Curious about meditation?
Many people are curious about trying meditation, but for a variety of reasons never properly investigate it. I want to debunk a few false notions that may be holding you back from giving it a try.
Common misperceptions about meditation:
- It takes too long to get results
- It’s going to take time that I already don’t have available
- My mind is so busy, I’ll never be able to calm my thoughts
- It will be too hard to sit still and learn how to meditate
- It’s only for monks and navel-gazers, and it has no modern life relevance
- It’s too scary.
My own meditation journey
I first learned to meditate 29 years ago. I had become seriously ill following a very stressful period in my life, and realised I needed to find a way to manage ongoing stress.
The first type of meditation I learnt was transcendental meditation. Here you are given a mantra (a word that has no specific thought attached) and you sit twice daily for 20 minutes and try to focus on the mantra instead of your thoughts. I had to plan and reorganise my time to get in my twice daily, 20-minute sessions, and it took months for me to get proficient in the practice. However, transcendental meditation did eventually produce the desired result of helping me with my stress.
Four years later, after completing my studies to become a counsellor, I set up my private practice. My area of interest and specialisation has always been the mind/body connection, and the toll unresolved emotional stress takes on our health.
In those days the link between stress and disease was not yet fully accepted by the medical profession. I had many clients who had tried conventional treatments but felt they needed extra emotional support. Many of these people were highly stressed or terminally ill, without the luxury of time on their side.
I wanted to share with my clients the benefits of meditation for helping with their stress. But people who were undergoing a crisis, or highly stressed, often couldn’t sit still long enough to attempt to learn meditation. Others complained some processes were too slow or boring.
The bottom line was: I needed to learn a meditation technique that works fast and efficiently so I could teach it to my clients. I just knew that, somehow, there had to be an easier method.
The turning point in my ability to assist people to deal with their stress more effectively came when I was introduced to a guided Theta Meditation technique at a conference in the United States in 1995.
The most positive aspect of the Theta Meditation technique was that it needed no prior learning. Anyone could do it and gain benefit from the very first experience.
I returned to New Zealand fired up, and created a stress-management workshop, “Discovering Balance”. This workshop ran for a couple of hours on a weeknight for six consecutive weeks. Along with other exercises and strategies, each participant committed to practice one session of the guided Theta Meditation daily.
The participants experienced outstanding results – not just in lowering their stress levels, but also in other areas of their health and wellbeing. And I saw similar results with my private clients who tried the technique.
Having witnessed positive results from Theta Meditation for the last 25 years, it’s now the only method I recommend.
What is meditation anyway?
In some cultures, meditation is known as a spiritual practice and could be considered a state of receptive listening, contemplation or prayer.
But there is also a simple science behind meditation which is why the Theta Meditation process works so well whatever your belief system may be.
Meditation is a process where you change your brainwave patterns to slow them down while remaining conscious.
We have 5 types of brainwave patterns, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta and Gamma. Our brain’s ability to transition through these various brain wave frequencies plays a large role in how successful we are at managing stress, focusing on tasks, and getting a good night’s sleep.
Most of the time your brainwave patterns for daily activities like talking and responding to life, are when you are in Alpha and Beta. You will most commonly experience the Theta state when you are daydreaming, exercising or just before you drop off to sleep. Being in this state is often when you get a great idea, and it is a very beneficial mind state for reducing stress.
When you are in Theta Meditation the lower frequency Theta waves in your brain can help produce intuition, creativity, strong emotional connections as well as lower your stress and anxiety.
What is Theta Meditation?
The Theta metronome sound is an electronic beat behind the voice that guides you through a relaxing meditative process. The Theta beat assists your brainwaves to move directly into the zone that promotes deep relaxation.
Theta meditation is the perfect combination of ageless wisdom and modern technology.
Benefits of Theta Meditation
- All you have to do is find a quiet space, away from all interruptions, and put your headphones on and listen. It doesn’t matter if you sit up, lie down, or even fall asleep while you are listening – Theta Meditation will still work!
- If you are very time-challenged, you can set your alarm early and simply meditate in bed. You will get 16% more rest from meditation than in your deepest cycle of sleep (as documented in research from Harvard University). This will really set you up for the day ahead.
- As you progress you will experience an inner peace and calm that will last much longer than the time you meditate. This, in turn, has a flow-on effect into your life and improves all your relationships.
- The Theta state promotes healing and wellbeing on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels.
- Theta meditation will help lower your anxiety and reduce the inhibitions you may feel about your life. In the Theta state you can make positive suggestions to your subconscious mind and re-programme it for positive change in your life.
- You will develop greater creativity because the Theta zone gives you the ability to see problems in their broadest terms.
- With practice you will develop your intuition and gain direct access to the innate wisdom of your Real Self. This will help you make better and wiser decisions.
I do need to add that meditation is NOT a standalone fix to combat your stress if you are very overwhelmed or pressured. You need to look at the causes of your stress and learn effective strategies to help you to cope day to day.
However, Theta Meditation is a really great first step in the right direction, and an important part of the process of maintaining balance and healthy wellbeing.