Would you like to feel calmer, more relaxed and with a clearer mind in as little as 10 minutes? We did, so we followed the advice of our friends at Headspace and found the path to ‘enlightenment’ is more attainable than we thought!
We’re delighted that Headspace’s meditation guru Andy Puddicombe has written the following blog post explaining how you too can benefit from their easy to follow techniques.
The human brain is a seriously busy organ, processing more than one hundred million instructions per second. And it consists of an almost unbelievable 100 billion neurons – similar to the number of stars in our galaxy. It’s perhaps not surprising that the brain produces enough energy to light a 25W lightbulb – but please don’t try this at home.
What with all this activity, it’s almost inevitable that we’re going to feel stressed and a little strung-out at times. Deadlines at work, digital overload, social commitments, financial responsibilities, relationships – and that’s before we even begin to look inside at the emotional and thought-filled roller-coaster that most of us ride through life.
Now if all this inner turmoil could actually be seen, there would be worldwide pandemonium. Of course, it’s now widely acknowledged that many stress related illnesses arise as a direct result of our over-active minds. But if it doesn’t manifest in illness, then what happens in the privacy of our own mind tends to go largely unseen by others.
Thank goodness for that, I hear you say! But sitting with all those thoughts, all those feelings, is no easy thing. Sometimes the thoughts appear endless, they just keep on coming. At other times everything feels fine and then, as soon as your head hits the pillow at night, the mind just goes off on one. Sound familiar? And as for the feelings, well, anything other then happiness is just plain wrong, right?
The fact of the matter is though, and this may well surprise you, that the primary thoughts and feelings which arise in the mind only account for a tiny fraction of the stress we experience in life. What accounts for the rest, is the way in which we relate to those thoughts and feelings – the secondary thoughts and feelings. Let’s be honest, when was the last time you felt relaxed about the fact that your thoughts were racing away at a million miles per hour? When was the last time you felt a sense of inner peace when you felt angry, lonely, depressed or worried? It’s hard not to resist these things.
It sounds obvious doesn’t it? And yet most people don’t do anything about it. If you wanted to learn how to paint, you’d go to an art class, right? If you wanted to learn about food, you’d go to a cookery class. And if you wanted to learn how to play tennis, you’d go and see a tennis coach. So who do you go and see if you want to learn how to train the mind?
Training the mind is just another way of saying ‘meditation’. I’m not talking about the shaven-headed, loincloth-wearing, sitting-on-top-of-a-mountain type of meditation here, but rather the type of meditation you can do at home, in your usual clothes, sat on a nice comfy chair. Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t have to involve incense, chanting and bell-ringing. And it can be done in as little as 10 minutes too – so the ‘I haven’t got time’ excuse sounds pretty flimsy on this one.
But don’t take my word for it. Scientists at prestigious medical schools such as Harvard, Duke and MIT, to name but a few, have shown repeatedly how meditation can be used to successfully address a wide range of stress related symptoms. This includes insomnia, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, PMT, chronic pain, tension, fatigue, and so the list goes on. It’s also been shown to promote creativity, concentration and awareness.
You’ll be pleased to know though, that we’re very realistic at Headspace. We know that life is busy, time is precious and that there’s only room for so many things in a 24 hour day. But we also know that if you’re looking at this website, then there’s a pretty good chance you care about your health. And so you should.
So why not pay us a visit at www.getsomeheadspace.com, where you can sign up for a course of meditation completely free of charge, and join a growing community of people who are taking ten minutes out each day to get some headspace.
We very much look forward to seeing you there,
Best wishes,
Andy
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