Rejuvenate.
I’ve had a great summer—took a month off to backpack, meditate and spend time with family and friends. Just giving myself a bit of that downtime advice I give to patients on a daily basis. Often I ask patients what do you do for downtime, and I get a chuckle as they say ‘oh, what’s that?’
Well, I’m here to say it again, finding ways to rejuvenate ourselves is key to healthy living. Giving our bodies and minds the opportunity to let go, unwind, and break from our day-to-day busyness is preventative health-care at it’s best. It leads to better sleep, reduced stress, and ease with our surroundings and loved ones. In a sense we can say it leads to sanity or skillful means to dealing with the road-rage, check-out lines, and the million and one little things that add up in a day to overload and overwhelm us.
Meditation is just one simple, easy, cost-effective habit we can develop to bring stillness and
peace to our ordinary, busy lives. I recommend a simple shamatha (calm-abiding meditation) or Zen style practice to begin. These techniques do not require religion or belief in order to practice. They are techniques developed to calm the mind, relax the breath, soften the eyes, and rest the body. It is about being here and now.
By stopping for ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour the constant chatter of our minds planning the future, remembering the past, playing out fantasies, and day-dreaming, by stopping all of that for a few minutes a day, we return to stillness. We return to ourselves.
Look around in your communties, churches, poster boards for different meditation classes. Oftentime beginning a meditation practice is easier with verbal and/or visual instructions, and many find practicing with a group beneficial.
Tags: experiments, health care, meditation
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