What 5 Years of Meditation Has Taught Me

What is meditation?

Meditation is the act of fully immersing oneself in one's environment and sensations. It’s experiencing a clear awareness of thoughts, sensations, and moods. There are many variations of meditation, but in its essence, it is a tool for training attention and awareness.

The health benefits associated with meditation are numerous and include lowered blood pressure, decreased anxiety and depression, and better mood regulation. It has also been linked to increased gray matter thickness and cortical folding in the brain.

How I got into meditation

In undergraduate school, I had an assignment that required me to perform a new habit for 30 days and then reflect on my experience. At the time, I had just read an article on the benefits of meditation in regard to physical health, and I was interested in improving my fitness. I thought, “We train our bodies to become stronger by lifting weights, why not treat my mind the same way?”

I started using the Headspace app and used it for those 30 days. At the end of the project, I missed a few days and noticed that I was in a better mood, calmer, and could think more clearly on the days that I meditated. Ever since completing that project, I have incorporated meditation into my daily routine.

How I meditate?

Over the years, my meditative habits and forms have evolved. I currently use the Waking Up app by Sam Harris. If you are new to meditating, I recommend starting with the Introductory Course. I typically use “mindfulness” meditation for the majority of my sessions. But I’ve also been enjoying a different type of meditation called “Metta.” Metta is a meditation used to improve loving-kindness. It sounds a bit cheesy at first, but by consciously wishing others good luck and good fortune, I’ve noticed improved relationships and that I’ve become a more empathetic person.

Most mornings, I sit upright in a chair and put on my noise-canceling headphones to listen to the daily meditation on the Waking Up app for 10-20 minutes. I try to do it within the first hour after awakening because if I put it off for later in the day, I likely won’t get around to doing it.

If I’ve had a busy or stressful morning, I will do a yoga nidra meditation which means “yogic sleep” at lunch to help calm my mind and reset for the afternoon. It can also be a useful tool for relaxing the mind before bedtime and letting go of pestering thoughts.

Noticing the transient nature of things

It is cliche to say, but true—all we really ever have is this moment. I often feel overwhelmed with thoughts about what has already happened or anticipating what is to come, and meditation has become my antidote to worry. Meditation has taught me to slow down and simply notice how everything that I’ve done in the past has led up to this moment. All the books I’ve read, conversations I’ve had, or emotions I’ve felt have all come and gone.

If I’m feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or like I have failed, I say to myself “Begin again.” Those two words are simple to incorporate into your daily life when you catch yourself in a negative spiral and can set you on the right path. “Begin again” is a prompt that Sam Harris occasionally gives in his daily meditations because even if you’ve been lost in thought for 9 minutes of the meditation, if you’re able to salvage the last minute by starting over, the overall session is a success.

Anger is an emotion that is innate to the human experience, but if we can shorten its duration, we can limit unnecessary suffering. It is impossible to stay angry for many moments without actively thinking about what made you angry, which keeps you emotionally charged. Just noticing the unpleasant sensations and thoughts that accompany anger can help ameliorate their effects on the mind. I’ve noticed that since I started meditating, I still experience anger in my life, but the amount of time I stay in that negative state has reduced dramatically.

Recognizing the value of attention

It is our most valuable resource in the 21st century. Companies now pay billions of dollars for it. And all too often we forget just how valuable our attention is. How we use our attention on a daily basis ultimately determines the quality of life we live. Today, there are infinite ways to use our attention on things that are objectively worthy of our time, but we are finite beings and need to decide how to spend our time.

Mindfulness is about noticing where you are spending your attention, and in turn, your life. Simply paying attention to the breath can bring about a sense of ease and content. When I feel my mind getting caught up in incessant distractions, I try to take a few moments and just notice a particular sensation or my underlying mood. Pausing and noticing what you are doing periodically throughout the day can help you regain control of your attention and use it more wisely.

Noticing beauty in the mundane

When you’re able to cultivate open awareness of your body and surroundings, the world becomes even more beautiful. I try to take walks outside each day without my phone or any sort of external distraction. Taking walks in nature can be in and of itself a type of meditation practice. Since I started meditating, I’ve been able to see just how beautiful the world can be. Whether it is appreciating the pattern of branching on an old oak tree, the vastness of the ocean, or the agility of squirrels as they chase each other 30 feet above the ground, beauty surrounds us.

Before my meditation practice, I would rush through mundane chores like cooking, cleaning, and getting groceries. But now I appreciate each part of my day regardless of how seemingly boring or trivial it is. If you are always rushing through your life to get to the next thing, you will miss your life.

Thich Nhat Hanh sums up this concept well by stating, “If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact, we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”

How meditation can help you

Not everyone needs to sit down each day to practice meditation for the rest of their life, but I think everyone should experience consistent meditation at some point in their lives. It’s hard to recognize how your thoughts or emotions are controlling you unless you’re able to separate yourself from them and notice them objectively.

I recommend starting with an app like Calm, Headspace, or Waking Up to guide you into learning the basics of meditation. I’ve found that being consistent with shorter meditation sessions on a daily basis is much better than one or two longer meditations throughout the week.

Finally, the classic image of someone sitting on a pillow with an upright posture in silence is not the only way to meditate. Some may find meditation in going for walks in nature, playing a sport, or exercising. Find a version of meditation that works for you and you may see how much suffering is alleviated by becoming aware of your current experience.