For many years, meditation has been on my list of to-dos. I had every excuse in the world not to start, “I’m too busy”, “I won’t be good at it”, “It will be too hard”, etc. Well, one day a few weeks ago, I just went for it. I found a YouTube video and did it. Guess what, it didn’t take very long, it wasn’t hard, and I did just fine! It was so relaxing and centering that my entire day went better, so I did it again the next day, and the next, and the next…. I have meditated almost every day for the past 3 weeks and I can tell a difference. I am happier and I am responding better to stress.

The past 2 weeks, I have been doing Oprah and Deepak’s 21-day meditation challenge on Expanding Your Happiness. It has been lovely! There have been days on happiness, laughter, passion, thankfulness, etc. Each day, I am able to relax more deeply, stay more present, and take away more from the meditations. They do these 21 day experiences quite often, so if you are interested, get on their e-mail list. It’s nice to get a daily reminder to meditate and after this, I am sure I won’t even need one. I won’t want to miss out on my daily dose!

Meditation has many benefits.  Meditation increases mental well-being by helping us respond better to stress, by reducing negative emotions, and helping us stay more in the present. It benefits illnesses that get worse with stress, such as high blood pressure, asthma, pain, sleep problems, anxiety, and depression. Meditation has even been studied as a possible way to live longer. In a 2009 study, it was found that “meditation practices may promote mitotic cell longevity both through decreasing stress hormones and oxidative stress and increasing hormones that may protect the telomere”. Basically, as we age, our cells stop reproducing and die. Meditation may play a role is slowing this process. How cool is that???

There are many forms of meditations and lengths of time to meditate. No, we probably don’t have time in our busy lives to sit and meditate for hours on end, but don’t we have 5-20 minutes to take advantage of these benefits? I am finding that about 15 minutes is perfect. It takes me 5 minutes to relax in to it and then I get 10 full meditation minutes. This is actually plenty. Now, I get up 15 minutes earlier most mornings, do my pilates, and then meditate. I really do feel a difference and I hope you will, too. As with anything, just get going on it. Check out YouTube or another site for a meditation that fits a goal of yours. Do you want to be more positive, more confident, more loving? There are meditations out there for whatever you hope to gain. Just don’t be like me and have it on your to-do list for many years. Start today and let me know how it goes for you.