Why meditation is much more than its often cited ‘top (10) benefits for physical and mental health’ – A testimonial
‘I’ve been meditating for the past 3 months and it’s really been changing my life’- is what I’ve told people in recent weeks.
Faced with puzzled expressions and hesitant ‘hows?’, I often struggle to convey the benefits of meditation with just a few sentences.
Lists of the ’TOP 10 KEY BENEFITS OF MEDITATION’, which include reduced anxiety, improved sleep and better concentration, are often cited to describe meditation. Albeit true – they do not fully encapsulate my experience with the practice. In my opinion, it’s more – way more – than that.
If I asked you, for example, how a romantic relationship positively affected your life, you would probably not resort to a list of the 10 key gains of being in a relationship, such as enhanced social circles, reduced stress (or not!), and increased longevity.
Meditation is about building a relationship with yourself. Like relationships with people, its effects are complex and felt at a very deep level.
Meditation’s benefits cannot be described categorically
It’s not that, on the one hand, meditation helps with focus, and on the other, it helps you relax. I’ve experienced meditation’s effects as interlinked and having ripple effects on each other.
It helps me find wisdom within myself and get closer to a more peaceful ‘me’. This leads me to be more intentional in my day-to-day life, and thereby bring more targeted attention to my work and other activities. Increased productivity results in more time to enjoy other of life’s previous things, and the virtuous cycle continues…
Meditation as less, not more
The value of meditation comes from all the things it eliminates, rather than adds to one’s life.
It’s about focusing on the essential. It encouraged me to take a step back from negative and destructive patterns. See the thoughts as mere thoughts rather than marks of reality that should be acted upon.
Meditation’s benefits need to be felt to be understood
Because meditation’s benefits lie in changing one’s perspective, I believe they need to be experienced in order to be fully grasped.
Often, when I meditate, I feel a sense of higher power, and connection, that seems to defy the boundaries of my body. It puts me in a state of acceptance, of seeing things as they are. Instead of seeing life as ‘me’ versus ‘the world’, I see life as …well, life, but in a wonderful way.
In sum, the gains from my journey with meditation can be described with a series of paradoxes:
- Giving up control of certain aspects of my life, has given me more power to lead the life I want.
- Connecting to my heart, equips me with a more rational take on life’s concerns.
- Letting go of my individual self, puts me in touch with the real ‘me’.
- Releasing the notion of time and space, helps me better occupy every instance within time and space.
- …Okay..l’ll stop here. I hope you get the point that this spiritual process can be a wonderfully rich experience.
And the only way to truly grasp the benefits of meditation is to experience it for yourself!
You can book a free 1-hour session at Bruxelles Méditation (Brussels-based centre)…with lovely teachers who will provide clear, step-by-step guidance 😀
Tags: bruxelles meditation, Meditation Benefits, Meditation for health, meditation for mental health, Meditation Testimonial, mental health, Physical Benefits of Meditation, Testimonial Meditation
