{"id":727,"date":"2009-07-29T17:14:04","date_gmt":"2009-07-29T17:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/07\/top-ten-reasons-to-start-meditating-today.html"},"modified":"2009-07-29T17:14:04","modified_gmt":"2009-07-29T17:14:04","slug":"top-ten-reasons-to-start-meditating-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/07\/top-ten-reasons-to-start-meditating-today.html","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Reasons To Start Meditating Today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n“Meditate Daily” has been hovering
\non my to-do, someday, or maybe lists for more than ten years, since
\nthe late 1990’s.  Two years ago the universe conspired to deliver
\nme to the doorstep of the Interdependence Project, where the clarity of instruction and friendliness of the community led nearly
\nimmediately to my committing to a daily meditation practice.  Though
\nI miss a day here and there, the positive effects of the practice are
\nso profound that when I don’t make it to the cushion I feel it in my
\nbones.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Sometimes people ask me why I meditate,
\nor have specific questions or misunderstandings about meditation, and
\nmy answer seems to vary depending on what I’ve experienced that day
\nor how that morning’s session went. But I have noticed that I offer
\nsome of the same answers over and over, and so here are my top ten reasons
\nanyone should start a meditation practice today.<\/font> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n

1. Meditation makes you calmer. 
\nBy offering you tools to deal with stress and stressful thought-patterns,
\nmeditation helps you develop the option of remaining calm if you so
\nchoose.<\/font> <\/p>\n

2. Daily meditation offers you a sense
\nof connection to all things by helping you notice that there is an observer
\nbeyond your usual understanding of the term “observer”.<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

3. Meditating helps you deal better with
\nanger, desire, lust and other potentially intoxicating emotions.<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

4. Being a regular meditator does NOT
\nmean you no longer experience emotion; your experience of emotion just
\nbecomes keener and more subject to choice rather than habit<\/font>.\n<\/p>\n

5. Meditating regularly leads to an increased
\nsense of empathy and compassion, towards others and towards yourself.<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

6. Becoming a regular meditator will
\nincrease your creativity, creating more space for new ideas to arise
\nand to be noticed, and lowering any resistance you may have to new concepts
\nand ways of thinking.<\/font> <\/p>\n

7. Meditating makes you healthier. Not
\nonly does it help you become aware of how to handle pain and illness
\nbetter, but scientific studies show that “Meditating slows breathing
\nrate, heart rate, and blood pressure and heart rate. Some evidence suggests
\nthat meditation may also aid treatment of anxiety, depression, high
\nblood pressure and a range of other ailments.” (Mayo Clinic) 
\nAnecdotally and personally I can concur that all of this is true.<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

8. Daily meditation will make you smarter
\nby growing your brain. A 2005 Harvard Medical School study showed that
\n“Brain regions associated with attention, sensory awareness and
\nemotional processing — the cortex — were thicker in meditators. In
\nfact, meditators’ brains grew thicker in direct correlation with how
\nmuch they meditated”.  <\/font> <\/p>\n

9.  Meditation is a great to deal
\nwith your psychological “junk”, offering a great option on
\nits own or in combination with any form of therapy. By noticing your
\nthoughts arise, and recognizing that they are just thoughts, you slowly
\npeel away the layers that cover your true self.<\/font> <\/p>\n

10. Meditation is an excellent adjunct
\nto any spiritual or religious practice, and can be a gateway to deeper
\nspiritual revelations and the essential meaning of interdependence.
\nCombined with my study of Buddhist philosophy, my experience of daily
\nsitting practice is that it offers a complete spiritual path that integrates
\nseamlessly with my daily life.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Bonus benefits: Meditating makes you sexier, brings you new spiritually aware and cool friends if you join a group (or visit the IDP<\/a> podcasts online), and can save you money through the side effect of reduced consumption.   <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

All this and more for just ten to twenty
\nminutes a day.  I can honestly say that beginning a daily meditation
\npractice has been one of the most positively life-effecting decisions
\nI’ve ever made. If my ten reasons for why you should start a daily practice
\ngets you meditating even for one, two, or five minutes today, I
\nwill be deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of your
\ndecision.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Meditate Daily” has been hovering on my to-do, someday, or maybe lists for more than ten years, since the late 1990’s.  Two years ago the universe conspired to deliver me to the doorstep of the Interdependence Project, where the clarity of instruction and friendliness of the community led nearly immediately to my committing to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-right-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\nTop Ten Reasons To Start Meditating Today - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/07\/top-ten-reasons-to-start-meditating-today.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Ten Reasons To Start Meditating Today - 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