Meditation: It's Not What You Think

Written By: Shad Stoker, CD-SV, MC, WC, RIT

This article is a contribution on behalf of the IDA Health & Wellness Taskforce. 

Meditation is not the mumbo jumbo movies and TV has shown it as. Meditation is a real, viable tool to strengthen and relax the body and mind, and to create cohesion and awareness to improve health and happiness.

It sounds ridiculous. I know you’re thinking, "how could being still and breathing make me happier and healthier?" I know you’re thinking that because I thought the exact same thing my entire adult life. Until I started doing it five years ago and saw for myself first-hand the impact. 

What is Meditation?

This age-old practice dates to 1500 BCE, and nothing sticks around for over 3500 years unless there is some validity to it, right? (New-medical.net) I get it. With the amount of propaganda we deal with as detailers nowadays and a new "best-in-class" product popping up every other week, it’s hard not to be skeptical of any idea that might be foreign and typically misunderstood, but remember that there was a time when ceramic coatings were foreign and misunderstood by most of us. Now, a lot of us run our business on the backs of these coatings we were skeptical of and reluctant to try. I ask that you continue with an open mind and an open heart, because this could improve your life and well-being, or even completely change them, like it has done for me. If you need cold, hard facts, there are many articles on scientific studies from many of the top institutes in the world that will provide all the evidence your heart desires with just a quick google search.

So, what is meditation? Simply put, meditation is the practice of focused breath and concentration, which has been shown to: improve attention, emotional awareness, sleep quality, depression, anxiety management, addiction management, sympathetic joy, and mental calmness; regulate mood; lower blood pressure; increase brain connectivity, memory, and self-awareness; reduce stress and fear; strengthen the immune system; and much more. All those things are amazing, but the feeling that I am left with after even just five or ten minutes of meditation is more than enough to make this a staple in my arsenal of my nonnegotiable daily self-improvement habits. It's one of the things I utilize to forge ahead on this journey to becoming the best version of myself.

How to Meditate

Why does meditation work? Well, it doesn’t work unless you start and put in the work to make it work. It won't come easy at first. It will most likely be difficult. You will make it hard by overthinking and setting unrealistic expectations for how it feels and how fast you expect it to happen. This is one of those times you need to get out of your own way. Get rid of all expectations and just start. 

Don’t make a plan. Don’t set a day to start. Don’t set a goal of how long you think you should meditate for your first time. In fact, do it right now. Close your computer, close your eyes, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, and breathe in through your nose and into your belly for 4 seconds. Hold for 3 seconds. Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds. Don’t force the breath out. Let your body release it. Hold for 3 seconds, then start from the beginning. Repeat this for as long as you can, even if it’s just for a couple minutes to start. That’s it. That is one simple form of meditation. 

I want to dispel the belief that you must completely clear your mind during meditation. That’s not realistic, and honestly, it wouldn’t be effective. You wouldn’t need meditation if you could instantly clear unwanted thoughts. The key is to recognize when those thoughts creep in and release them. Let thoughts pass just as quickly as they come. Don’t dwell or hold on to them. There will be another soon-to-follow. 

With consistent practice, you will get so good at grabbing those pesky thoughts and tossing them out that it won’t even disrupt your flow, and those thoughts will present themselves less and less. This will train your body and mind to manage intrusive and unwanted thoughts more naturally when they try and beat you down in the real world. 

Meditation works because we get familiar with and gain awareness around the behaviors of our mind. We develop and strengthen our ability to regulate and manage our experience of our environment instead of allowing it to dictate how we experience and react to life. In fact, recent neuroscientific findings have shown meditation can literally rewire circuits that boost mind and body health.

Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts

When I first started meditating, I had such a hard time. A single thought would pop up out of nowhere, and I would get so fixated on it that I would feel like I wasn’t doing it right or didn’t have what it took to make it work. At times, I even felt like a failure because that one thought would turn into two, then three, and so on. I was so consumed with the thought I was supposed to be avoiding that I would become more stressed than before I started the meditation. 

Here is what I did to alleviate the constant merry-go-round of thoughts about the to-do lists and obligations interrupting this mental refresh. I created an SOP for every time one of these unrelenting reminders of how much I had to do bombarded my meditation. Anytime a thought would present itself, I would instantly acknowledge it, and on the very next breath as I inhaled, I would imagine encasing that pesky thought in an impenetrable bubble — think Glenda in Wizard of Oz. As I exhaled, I would blow the thought away and out of my mind. I would do that with intention, over and over and over, until finally it got to the point that I was doing it without even realizing I was doing it. This allowed me to carry on with the meditation without skipping a beat. With time, the thoughts came less and less. Now, I can sometimes get through 30 minutes without a single invasive thought. 

When the inevitable thought shows up, acknowledge it, and let that sucker go. Of course, this takes time and practice. Few things that I have done have transcended me in such a way that made the investment of time and energy seem so inconsequential and worth every second, but meditation is one of them.

Getting started

There are so many types, ways, methods, and modalities of this amazing, life-changing practice, there is no way I could even scratch the surface in this article. Plus, half the fun is researching, learning, and putting together your very own ways to achieve the inner sanctum within yourself. You deserve one that allows the peace and focus to help you along your journey of becoming the best version of yourself. 

I encourage you to dig in and find or create one that works for you. There are apps and courses you can do online, so all the excuses are off the table. I waited far too long to start, finding excuses as to why this was something I was not capable of doing, why my overactive mind and severe ADHD would prevent this from being successful.

Looking back, that was just fear talking, and that fear cost me years of not having one of the most powerful tools for self-improvement I have found at my disposal. I can only imagine how much further along I would be, how much better of a father, husband, and human I could have become so much sooner if only I could have gotten out of my own way and started utilizing this amazing self-improvement tool long before I did. But hey, they say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second-best time is now. So, if this is something you’ve ever considered or been curious about, grab a shovel and plant that seed now. You’ll thank yourself later.

 *The IDA is not a provider of medical or health services, and the information provided herein does not constitute medical advice. Please talk to your medical healthcare provider.

*The IDA is not a provider of financial or legal services, and the information provided herein does not constitute financial or legal advice. If you need additional information, please talk to a professional provider of financial and/or legal services.