Why Everyone is Meditating, and Why You Should be Too

”In this hectic world of deadlines and stress, we have recognized the importance of slowing down at least once a day.”

Wait.

You don’t meditate?

Every single day??

For an hour at a time????

I recently was listening to a podcast called “#Adulting” by Zack Peter and Nikki Sharp (very good, by the way!), and I found myself extremely surprised by what they and their guests were saying.  On the podcast the two hosts talk with doctors and other health experts about various health/lifestyle trends. They discuss their validity and whether or not we all should be doing them. I got my jolt of surprise when nearly every expert they talked with said they meditate.

Now I’ve heard that meditation is good for you. I know the generals: it helps you relax and refocus, thus alleviating stress/anxiety/depression and decreasing their detrimental effects on the body. The more I looked into meditation, though, the more people I realized were incorporating it into their daily lives. Heck I even found that there are such things as “meditation bars”. One such place that I googled even had over 20 different meditation classes offered. I’d always thought that meditation was reserved for the average person’s extremely bad day OR the extremely unemployed and thus very free and self-actualized person’s every day. After all, how was I – a full-time registered nurse – supposed to wake up before my 5:15am alarm and meditate before my hectic day?

I’ll be 100% honest: I have not begun meditating every day. The only time I use meditation is with this YouTube video which helps me fall asleep after a particularly rough day at work. But the idea of regular meditation greatly appeals to me, as it clearly appeals to so many others.

So why has it exploded? In this hectic world of deadlines and stress, we have recognized the importance of slowing down AT LEAST once a day. The idea of self-care has certainly taken off, and meditation is one way to “refill your cup”.  As a society, we’ve also learned the harmful effects of stress on the body and thus the need to counteract them. Stress can cause insomnia, weight gain, depression, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and so much more. The more we’ve learned, the more we’ve realized we need to do something about it.

It’s pretty safe to say that we could all benefit from meditation. It doesn’t even have to be long. Meditation is taking a little time to sit quietly, breathe deeply, and relax your mind. You could listen to calming music or follow a guided meditation video: there’s no one right way to do it. The American Heart Association has a pretty helpful article on the benefits and basics of meditation here.

Go ahead and try it out! If you have a busy morning schedule like me, you don’t have to do it first thing. Make a little time to fit it in your schedule, and enjoy the restorative benefits.