‘You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour’  an old Zen saying tells us.  

Sometimes people say to me that they would love to learn to meditate but want to wait until things calm down for them. Why postpone being more productive, aware, efficient, effective, healthier, happier and well until your schedule is lighter?    

We live in a world that is designed to distract. There are so many weapons of mass distraction affecting us on a daily basis – social media, technology, advertisements, problems, challenges, pressures to grow, internal pressures. You should do this. You should not do that. The list goes on.

Meditation has so many benefits. Here are my top 12.  

  1. It helps you declutter and clean your mind. We have 50, 000 – 70,000 thoughts a day so there is some cleaning and filing to do which happens naturally as we meditate. 
  2. It brings you into the present and aware of the nature of your thoughts and how they are helping and how they are hindering you. This ultimately makes you more accountable in relation to your thoughts and prepares you to harmonise feelings, thoughts and actions. Happiness and success come when what we think, feel, say and do are all in alignment.
  3. You learn to sit with yourself. When you can sit fully with yourself you can handle life more effectively. You are not easily distracted or deterred.
  4. It increases your ability to focus which makes you more effective and efficient.
  5. It increases your connection to yourself. It prepares you to be true to yourself so you can say no when you want to say no and yes to life and things that grow and move you forward.
  6. When you are present and connected, this brings courage and resolve do make and sustain changes. Sustained connection with yourself brings confidence and so many other things.
  7. When you have a better relationship with yourself, this is a great foundation for meaningful, supportive and lasting relationship with others.
  8. Meditation helps you to build the muscle in your brain that regulates emotion which brings balance to the mind and body. It also improves memory.
  9. It strengthens your intuition and inner-knowing of what is right for you and your life.
  10. It boosts your creativity.   You will feel more creative and innovative more of the time.
  11. It energises you and clears blocks in the chakra system, the energy system of your body.
  12. It helps you have a great night’s sleep.

The list goes on. There are so many benefits as you become more connected to yourself and your own essence. You are more joyful and peaceful with yourself and the world around you. It helps build discipline which can be applied in all areas of life. It is proven to be successful in alleviating depression, anxiety and a range of physical and mental health problems. Meditation helps you sit with yourself and any discomfort that arises and gives you the courage to take calculated risk.

Many successful people meditate daily and credit it with their success – athletes, scientists, executives and leaders from all walks of life including Tom Daley, Olympic diver; Katy Perry, Oprah, Clint Eastwood, Tony Robbins, Ellen DeGeneres, Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn  to name a few. A growing number of companies and organisations are using it to boost leadership, performance and overall wellbeing as well as an effective stress management tool for their staff.

If you haven’t tried it, do it for 20 minutes every morning. You will be amazed by the results.

What others say about meditation:

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”

Oprah on bringing meditation to her office: “People who used to have migraines, don’t. People are sleeping better. People have better relationships. People interact with other people better. It’s been fantastic”

Ellen DeGeneres: “Because it feels good. Kinda like when you have to shut your computer down, just sometimes when it goes crazy, you just shut it down and when you turn it on, it’s okay again. That’s what meditation is for me” 

Sheryl Crow: “I started meditating because I felt like I needed stop my life from running me,”

Kirsten Bell: “Do meditative yoga for 10 minutes every morning. When you have a problem – whether it’s road rage, your guy, or work – meditation allows everything to unfold the way it’s supposed to.”

Sir Paul McCartney: “In moments of madness, meditation has helped me find moments of serenity – and I would like to think that it would help provide young people a quiet haven in a not-so-quiet world’