You’ve probably heard about meditation.  Maybe you’ve even tried it yourself. Or perhaps you have no idea what it is and want to learn more.  Whichever the category, read on, there are some gems in this article for you.

First off, what is meditation?

To be honest, despite meditating for a number of years, I didn’t know how to answer the question when I started writing this article.  So, I consulted the internet and came upon something I quite liked from Headspace.

‘Meditation isn’t about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It’s about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You’re not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You’re learning to observe them without judgment. And eventually, you may start to better understand them as well.’

There are plenty of types of meditation.  We’ve got

• Mindfulness

• Transcendental

• Guided meditation

• Moving meditation

• So much more

Now that we have a brief understanding let’s look at why you should consider a consistent meditation practice.

Stress, anxiety and depression

Perhaps the most common thing people know about meditation is that it’s great for mental health.  Numerous studies (summarized here) show meditation as a fantastic tool to reduce anxiety, depression and stress (plus all the consequences that go along with it).  

A 10 week meditation study on students found that those who practiced meditation had much lower stress responses at exam time than those who didn’t.  Meditation allows the body to calm down quicker following stressful experiences.

This is fantastic for students of all ages, many of you would know the feeling of overbearing stress following a particularly difficult week.

The brain

Maybe you know this, maybe you don’t, but your brain has the ability to change. Your intelligence is not fixed.  This is known as neuroplasticity and is a fairly recent discovery.

Meditation actually helps the brain grow new cells, a process known as neurogenesis.  Don’t worry, it won’t make your head any bigger.

This leads into the next point.

Learning

Another fantastic benefit for students.  If you’re serious about your studies, its not just a matter of studying hard and long.  It’s making those hours count.

Here are just some of the ways meditation improves your learning

• Improves memory and concentration

• Better decision making under stress (exams anyone?)

• More accurate problem solving

• Improves cognition, focus and attention

• Less mind-wandering

• Tie all of this together and you get enhanced productivity

Immunity

Yes, that’s right, meditating can lead to a better functioning immune system. As it lowers stress and therefore inflammation, meditators can recover from illness quicker and tend to get sick less often.  For you, this means less sick days and the subsequent catching up to your classmates.

Get your zzz’s

We all know how hard it to be to get to sleep when we’re feeling on edge or stressed out about tomorrow’s test. Good news, some studies suggest that meditation reduces the time it takes to sleep and improves sleep quality.

This study also suggests that meditation may be able to replace some sleep.  Not that I’m recommending you use this as an excuse to sleep less.

Many more

There are so many other benefits to meditation.  Have a look online for yourself if you’re interested.

Which type of meditation is best?

The short answer is, the type you’re actually going to do consistently.  There are benefits to all types of meditation, whether it be transcendental, guided or moving.  Pick one and get into it, or why not pick a few and trial them out for a week each, see what you resonate with the most.

How to implement?

Pick a style

• Check out the Omvana or Headspace apps

• Search guided mediations on Youtube

• Look for local meditation teachers in your area and go with a friend

Get meditating

• Schedule some time in advance and get set up in an environment where you won’t be disturbed.  That may mean letting your family know that you’ll need some uninterrupted time.

• I’ve found that the hardest part of meditating is deciding I’m going to do it, once I’ve begun its much easier.

• Struggling to get started? Check out Common reasons for not meditating and how to get around them.

Nama-stay and read this before you go

From the research and my personal experience, it looks like meditation gives you back a lot more time than it requires.  From improving productivity, enhancing sleep, keeping you healthier and reducing stress this practice really is a winner.

If I could, I would definitely tell teenage Stefan to begin meditating as early as possible, to make him into even more of a genius of course (haha!).

Nama-go now.