Calm down. I know you probably saw the word “meditate” in the column title and are flipping out. Let me assure you that I am neither a Buddhist nor a hippie. So, you are going to have to get rid of your preconceptions and associations with any form of the word “meditate” before we proceed. Would it help if I told you that employees of Google, Facebook and Twitter are using meditation as a tool for productivity and creativity in the workplace? Before you write this column off as hippie-dippie (or write me off as a whacko), ask yourself: In a “who has life figured out” battle between a Google exec and you, who wins? If we are being honest with ourselves, we all have something to learn.
A recent article in Wired magazine explored the meditation trend in Silicon Valley. One of the main studies cited in the article came out of Boston University. Researchers found that after as little as three and a half hours of meditation training, subjects reacted less to emotionally charged images. It appears that meditation actually can help rewire how the brain reacts to stressors. In a study from a January 2011 issue of “Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging,” a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found that after eight weeks of daily 30-minute meditation sessions, subjects had increased activity in their hippocampuses, associated with memory and learning, increased activity in structures related to self-awareness, compassion and introspection, and decreased activity in the amygdala, associated with stress and anxiety. Additionally, a 2012 study from “Frontiers in Psychology” showed a connection between open-monitoring meditation (meditation without focus on any single thought or object) and divergent thinking (generating new thoughts and ideas).
Several options and variations of meditation exist. Meditation has different purposes for different people, so a lot of people just make up their own way to do things. Some of the eastern variations to achieve enlightenment seemed pretty weird to me, so I will share a predominantly western meditation method.
You may want to use meditation to calm your mind and relax a little bit, or you may want to use it to focus on a specific goal or action. I know several athletes who use focused meditation, often called visualization, to reflect on and mentally practice certain movements of their sport.
For the purpose of this column, though, I will describe a method of general open-monitoring meditation.
Lie down on your back in a comfy spot, such as a bed or a couch. This area should be free from potential distractions, such as cell phones, TVs or other people.
Close your eyes and put one hand on your diaphragm, focusing on slow, big breaths. It may help you to count to five as you inhale and exhale.
A lot of times, simply focusing on breathing for 10 or 20 minutes will produce the sort of relaxed state of mind we’re aiming for. If you would like other things to focus on, though, it might help to focus your breathing around a scene you can picture in your mind, perhaps of ocean tides rolling in and out, breeze blowing through trees, or dust floating in and out of a jar.
Focus on these things intently. You do not want your mind to wander or get distracted.
Usually, this whole process only lasts for 10 or 20 minutes. When you are finished, you will feel like you just woke up from a little nap.
You may feel a little strange about meditating at first, but with the observed benefits and potential gain it offers, I urge you to give it a shot.
