Meditation as the Foundation for Overall Health and Well Being
As a high-level hospitality corporate executive, a supreme multi-tasker with fifteen plates in the air, I was the busiest person I knew. Until I wasn’t. Until my plates came crashing down in the form of a frozen shoulder. A beautiful health crisis. A cry from my Inner Knowing to SLOW DOWN. A signal from my Soul saying, this is no way to live. Certainly not a way to thrive.
Meditation for me began as a pain management strategy. Being quiet, stilling my body and mind seemed to be the only thing that provided temporary relief of the throbbing, inflamed, adhesive capsulitis that was my shoulder. During my recovery after shoulder surgery, I attended a program called Rest and Restore, which unbeknownst to me when booking it, was about learning how to meditate. I didn’t know at the time, but that was to be the beginning of my now daily meditation practice.
I have since learned that meditation is about the exploration of our inner thoughts, and that it awakens creativity, healing and personal transformation. Three qualities I was looking to incorporate into my life. I had previously believed that meditation was about stopping your thoughts. And I thought, there is no way I’m going to be able to do that. Luckily, I didn’t have to because that was a misbelief.
Meditation is not about forcing your mind to be quiet. Rather it’s a process that allows us to be the observer of our own thoughts. We are able to enter the quietness that exists within us, in between the thoughts. Behind the chatter of our noisy minds is the silence of pure awareness. This silence that is undisturbed by thoughts of the past or concerns of the future.
I officially began my daily meditation practice in July of 2014. I consider my practice my resting place. My practice has created a steady stream of calm in my life. It is the foundation point from which I can neutrally observe all of the ways life is “coming at me” in physical world reality. Life is never going to stop coming at us. However, the place of calm centeredness is always within us. Meditation is the way we can bring our consciousness back into that calm. To become more aware of this quiet, peaceful, centered, all-knowing place inside each of us. And, it is always there. Just below the surface of life. I simply wasn’t noticing it before I learned to meditate.
Today, meditating for me is like brushing my teeth, I wouldn’t leave the house without doing it. When I meditate my spine aligns, my sinuses drain and I gain clarity of mind. I tap into my inner knowing and feel my Spirit connected to All That Is.
I’ve heard some people remark that they think meditation is boring. I think of it like watching a show. You can rest in the seat of the observer and just watch what comes up, allowing it all to just go by like clouds in the sky. Letting go of repetitive thoughts, seeing them with no attachment allows us to gain clearer perspective on our lives. Meditation is my ultimate resting place, yet my point of power at the same time.
The scientific and medical community have proven that meditation develops new neural pathways in the brain, increases intelligence, improves creativity, reduces stress, anxiety and the symptoms of some of the most commons physical and mental ailments. Meditation promotes inner and outer peace and is foundational in overall health and well being.
As I have continued to evolve and expand into a life that is more rhythmic and in the flow of my Authentic Self, meditation is a foundation for my success as a coach, my success in health and wellbeing, and my overall success in every aspect of my life.
For studies and statistics on the benefits of meditation visit: www.project-meditation.org.
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