I was recently on vacation with my sister, friend and aunt when they asked me to explain exactly WHAT meditation is. My sister, an artist, was most interested in the ways it makes you feel deeply sensitized to the world, rather than “transcending” outside it. I think I agree with her – that is my favorite type as well. Of course, “inside” and “outside” all become a little meaningless when you are on a long meditation retreat, but as a daily practice,  say- walking to the train, sitting at my desk at work – eating breakfast – I do find it deeply rewarding to slow down and try and be as mindful as possible. I focus on feeling the chair beneath me, noticing how each step feels on my foot, tasting the food I am eating – slowly and deliberately.

Warning! If you try this approach, you might notice that slowing down brings you face-to-face with something that is bothering you that you are desperately trying to avoid. It happens to me all the time. I try to breath,  slow down, and see if I can just be with whatever feelings arise in that moment, instead of trying to analyze or explain them, or RUN away. I physically ask myself, where is this feeling in my body? In the chest? In the stomach? Wherever it is, i focus on it, and breath into it – I do NOT ask questions about it. Its very hard for someone who loves talk therapy and analysis in general!  I try and stick to this technique though, and it almost always becomes very very useful for getting through thick clouds of bad feelings that may not even be fully articulate-able into language.

Why Meditate?
People meditate seeking a wide range of outcomes, from clarity of mind to profound religious ecstasy. The following represents a partial list of the benefits meditation can offer – if you meditate, please add your own!

1. Relaxation.
The need to relax is more than a luxury in New York – it is a necessity. The everyday tenseness and constriction that accompany life in this City can be debilitating to our mental and physical health. I first began meditating because I suffered from unrelenting, stomach-churning anxiety that did not subside even when I went to sleep. I can’t tell you exactly where this came from – I’m guessing a mix of nature and nurture. All I know is that the more I meditate, the less anxiety has a grip on my everyday existence. Whether you are in such a state of daily anxiety or you merely feel harried from the pace of life, meditation can offer a place to come home to yourself. At its most basic level, meditation teaches us how to become aware of our breath and our bodily sensations, helping us to find the infinite peace available to us in the present moment.

2. Attunement.
I’ve noticed that very often, I walk through life recognizing that a tree is beautiful, or food tastes good, but feeling that there is a barrier between me and the experience. There is a strange feeling of alienation that contributes to me feeling meaningless and lonely. I believe this alienation comes about because my ideas about the material world get in the way of my experience of the world. When I meditate and come back to the breath in a repeated, gentle manner, I begin to see the deviations between my ideas of how things are and how they actually are. I begin to see the way my mind takes raw materials and constructs imaginary realities, and how I live in those imaginary places and spin countless stories that I believe are real. Meditating enriches my everyday experience with the vividness of reality. I often tell people that sustained meditation is like doing drugs (or so I’ve heard…) – food tastes better, colors are more vivid, and even bodily sensations are more sensitive.

3. Healing.
When we sit in meditation, we do an incredibly brave act. We commit, for that period of time, to not run away. We sit with ourselves, as we are now, and pay attention. Although we pay attention to one point of focus – the breath, heartbeat, or an instruction – the thinking mind repeatedly comes back into the frame and tries to steal the show. One of the first lessons I learned meditating was how cruel the voices in my head were. Every time my mind started wandering, I could hear, in the quiet of the sit, a harsh and brutal voice berating myself for not being a “better” meditator. Sitting with that cruel voice – bringing love to all the brutality we carry around within us – is an incredibly healing act. Sitting becomes a way to build up a deep and abiding friendship and love with the person you will be with your whole life – yourself!

4. Insight
When our minds become quiet – when we hook into the depth of this moment and practice just being with our breath, a miraculous thing begins to happen. We start to notice the pattern of our thoughts without getting too attached to them. We start to hear with remarkable clarity the many voices in our heads – voices of parents, of society, of the stories we have made up. These thoughts, voices, and stories – and our growing ability to separate them from who we are at our core – yields tremendous insights. It helps us not get caught in repetitive behavior. It helps us to develop and grow open and forgiving hearts for ourselves and others.

5. Equanimity
I learned the meaning of this word in connection with mediation from one of my teachers, Shoshana Cooper. She frequently talks about the virtue of equanimity as a direct byproduct of meditation. Meditation allows the container of the self to grow bigger and wider – able to hold the ups and downs of life without breaking, or coming apart. The way I like to think about it is exemplified by this Rumi poem:

The Guest House
This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark though, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each ahs been sent
As a guide from beyond.
(Rumi)

Why do YOU meditate?