Episode 30 – Meditation II

• In Episode 13 I talked about Meditation
• I shared a very simple and pressure-free to get started
• No rules, not expectations, just a way for you to try
• If you did try it, GREAT
• If not, maybe you feel encouraged after this episode where I want to spend more time on the amazing benefits of meditation
• And – its Episode 30 – it’s a way to celebrate 30 days of QUEST FOR YOU

• So why do you need mediation?
• Well, I can try to sell you on it, but I am not good at selling
• I rather would like for you to come to the conclusion that you need mediation in your life
• If had to arrange all my podcast episode into some kind of picture or drawing, I am imagining building blocks and at the base of it all would be mediation
• Mediation is the foundation of everything we talk about here on this podcast
• You don’t NEED meditation, but if you implement a routing of regular practice, I am certain that everything else in your life becomes easier and clearer
• Mediation is like coming home
• Home is your base camp, your refuge, your starting point, your place of belonging
• Home is where you come back to after long journeys, after getting lost, after being hurt, or simply to rest, refresh and get more energy
• It is your inner place of silence and serenity
• Mediation is most often the only way through which we allow ourselves to come back home
• For most of us it is the only quiet, non-doing time in our day
• The doers and movers and shakers have a hard time seeing the benefit of time they consider useless and unproductive
• Sitting around doing nothing?
• Give me a break.
• I have things to do.
• The sad part is that they don’t realize that mediation would help them perform even better at everything

• So first I want to give you a quick snapshot of the science side of things:
• In the last decade, research on meditation has increased and the findings show that meditation can produce long-term changes in the brain
• As an example: A team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital reported such results in a study that looked at what happens to the brain’s gray matter after a period of time of regular meditation
• They took MRI scans of the brains of 16 participants two weeks prior to the study and directly afterward. MRI images of the participants were also taken after the study was completed.
• Earlier studies had already shown that during meditation physical activity takes place in the brain in areas like alpha waves.
• But the MRIs of the Harvard-led study showed something more permanent: denser gray matter in specific regions like the hippocampus, which is crucial for learning and memory, as well as in other areas associated with self-awareness, compassion, and reflection.
• So the science supports what many long-term meditators have experienced – which among many other things, is a deep sense of mental and physical relaxation
• it finally links how people feel when they meditate, with their body, which is the proof that many non-believers needed
• Today, after many different studies, we know this: Meditation can decrease stress, increase a sense of happiness and general quality of life, increase gray matter in the brain, help you become more compassionate, lowering blood pressure, increasing memory and more.

• So this is one part. Observable evidence of the benefits of meditating regularly
• The second part is what happens to you, inside, deep down
• And that is difficult to put into a study because it varies from person to person
• But I am going back to what I said at the beginning:
• mediation can be your home base, the place where you start everything
• And in order to understand what exactly that means, you need to start.
• I mediate in the mornings and it has honestly changed my life
• My experiences with mediation will be different from yours
• My practice is not the practice that works for everyone
• You need to find your own practice, and I will give you a few guidelines and considerations
• In Episode 13 I started
• Today I would like to add a few more points from the personal perspective of meditation:
• ONE
• Meditation isn’t something to do — its not an other activity or agenda item
• And therein lies the clue for you – you should not see it that way
• As soon as you see it as another thing you have to do, then it loses its meaning and effect
• You do have to make the time for it, so yes, it can be tempting to see it as another thing on your list of things
• But if you approach it as something you need to get done, then it wont bring you all the results in could
• So that’s is the your starting point – the way you approach meditation
• it’s a solution, an answer, a cure – that is what meditation is
• again – I call it home.
• And if you really envision it as such: coming home, then you understand the potential it can have for you
• You come home every time you are done with the things that life demanded from you
• You come for rest, with questions, with confusion
• And here is the second important consideration:
• Meditation answers questions you didn’t know you had, AND, it answers them in unexpected and unique ways
• I know this sounds fuzzy,
• But what I am trying to say is this:
• You may turn to mediation with a purpose – maybe because you are stressed
• Great
• But mediation will not only show you the path towards reduced stress, you will also become aware of other issues, some related to stress, others maybe in other areas
• Mediation provided you with a foundation to address and resolve whatever it may be that you carry
• I can hear you say:
• And all this by simply becoming quiet?
• And yes is my answer. That’s the magic of mediation.
• I am exaggerating a little. There isn’t really any magic.
• The simple act of going back to our roots, deep inside, the place where everything started, – it makes sense to me that that is where our strength lies.
• Think about it:
• All day long, we live in our heads and we believe we can figure it all out from there
• We run around doing stuff, or we turn our brain off completely to the currents of other people’s lifes – through media mostly
• Mediation is right there in between
• You don’t turn your brain off
• But you stop the current of thoughts flowing and turn your attention inward
• You focus on presence and you listen for guidance
• Through Meditation the mind can achieve experiences that it cannot get to in any other way, such as inner silence and expanded awareness.
• Your brain reflects every aspect of your mind, and with a regular practice of mediation the mind becomes sane, resilient, and constantly renewed.
• And through this renewal, just like when you come home, you uncover inner struggles and find answers to your questions

• There are many different approaches to mediation and I will cover them in future episodes
• If you are starting out, I recommend guided meditations
• They are called guided because someone walks you through the meditation
• Your thoughts follow the words and sounds you hear
• Usually the goal of these words is to help you focus on the present moment and relax
• Guided mediations help you stay on track with your thoughts
• Mediation in complete silence is harder for some people because now its really just you and your mind
• But I encourage you to try both
• You may find silence more soothing
• When it comes to guided mediation you also have to find what speaks to you
• every guided mediation is different depending on the person leading it

Spiritual Teacher Osho

“I’m simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I’m saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”

― Osho