MEDITATION: Your Single Most Powerful Tool for Health and Well-being

Resources for getting started if your’e a beginner, and for deepening your practice, if you’re experienced. 

The other day, someone asked me if I had to choose the single most powerful tool for health and well-being, what would it be. The answer was easy: meditation.

I’ve come to appreciate, from both bearing witness to the journeys of others, and from my own personal experiences, the incredible power that meditation has to affect our thoughts, our emotions, our physiologies. And in fact, all aspects of our lives.

A little more background on the potency of meditation
What causes suffering? It’s not what we may think. It’s not the circumstances or situations in our lives, our health, our relationships, our finances, our life path, or anything else. Rather, we suffer because of how we think and feel about the circumstances and situations in our lives.

Meditation can change how we think and feel about the circumstances and situations in our lives. And, because of all of this, because of the power of our thoughts and our feelings, it can affect all aspects of our lives. (Science has well-documented the notion that our thoughts can affect our material world. More on this in writings to come.)

On meditation’s power to affect our thoughts, emotions and our physical health
The proof is now clearly in the pudding: science has well-documented the effects of meditation on the brain, on the nervous system, in fact, on all systems of our bodies. It has even been demonstrated to effect gene expression. What this means is that we can influence our genetic tendencies with our minds, with our thoughts, with our intentions, and with our actions. This is pretty mind-boggling for us in the medical profession, who were taught to believe that we inherit diseases, and that our blueprint for health is set in stone.

Enough said on its potency.

The main reason I’m writing here is to share with you two online meditation resources that I can’t recommend more highly. (I’ve tried them both, and continue to use them both. And I don’t get any kickbacks for mentioning them here!)

If you’re a novice, and not sure how to start, they offer support, encouragement and specific instructions for beginning. It you’re an experienced practitioner, they offer a variety of options and specific tools for expanding and deepening your practice.

“Insight Timer” is an app and online meditation community, offering a huge number of guided meditations from teachers throughout the globe. You can choose the duration, focus, purpose. www.insighttimer.com. It’s free.

“Headspace” is an app that offers guided meditations and mindfulness training, catering to both beginners and experienced practitioners. www.headspace.com. There’s a free 10 day trial. After that, it’s via subscription.

As always, hoping these resources may be useful to you on your journey.

And, as always, I welcome and appreciate your feedback.