Meditation: to improve health and happiness

Who bosses you around in your life? Who is always around and doesn’t stop? Who keeps on nagging you and telling what to do and what not to do?

Could that be your MIND?

Could it be that it is the same for a lot of us?

What would your life be when you were able to stop that buzzing, that busyness, that running around in circles? To me it sounds blissful and thanks to my daily meditation practice, I am experiencing more and more a peaceful and calm state of being.

Anecdote: a scientist wanted to research the meaning of meditation and visited a Buddhist munk. The munk offered him a cup of tea and when that was accepted he started to pour the tea in the cup. When the cup was full, the munk carried on pouring. The scientist jumped and shouted, stop, the cup is full. The munk looked up and said: ‘The cup is like the mind: when it is full it cannot receive anymore…..

We have 60.000 thoughts a day, spinning around. On top of that, we are on the receiving end of countless number of impressions and sensations, emotional and physical experiences. How can we ever find time and energy to process all that? In a way, we are like babies, absorbing everything around us, without being able to make a distinction of what is important and what we could filter out.

Our minds are full; overfull and overflowing. The energy of mind fills and stiffens our being. The overflow causes mental, physical and emotional issues. Sometimes as a breakdown or a burnout, sometimes just as a nervous and neurotic way of living.

Meditation quiets the mind, it allows t0 not engage with the overload on information. As a result brain wave patterns slow down as ‘busy mind’ quitens; the nervous system relaxes; muscles and organs release tension – lowering heart rate, improving digestion and deepening breathing. Production of the stress hormone, cortisol is reduced, and ‘feel good’ endorphins increased. This relaxation response takes the body into its natural healing state, where the harmful effects of stress can begin to be reversed. Meditation is a healing tool.

In mindfulness, or shamatha, meditation, we are trying to achieve a mind that is stable and calm. What we begin to discover is that this calmness or harmony is a natural aspect of the mind. Through mindfulness practice we are just developing and strengthening it, and eventually we are able to remain peacefully in our mind without struggling. Our mind naturally feels content.

If you want to learn how to slow down your mind, be calmer, sleep better and feel happier, book one of Mariette’s workhops, book a private session (email mariette.jansen.coaching@gmail.com or call 07967 717131) or buy one of the downloads.