The Benefits of Meditation

As I alluded to in my first post, I want to emphasize the importance of meditation for mental and physical well-being. Some of you may have already experienced the benefit of taking a few minutes out of your dayto just breathe and let your thoughts drift in and out of consciousness. However, others may be confused about why a psychiatrist would be advocating something so seemingly esoteric. You are not alone, and I used to resist the concept as well.

Meditation used to be something I thought about in passing as maybe helpful for some, but not that useful for my overly scheduled life (mostly self-imposed, of course). I came around after many years of practicing yoga and being forced into a short meditation at the end of class through the pose savasana (corpse pose). The initial goal of Asana yoga (movement) was to get the body ready for rest so that the mind could be in a state of calm. Around this time, I also saw how meditation benefitted others. I saw people who had previously often appeared frenzied and frantic become calmer and more focused. I wanted what they had.

Around 2009, I started haphazardly meditating on my own after reading Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life.

After experiencing some benefit from meditation, I then decided that mindfulness and meditation was something I wanted to incorporate into my work. So I enrolled and completed a two-year contemplative psychotherapy course at the Nalanda Institute in New York City from 2016-2018. It was primarily taught by a psychiatrist and author, also affiliated with Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Joe Loizzo. Since this formal training in 2016, I have been meditating every morning.

Meditation does not have to be, nor should it be, complicated or expensive. It can be five minutes in the morning, sitting comfortably and focusing on the breath. There are different breathing techniques that can help focus breath and calm the nervous system, such as inhaling for four counts, holding for four counts, exhaling for four counts, holding for four counts, etc.

Since quarantine began, I discovered the Ten Percent Happier App by Dan Harris, which offers a free subscription to anyone associated with health care or food services. (By the way, I have no financial affiliation with this app or any other resources I mention on my blogs). But the app also offers free “Ten Percent Happier Live” short meditations with a question/answer session by very famous practitioners in the field. These meditations can also be found on You Tube.

I also had the opportunity to learn from some of these same meditation teachers at the Nalanda program. For example, Tara Brach, a Buddhist psychotherapist and accomplished author, was a guest and she also offers free meditations on her website and podcast.

There are many studies that show real changes in the nervous system and the brain after regular meditation. Here’s just one example.

While we are in this universal pause, it’s a great opportunity for internal pause, as well, by beginning or deepening a meditation practice. A regular meditation practice can help alleviate some of the worry and fear created by this uncertain time in our history.