I’ve always been a very logical person and I still question everything. I used to need solid scientifical evidence before accepting something as a fact. So when I first came across the concept of meditation, I was very sceptical. Every single person who I’ve met, who did meditation, was the stereotype surfer, hippie wannabe, who smoked pot, listened to Bob Marley and couldn’t hold a job for more than a week. I mean who needs a job, right? It’s a free world! Just flow! Dumpster diving! You get the picture.
Disclaimer: I love Bob Markey, I love Surfing, and I love true hippies.
While everyone’s lifestyle is a right one, if that makes them truly happy, I’ve always been ambitious, and the hipsters I had met, who meditated, didn’t really match my idea of a fulfiling life. I was a bit stubborn as well back then. therefore, I was very quick to dismiss meditation as a productive practice.
But at the final year of my university, that started to change. I came across an article about the rituals of super successful people, and almost all of them did some sort of meditation one way or the other. So I signed up for a “Meditation Class”. That was a big mistake! I met the exact stereotypes that I was fearing in the class, and I felt really out of place. I wasn’t comfortable being myself, and
I felt I am not “Cool Enough” to belong here. I was the only person in sports gear. Everyone else had some sort of hippie outfit.
So back then for me, if the dress didn’t serve a functional purpose, I couldn’t understand why people are dressing the way they are, in order to participate in “meditation” which is meant to be about relaxing and being in the moment etc.
After a few months, I thought I will give it another try. I found some online videos, these were much better. As I could be in the comfort of my own house. I started practising daily, but I didn’t see any results, so I stopped after 30 days. I wasn’t sure if meditation really works.
later that year, I restarted meditation again, after reading more about meditation techniques that really work. But this time I didn’t stop and on the 2nd month, I could feel more at ease with myself. The key was to skip all the spiritual pretentious instructors and find ones that teach based on logic.
The basic key was, to just think about your breathing, Just breath and think about nothing else. At this point, I was convinced meditation really works.
I started taking longer inhale and exhales. 8 second inhales, 8 second exhales. I was becoming pretty good. Until I moved to a new location, new job, and my routine got messed up, where sadly I skipped my meditation.
Looking back, my meditation efforts didn’t continue, because I had created a “Meditation Area” in my previous home, and found it difficult (Excuse I guess) meditate without a “meditation area”
But eventually I restarted again, and this time I used a standard chair as my “meditation area”
A good friend of mine, Vy, from high achievers diet, eventually introduced me to the Box Breathing Method, where you inhale for 5 seconds, hold your breath for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, and continue the circle. Apparently, the special forces used it before carrying out their mission. It calms you down. So these days I use combinations of long breathing, normal breathing, and the box breathing method.
In a nutshell, does meditation work? YES! It definitely works!
Should you try meditation? YES!
Do I need any special clothing, gear or location? NO! Not at all!
There isn’t really any need to stand or sit in a fancy position. Just sit in a comfortable position. Get rid of all the previous image and thoughts you have about meditation. Meditation is not some sort of voodoo or hippie ritual. Meditation works. Meditation does work!
You don’t need any special clothing for it either! Just normal comfortable clothing.
The goal of meditation for me was to learn patience and learn to concentrate on ONE THING without the urge to get distracted.
In this day and age, with all the technology, notifications, social media, smartphones etc, we have developed very small attention spans and meditation will help you fix that! You will learn to focus on ONE TASK per moment. Meditation will help you focus better, become more patient and stay calmer. Overal I feel much happier after a meditation session.
Peace out!