For those who have never attempted meditation, the idea can be a bit intimidating. Trust me, I know – mainly because I used to be one of those people who absolutely did not think I was meant to meditate. Even the idea of forcing myself to
sit still and try to think of nothing for any amount of time was enough to make me anxious. I mean really, who has the time? (That was my argument with myself, anyway.)
But this year, I’ve been making a concerted effort to focus more on my health and well-being, including my mental and emotional health. I was lucky enough to come across the work of Gabrielle Bernstein just a couple weeks into 2018, and as it turned out, that discovery was exactly what I needed to get my year of wellness started off on the right foot.
As you’ll know if you’re familiar with Gabrielle’s work, the practice of meditation is integral to her teachings. I was so inspired by her work that, despite my belief that meditation was not for me, I decided to give it a try anyway. As it turns out, I could not be happier with that decision.
I’ve been meditating every day for a couple months now, and my 15 minutes of meditation have become 15 of my favorite minutes in my day. I’m one of those people who has at least 73 different thoughts rolling around in my head at any given time (kind of stressful), and I’ve discovered that meditation offers the perfect opportunity for my mind to relax and reset itself, leaving me with more clarity and an increased ability to productively address any and all thoughts I might have.
For those of you who are already onboard an ready to give meditation a try, I would highly recommend the app Headspace – it’s a great tool for people just starting out. For those of you still on the fence, here are five facts about meditation that will hopefully give you that final push you need to give it a go:
1) Meditation is about training the mind, not forcing yourself to think of nothing
A common misperception about meditation is that it’s an exercise in learning to think of nothing. What meditation actually involves is training the mind to focus on a specific thing for the duration of the exercise – either the breath, a mantra, an intention, or a question. Rather than forcing yourself to chase all thoughts away and think of nothing, 
meditation invites you to allow your mind to relax. Once you get the hang of it, time spent in meditation allows the mind to reset itself by focusing on one thing that keeps it present, thereby momentarily relieving it from the endless whirl of thoughts most of us constantly have going on. Nice, right?
2) Meditation has been proven to decrease anxiety and depression
Many studies have been done on the effects of meditation on the brain, and researchers have discovered that mindfulness meditation has the same effect on the brain as do antidepressants. (See the full study here.) Why is this so? Because meditation decreases activity in the default mode network of the brain, which is responsible for mind-wandering. Mind-wandering is typically associated with being less happy, mainly because it tends to include ruminating on problems and worrying about both the past and future. Because meditation is a form of training the mind, it increases the ease with which one can soothe a mind that is wandering and stressing.
3) Regular meditation improves concentration and attention
A study run by Harvard neuroscientists revealed that an eight-week mindfulness course utilizing meditation resulted in increases in grey matter concentration in areas of the brain involving learning and memory, regulating emotions, sense of self, and maintaining perspective. Additional studies have demonstrated that meditation courses as short as eight weeks in length can increase participants’ ability to reorient and maintain attention, as well as to remember details of tasks to a greater degree than their non-meditating counterparts.
4) Meditation has the ability to increase feelings of empathy and kindness
This is particularly true of a type of meditation known as loving-kindness meditation, in which the idea is to focus on developing kind thoughts and feelings toward yourself. Through this practice, meditators train their minds to extend 
these kind thoughts and feelings outward to others as well. Numerous studies have shown that this practice is, in fact, effective in increasing peoples’ compassion toward themselves and others, which in turn can improve social anxiety, reduce marital conflict, and assist with anger management.
5) Meditation can actually slow the process of aging in the mind
Studies have found that long-term meditators tend to have better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they age. Why? Researchers have noted that meditation programs as short as eight weeks in duration increase cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory. Additionally, as noted above, regular meditation improves attention span and clarity of thinking, both of which can help fight age-related memory loss and dementia.
So have I persuaded you to give it a try yet? I hope so! And keep in mind, the above five facts and benefits are only a very small slice of the positive effects of a regular meditation practice. For more information (and to check out the articles I used in writing this post), follow these links:
Healthline – 12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation
Forbes – 7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change the Brain
Live and Dare – Scientific Benefits of Meditation
Happy meditating!
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