“Well you should meditate!” “Meditate on it!” “Well, you know you’d feel better if you just took time to meditate”

Phrases like this get tossed out like clichés now. They make is sound like if you take 2 aspirin and some mediation then everything will be fine in the morning. Even Huffington Post has an entire section devoted to meditation. The Doctor in you can feel reassured by the scientific validity of what mediation can do to improve your immune system, brain function and pain sensitivity. You can participate in their “Healthy Living” meditation.  There’s even an article on sleep meditation.

As you can see, meditation is not even associated with some “exotic” religion – anymore your local YMCA might even offer meditation or “stress reduction” classes.

Is it really true? Can we take aspirin – uh, meditation – and all will be well and our sanity restored?

Well, like most things in life, it depends upon your motivation.

After watching some of the above videos, take a look at the videos here.

Here’s a quote off that page, from the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Don’t worry about who he is right now (unless you already suspected he is head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage – this guy is getting to be well-known by many non-buddhists).

“Many of us are slaves to our minds.

Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first.

And when we want to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return to our state of bewilderment. We’re left feeling helpless and discouraged.

It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don’t we think about training our minds?“

This is my little intro to meditation and the different types. What I want you to think about is why do you want to meditate? When the Sakyong talked about intention, what was the first thing that came to mind?

Let’s talk about it!