Benefit 2: It Opens Your Mind

It Opens Your Mind

Ever had one of those days, where try as you may, you just can’t seem to make progress and be productive?

On those days, does it feel as though your mind is stuck in a loop, going over the same thoughts and feelings over and over again?

How it works

• By devoting a little time to meditation each day, we can train our minds to better cope with the mental overload.
• A simple breath-based meditation, where you are focussed on your breathing, can be very useful in quietening the monkey mind.
• Your mind is like a river, and over time can get blocked by rocks and other stuff that gets pulled in by the current.

Do you wish on those days, that you could somehow reboot your mind and reload your thoughts and feelings, without that annoying glitch in the system?

Well, you certainly aren’t alone. We all have days, or even extended periods of time, where we feel unable to move forward and to clear our minds, allowing us to focus on the things we need to focus on. Think of it like this – your mind is like a river, and over time can get blocked by rocks and other stuff that gets pulled in by the current. To unblock the river, you need a way to release and remove that build up, allowing the river, or in this case our thoughts, to run freely again. Meditation does that, it lets you pull on your thoughts one at a time, so they can flow freely again, letting that clarity of thought that’s eluded you, come much more easily.

By devoting a little time to meditation each day, we can train our minds to better cope with the mental overload, or “monkey mind” as it is known in Buddhism. The monkey mind is your biggest critic and will, if you let it, stand in your way. Therefore, when we have the days where we can’t concentrate and are unable to be productive, we need to quieten the monkey mind and take control of our thoughts – that’s where meditation comes in.

A simple breath-based meditation, where you are focussed on your breathing, can be very useful in quietening the monkey mind. Simply close your eyes, breathe deeply and slowly and be fully immersed in the feelings of your breathing. Feel the air pass through your nostrils and how the tip of your nose feels slightly cooler as you inhale. Feel your stomach expand as your draw deeply from your diaphragm and then hold it for just a couple of seconds, before slowly exhaling through your mouth. Then repeat the cycle until your mind stops wandering and your thoughts are firmly on your breathing. The monkey mind is now quiet and you can exit your meditation with improved clarity and better focus.