Meditation 101
Meditation is a practice where one uses a method to train attention and awareness in one’s self to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable condition. Successful people like Oprah Winfrey and Ray Dalio, among others, have been known to practice meditation and can create amazing results in their business and own lives.
In today’s episode, James and Dean talk about their own experiences in trying their hand at meditation. Dean has a less fascinating encounter with mediation compared to James, who has been putting meditation into practice for over eight years now.
Tune in to learn more about how meditation can be useful in your daily life, relieve you from stress and make you a happier individual altogether. Plus, join in on a quick guided meditation led by James towards the end of the episode.
It’s not the idea of shutting out your thoughts, it’s the idea of observing your thoughts and then coming back to your center. – James Friel
Outline of This Episode
– [02:59] Dean’s experience trying out meditation
– [10:49] How meditation has helped James and his outlook on life
– [13:21] Why focusing your mind on the breathing is key to proper meditation
– [18:45] The benefits of meditation
– [27:56] James gives a beginner’s guide to meditation
Learning to meditate was one of the most impactful things that happened to James in the past decade
By the end of 2019, James was asked what things or events that happened to him in the past decade that made a big impact on his life. He answered that learning to meditate was on his top 3 list.
Having discovered meditation to be a very useful way of training one’s mind, it became one of the most impactful things that occurred for him. He has been doing it for over 8 years now and it all started when he went to a meditation retreat.
The way meditation works
Whenever people hear about meditation, there is that misconception of the idea to shut off your mind. But how do you think about nothing?
James mentioned that in the retreat, meditation was explained as going to gym for your mind at a higher level. When you go to the gym, you exert effort, recover, and redo the cycle. On the other hand, with meditation, you need to do some effort and bring your focus back. You need to have a centering mechanism and it can be as simple as focusing on your breathing.
Why meditation is beneficial for your mind
One of the major benefits of meditation is that you start training your mind to be able to observe what’s going on around you and still remain centered. You are no longer bothered by all the fuss and distractions that may divert your focus from your goals.
Another benefit is that you can feel happy for really no good reason. When you don’t feel all that stress from life and work, you just start to feel happier. Because of meditation, you can create a gap between stimulus and response and from this, you are less stressed.
Resources & People Mentioned
– Steven Covey: https://www.famousauthors.org/stephen-r-covey
– The Art of Ascension: https://www.theishayafoundation.org/who-are-the-ishayas.html
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
