies. Biomed Res Int. 2015: 419808.

 

How to start today

Dass R. (n.d.). Why is it important to be aware of the breath? Ram Dass Foundation. https://www.ramdass.org/aware-of-the-breath/


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