Meditation Myths Debunked

Meditation has been entwined with yoga since Patanjali wrote the yoga sutras thousands of years ago, and both practices remain closely linked today. Meditation itself has become a bit of a buzzword recently, with many people turning to it as a way to help manage the stress of modern life. But despite this, it is still a practice that can get a bad reputation as people struggle to understand what it really is and how it can benefit us. 

Meditation is a journey from external activity to inner silence. It has been scientifically proven to help reduce stress, manage anxiety, generate kindness and compassion, and lengthen attention spans. Basically, it’s a pretty amazing thing! But when talking about establishing a meditation practice, there are a few common barriers that tend to come up. I’ve addressed these barriers below in the hope that you consider swapping your morning social media scroll for some much needed headspace. 

‘My head is too full of thoughts’

I’m not surprised! Modern life means that we’re programmed to think about meetings at work, what we’re making for dinner, what exercise we’re going to do and when we’re going to have time to do laundry, all whilst listening to the radio on our drive to the supermarket to do our household food shop. We have A LOT on our minds. To suddenly ask our thoughts to be quiet after letting them run wild for 12 hours of the day is hard. Like anything, it takes practice. Neurons that fire together, wire together. So it is a case of over time, rewiring our brains to receive less input and be less stimulated. 

Meditation isn’t about having a mind completely empty of all thoughts. As we’re sitting in meditation thoughts will creep in, that’s totally normal and to be expected. Instead of emptying our mind from thoughts, we learn to observe when they enter our mind and without judgement let them drift away, bringing our attention back to the present moment. Learning to meditate is like learning any other skill. It takes consistency, practice and discipline to feel comfortable. But the benefits that come with your meditation journey can be hugely profound. 

‘I don’t have time’

I’m a strong believer in the phrase ‘we have time for what we make time for.’ If you take a look at your average screen time on your phone for the past week, I think most of us will realise that we can make time for 10 minutes of meditation everyday if we wanted to. It’s a case of prioritising and making it a key part of our daily schedule. A lot of people find it easier to meditate first thing in the morning because the mind is fresh and hasn’t received too much input. As our evenings are often busy, mornings are a great time to work meditation into your schedule because it can be as simple as waking up just 10 minutes earlier. Try and do it before eating breakfast or drinking coffee if you can. 

It’s also worth pointing out that you don’t have to meditate for hours at a time. Even just 10 minutes a day has been proven to have benefits, so that’s a great place to start. Then if you feel that you’d like to build up your time to 20 or 30 minutes a day, you can.

‘But isn’t it religious/spiritual?’

Nope, not necessarily. Plenty of people with different religious and spiritual beliefs, in addition to those who are atheist or agnostic, practice meditation regularly without any conflict. It takes us beyond the mental chatter of our minds towards a place of stillness and calm, and it’s something that everyone can benefit from at some level. Many people find meditation for a whole host of different reasons, from helping to manage a mental health issue or increasing the quality of their sleep, to managing physical pain or lowering blood pressure. Whether we have a spiritual or religious background or not, meditation can help to enrich our lives by helping us to become more aware and compassionate.