Breathe.  In, Out — In, Out…

You’re a son or daughter of the Earth. The Sky believes in you. You’ve got this. 

Want in on a little secret? You’re not the only one going nuts spiraling this blue ocean marble around the sun, especially these days. As the Cheshire Cat says with a grin — and only a grin, because sometimes a grin’s all there is to a cat — “We’re all mad here.”

Most of us spent the last year and some change locked inside, talking to ourselves and our Cheshire Cats, disappearing and reappearing in the tall redwood trees of our minds.

Covid. Climate change. Capitalist Anthrax. Let’s face it.  You’re not imagining things: This towering world of Babylon can feel out to get you and eat you alive. 

But there’s a cure — quieting the mind. All you have to do is open it and listen. 

The Science of Serenity​

Meditation isn’t a Beatles record played backwards until Paul is dead. It’s not all hippie hocus pocus and patelouie oil, a Kung Fu TV western on a 1980s Saturday night. There’s some real science to it.

Stress increases the brain’s production of cortisol — nature’s built in alarm system that puts you on high alert. It can disrupt sleep, spike your blood pressure, make you feel like a depressed cat turd. But studies show meditation eases anxiety and lowers cortisol levels. People suffering generalized anxiety disorder had reduced symptoms after 8 weeks of meditating. Daily meditation actually changes the gray matter in your brain and reduces activity in the brain’s “me” centers, inducing enhanced connectivity between different regions of your brain.

Meditation induces kindness, which is good for your soul, happiness, even life expectancy. A meta analysis of 22 meditation studies found daily meditation increased people’s compassion towards themselves and others. Like sex ed and basic banking skills, it really should be taught in schools.

Tune In and Tap Your Brain

Approaching meditation for the first time? Be gentle. Treat yourself with patient kindness. 

Sitting still even just for 15 minutes can be difficult at first, especially when you’re all caught up in the rat race pace of the world. The hardest part of meditation is its simplicity, sitting in the moment. Meditation is the art of hanging out with yourself, finding peace in the simple essence of your breath and being.

Meditation can be a beautiful tool to induce serenity, but it’s not always butterflies and rainbows — and that’s okay. Some pretty dark stuff can surface — depression, anxiety, even perfectly on point paranoia. You’re wringing out the gray matter of your brain, like a sponge. All that toxin is being released. This can hurt a little at first, but in the end you’ll feel better, released and transformed, in touch with the surreal.

Don’t guilt trip yourself over random silly thoughts.  The idea isn’t to create a blank space in your mind. Your mind will run torrents of tangents especially if you’re new to the concept. Let them happen. Acknowledge each thought and allow it to evaporate. Eventually, your “monkey brain” will quiet down. Steadily, slowly grow patience — interconnectivity will circulate a circular flow.

It doesn’t need to take much time — just 15 minutes in an afternoon can do wonders. We waste more time staring at screens without giving two shits to the minutes we lose to Mark Zuckerburg’s cyborg love child. 

The benefits of meditation are immense — the entire quality of a day can distill lyrical crystals with just a few minutes of meditative reflection.