Why Meditate? A Meditation FAQ Blog - Part Two
December 16th, 2021
In this four part blog I answer some of the most asked (and searched) questions about meditation. Although I prefer to gently suggest, rather than tell people why you should meditate, after reading the blogs you may have some solid reasons to include a meditation practice in your routine.
Why can’t I meditate?
The good news is that all of us can meditate and even though many of us ask why is it hard to meditate? hard doesn’t mean impossible. Just as with most beneficial things, meditation can take a little dedication and practice to get comfortable with. There is no right or wrong way to meditate and there are many good definitions of what it means to meditate. One of Mettitation’s missions is to help people find a method of meditation that works for them; we are committed to applicable meditation, creating a usable practice that truly benefits our clients and students. If you would like to meditate but are finding it challenging, we recommend finding a coach or tutor who can support and guide you, you’ll soon find that you can meditate, and that you can even enjoy the experience.
“Your mind is the basis of everything you experience and of every contribution you make to the lives of others. Given this fact, it makes sense to train it.” — why meditate Sam Harris
Why you should meditate daily…
By practicing meditation every day we give our bodies and minds the greatest benefit that meditation has to offer. Mountains of peer reviewed scientific studies consistently show that meditation has incredible benefits to human health; these include:
Improved sleep
Relief from anxiety and depression
Improved cognitive function in areas such as memory, attention span and problem solving
Lowered risk of serious disease including heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure disorders and cancer
Improved relationships and interactions
Increased immune system functioning
Improvements in digestion
Relief from conditions such as ADHD
Hormone balance
Lowered levels of stress
Pain reduction
Increases in energy and vitality
Reduction in medical intervention
Reduction in detrimental addiction behaviour
The above list of reasons why you should meditate is not exhaustive, as we learn more and more about the beneficial effects of meditation. We know that regular meditation practices reduce the levels of stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, and increase production of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, melatonin, DHEA and endorphins; all of these have beneficial effects related to our immunity, pain management, repair and renewal as well as creating feelings of pleasure, happiness, love, belonging and vitality.
By practicing daily meditation we reap the most benefit of these effects as well as creating a system of positive goal accomplishment, which tends to lead people towards more accomplishment, gratitude and satisfaction. As with most things, with practice meditation becomes more enjoyable and so this is a good reason to set out with an intention to meditate every day.
Why meditate in the morning?
A morning meditation practice has many benefits:
Beginning your day in a positive mindset.
Achieving a goal within moments of waking up!
Less likely to fall asleep than when meditating before bed.
Reduces stress and anxiety, creating calm from the start of your day.
I encourage, and practice, morning meditation. At first it may help to set an alarm twenty minutes before your normal time to rise. I often feel considerable push back from this but with a little dedication and willingness to try something new and uncomfortable, most students quickly find they don’t need an alarm at all.
I consistently find that a regular morning meditation routine negates the need for an alarm, I wake happily and naturally - this is one of my favourite outcomes of regular meditation.
Why you should not meditate at night… debunked:
Although I encourage a morning meditation practice, I also love a night time practice! Morning meditation has its own list of benefits, as described above; in addition to these, the main reason to avoid a night time meditation practice is that the meditator is more likely to fall asleep, and sleeping and meditating are not the same. However, falling to sleep may be the most positive result a person can obtain from their meditation. I find that many clients and students struggle with insomnia disorders, sleep is incredibly important to our health and so meditating at night may reap this important benefit. Regular meditation increases our production of melatonin which, amongst other things, promotes deep, restful sleep. This occurs no matter what time we meditate and so a morning meditation practice usually results in better sleep, however a night time practice also relaxes and quiets the mind and in this way may further increase the likelihood of restful sleep.
I also find that meditating at night can be easier for some people, as the mind is already tired from the day and is more readily quieted. Some schedules suit night time meditation more as responsibilities of life could make a consistent morning routine more challenging. Set yourself up for success by allowing yourself the power of choice. Consistency is more important than timing. Lastly, I sometimes find that night time meditation brings about more ‘magical’ results, and feelings of transcendence or out of body experiences are easier to come by - though this is not the goal of meditation, it is an enjoyable experience!
Meditate at the time of day that suits you most, especially at first, to create a consistent routine. Once a routine is established, you may want to try changing your meditation timing to see if there are different or increased benefits; for maximum results, meditate in the morning and the evening.
“A most useful approach to meditation practice is to consider it the most important activity of each day. Schedule it as you would an extremely important appointment, and unfailingly keep your appointment with the infinite” – Roy Eugene Davis
Why is it important to meditate?
“I meditate so that my mind cannot complicate my life” – Sri Chinmoy
There are many answers to the question why is it important to meditate? here are a few of our reasons:
to improve our health
to enable us to cope with daily life
to help us enjoy and be grateful for daily life
to help us sleep
to build compassion and belonging
to give our minds and bodies time to rest
to disassociate from our mental chatter
to give ourselves a gift of something good and simple
Why is it hard to meditate?
People often find it hard to meditate because they have unrealistic expectations of what meditation means. Meditation is often thought of as a state of complete non thought and peace. Though this state - often termed transcendence - is a possible outcome of meditation, it is not necessary to successfully meditate. The biggest challenge for new meditators is to let go of how they think meditation should be and just allow it to be as it is. If you are not comfortably able to sit cross legged in a traditional meditation posture, then find a position that works for your body. We often recommend sitting against a wall or piece of furniture to begin your practice, as this supports your spine in an upright position. If you need to lie down to be comfortable, then lie down. You can meditate whilst you walk, and in fact this is a regular practice for Zen monks and other expert meditators.
It is unlikely that your mind will be completely absent of thought for extended periods of time; the mind is designed to think. In meditation we simply learn not to attach and ‘spin’ any thoughts that occur. We let thoughts come and go without labeling them good, bad or important. We recognise that a thought is a thing, and is not inherently us nor is it necessarily true! In meditation you will likely find that you are following a narrative of thought, the point at which you realise and stop the train of thought is awareness, once awareness kicks in you simply bring yourself back to your focus - which is often the breath - and we do this over and over again, and this is meditation. Repetitive, perhaps, hard - not really.
As well as the mind, the body is used to giving movement and feedback. This is often in the form of sensation; just as with thought, in meditation we don’t label sensations as good or bad. They are simply things and we observe them and notice if they fade, and if they persist we either choose to let them fade to the background or we allow ourselves conscious movement and resettling, without frustration.
Meditation isn’t hard, we make meditation hard by not allowing it to just be.
Why is it good to meditate - part two summary
In part three of this four part meditation FAQ blog, I take a closer look at questions about the physical aspects of meditation. I hope part two has given you some further insight into the practice of meditation.
Special thanks to my sources:
Instagram Bio Quotes That Define The Real You (by Norbert Juma)
Quiet the Mind and Get Your Zen on With These 50 Quotes About Meditation (by Nicole Pajer)
