Forget about dissolution of ego or compassion or anything Zen, and let’s talk concretely about why everyone could benefit from zazen or another form of meditation.
You know the importance of physical exercise to keep your body healthy, be it a workout at a gym, a sport, or just leisurely activity. If you are quite active, you know the importance of maintenance, be it stretching, massage, or physio/chiro.
But what do you do for your mind?
Some people might say to me that they read, play games, or engage in analysis. These things are fine and good, albeit limited, and then what maintenance are you doing? You’re thinking, thinking, thinking all the time, but when are you slowing down and really examining thought? What are you really doing to maintain and keep your mind healthy?
These are probably questions you never considered because no one is asking them. We have all heard PSAs directed at physical health. No one I know can’t recite the Body Break jingle. Our doctors, parents, teachers all stress to us the need for physical activity, and this began decades ago, probably earlier, and became incredibly popular with the advent of gym memberships and home exercise remedies.
When people suffer serious mental problems, we send them to mental health professionals, as we should. But we never talk about prevention, because most of us are so completely unaware or ignorant of one all-important method of maintenance of mind and prevention of breakdown: meditation.
Of course, some mental illness is genetic in nature and cannot be prevented by meditation, and I’m by no means pulling a Tom Cruise and telling people to go off their meds and stare at a wall for half an hour to cure what ails them. But this is a small fraction of the populace, and many people, if not most, with no genetic disposition for mental illness suffer breakdowns and depression on a regular basis. Many of us simply don’t know how to cope mentally with the difficulties of life. We let it get so bad that we need medication and professional help when so many could find a drug-free solution in meditation.
And studies prove this.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2008914,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43006-2005Jan2.html
http://digitaljournal.com/article/303289
http://www.news.wisc.edu/14944
http://www.researchingmeditation.org/
So what is the reason behind our lack of education surrounding meditation? The answer is most likely that no corporation or business has anything to gain from meditation, save for a few pillow makers. Meditation is done without aid of gyms or complicated equipment or pills, which makes it accessible to everyone and allows no one to exploit it.
Doing meditation for 30 minutes a day, possibly even less, is all that is required to reap the benefits. It is quite doable for most of us. If it is not doable for you, your life may be too complicated and I encourage you to simplify for all our sake.
What meditation is not is an overnight cure. If you sit for a day or even just a week and expect anything more than subtle relaxation, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Meditation does change the chemistry of the brain for the better, but it takes a constant and consistent practice to achieve this change.
And I can’t stress enough how important it is to leave expectations at the door when sitting. It is like in so many other areas of life: The harder you grasp at it, the further away it will move. Relax, just sit without hope or expectation, and it will come naturally.
If I hope for anything, it is that I have piqued your interest in zazen or another form of meditation a little more, and that seed blossoms into a consistent practice so you can find a way out of your own suffering.
Take care of your mind. You only get one.
Tags: body break, genetic disposition, gym memberships, home exercise, mental health professionals, physical exercise
