Are you ready to commit to the mystery, the unknown, the unseen?
Are you ready to meditate yet?
I want to tell you about how amazing and beneficial meditation is, and I will, but my words aren't what will convince you, the experience will. The practice will. It may take some faith though, to show up, and keep showing up, even when you wonder if anything is happening and you're pretty sure that you must be doing it wrong, or your mind isn't made for this.
For me, meditation has been a slow burn, I didn't meditate once and think, "ahhhhh, this is it!" I don't want to discount that this could happen to you though. Anything is possible! ;)
A few little morsels I have noticed, for myself, over time.
An ability to accept and notice the transient nature of my thoughts and emotions.
An ability to connect with, and believe in, that which I can't see.
An ability to connect more deeply to feelings of love, peace and spaciousness from within myself.
Does the idea of sitting still with your breath feel like being on the torture table in the Princess Bride? If yes, I suggest beginning with a walking mediation.
Walk. Walk in a city. Walk in a neighborhood. Walk in nature. Just walk. Walk quietly. Walk alone. Walk and notice your feet touching the earth. Walk and notice your breath. Walk and notice anything and then come back to your breath, back to your feet touching the earth. Walk and, if you can, leave your phone behind.
A timer is nice. I would stop as soon as it got uncomfortable if I didn't have a timer set. There are a lot of tools for this and I'll just offer up the one that I use, Insight Timer. It is free.
Now for the science, the research. I didn't seek out peer reviewed articles, although they can be found, as well. I looked for easier to digest articles.
Meditation as an Invitation to Well-Being
https://www.lionsroar.com/invitation-to-well-being/
Harvard Health on How Meditation Helps with Depression
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-meditation-helps-with-depression
Unleashing the Mind: The Neuroscience of Meditation
Last, some poetic inspiration for the practice of meditation. This is from the Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche, PhD:
At the end of the exhale,
Breath surrenders to quietude.
For a moment you hang in the balance -
Suspended
In the fertile spaciousness
That is the source of breath.
At the end of the inhale,
Filled with the song of the breath,
There is a moment when you are simply
Holding the tender mystery.
In these interludes,
Experience opens into exquisite vastness
With no beginning and no end.
Embrace this infinity without reservation.
You are its vessel.
Do you already meditate? If yes, I would love to hear about what you've noticed over time from your practice.