So what is meditation?
Meditation is an intentional practice which alters the state of the mind,
Body,
Emotions,
Energy system or spirit.
That's my definition.
Quite a powerful claim.
And I would add to that,
That any alteration that takes place isn't only happening while we are meditating.
But with a very small amount of practice,
These changes become embedded and long-term.
I will return to that in more depth in a moment.
But to continue the definition of what meditation is,
Or rather what it is not,
Meditation is not limited.
What does this mean?
I know that you may be familiar with meditation and have your own practice,
Or you may be completely new to it.
And I also know that some people might say something like,
I've tried meditation but I can't empty my mind.
You may even have limiting beliefs about what meditation is.
But again,
Meditation is an intentional practice.
So emptying the mind is one intentional practice which can be used in meditation,
And some people do that.
But it's not the only kind of meditation.
Meditation can be passive.
Meditation can be active.
What do I mean by active and passive?
In an active meditation,
You may intentionally direct your attention in some way.
This is a great approach if you're someone who doesn't find it easy to sit still and clear your mind,
Because it gives you something to do in your practice.
Whereas in a passive meditation,
You might just sit there and allow whatever arises to arise.
Or you may even listen to guidance which bypasses your conscious mind and speaks directly to the unconscious.
And there are lots of different meditation techniques within each of those styles,
But I just wanted to give you that awareness that we don't have to limit ourselves when approaching meditation.
So,
What happens to your brain in just eight weeks of meditation?
Earlier I mentioned that meditation practice creates long-term change in our state,
And one of the ways that this happens is via alterations in your neural pathways.
Your neural pathways are networks of nerves.
You have an extremely high concentration of them in the brain,
But they also extend out to all the rest of your body.
And your neural pathways are the paths by which information is transmitted and action is taken within your body.
So everything – your senses,
Your movements,
Your thoughts – travels down these neural pathways.
Now,
Here's where it gets interesting.
Within the last couple of generations,
Scientists discovered a phenomenon called neuroplasticity.
So,
We used to think that the brain didn't change once you reached adulthood,
But we now know that the neural pathways are constantly forming,
Being reinforced,
Changing or dying.
And that this changing of the neural pathways happens in response to our behaviours.
You can picture it like this.
Imagine a field or a meadow with knee-high or even waist-high plants in it.
If you walk through it once,
It might be possible to tell where you walk through.
But if you walk through it every day for a year,
You'll probably carve out a path through that field or meadow.
And if ten people walk through it every day for a year,
That path will get wider.
If people stop walking through the path,
Then the plants in the meadow will grow over it again and eventually the path will disappear.
That's what happens in your brain when you do any behaviour,
And this includes mental behaviours.
And once we do a behaviour often enough,
And that path becomes ingrained,
Then it's so easy for the neurons to travel down that path that they can take it automatically or with a lot of ease.
Let's come back to that definition of meditation,
An intentional practice which alters the state of the mind,
Body,
Emotions,
Energy system or spirit.
Research shows that when we use meditation to achieve a particular state regularly,
We create neural pathways that make it very easy to recreate that state,
Even when we're not meditating.
So if a meditation helps you to achieve peace or relaxation or gratitude or joy,
Then simply by practising for a few minutes each day,
You will find that it's much easier to access that peace,
Relaxation,
Gratitude,
Joy,
Whatever it is at any given moment in life.
With the neuroplastic changes of regular practice,
You can reinforce these desired unconscious states,
Competences and beliefs to become the default.
And meditations are a simple tool to empower ourselves to greater freedom in accessing those states where we need them.
So I invite you,
If you don't already have a meditation practice,
And even if you do,
To give it a go for just eight weeks.
If you find that one particular style doesn't work for you,
Try something else.
Keep experimenting,
Because you will find the one that's right for you.
And when you do,
Just notice what pathways you can create,
Strengthen and reinforce in your brain.
Thank you for being here.
