The Ritual of Meditation

What do the top athletes in the world like, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Novak Djokovic? The top entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, top celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, Jerry Sienfield. The top thought leaders and coaches like Tony Robbins, Brendon Buchard, Vishen Lakhiani and the world’s greatest spiritual teachers like Sadhguru, Eckhart Tolle and Michael Alan Singer, all have something in common?
Answer? They are all meditators.

Not only this, Meditation is a form of practice which was practiced by most of the world's ancient cultures. The practice of meditation dates all the way back to ancient India and China. Texts like ‘Yoga Sutras’ by Patanjali share the concepts of  Dharana (One Pointed Focus) and Jhana (absorption). Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu shared the practice of Bao Yi (embracing the one).
What’s even more interesting is that before every prophet attained Prophethood, there was a period of meditation or solitude. So the famous story goes when Buddha meditated for 40 days under a Bodhi tree and reached Nirvana.
You might be thinking, All of that is great but how does that apply to the 21st century? I don’t have time to sit quietly and even if I did, How is it going to benefit me?
I used to tell myself the same story. I thought life was all about working hard, pushing yourself and taking action towards your goals. “I’ll take all the rest I need after I die” was my motto. I rarely smiled because life was all serious to me. Looking back now,  I realize how wrong I was. The problem with the concept of working hard and pushing yourself is, you routinely bump into obstacles like low energy, distracted thoughts and most of all, unsupportive emotions.
Just as I integrated a daily meditation practice into my life. I saw it shifting almost upside down. It changed my whole life. I felt more energy throughout my day. I was working less but achieving more. I was more relaxed and focused even when I was working. I was doing everything the same but something inside of me had shifted. It felt a rebirth into a new level of consciousness. I started to smile, for no reason. Everything in life became beautiful.
In the race for making our future a better place, we have forgotten to live in the present. We are consistently worrying about what our future is going to look like. What we don’t realize is that we miss so much beauty in the present worrying about the future. We don’t realize that the future and past only exist in our mind. The present moment is all there is, all there was, all there will be. The human mind is a very interesting device. It helps us experience the outside world. The problem is, The device is corrupted in the form of stuck past experiences. If you don’t believe me, Ask Freud, Skinner or Jung. They’ll tell you that your mind is filled with past experiences, fears, desires and instincts. That’s what the unconscious is. That's what psychology tells you. The problem this creates is that it pollutes our experience of the real world. In other words, We don’t see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. We don’t pay attention to what’s going on in front of us. 90% of the time all that we pay attention to is the voice inside our head. The mental chatter that goes on all the time. When it says negative things (most of the time it does) we feel anger, resentment or sadness. When it says positive stuff (rarely) we tend to feel love, joy and peace. There can be two people going through the same experience but they can feel totally different. Don’t believe me? Let’s take this example as a test study. Let’s say there’s a cricket match going on between Pakistan and Australia. You are having a nice time supporting your team, Pakistan but your team loses the finale. How are you gonna feel? Your mind is going to make up stuff like ‘It was a bad day’ ‘I shouldn’t have even come here’ ‘What a waste of time this match is’. The question is, How will the supporters of the other team feel? It’ll be the most perfect day of their life. This is a classical example. The event that happened is the same. What changed however is the perception of it. That's what made all the difference. Your mind puts a condition for your team to win in order for you to be happy.

What if your mind said that you'll be happy no matter which team wins?

What if you had no condition at all? What if you learned to be happy about all the little things?

This is what meditation teaches you. Instead of being a slave to your thoughts, you learn to notice them. You learn to choose which thoughts to act upon and  which ones to let go.

You learn to make up good thoughts. You learn the power of positive thinking. 

Obviously, as a result you learn to be mindful of the present. You notice the beauty that was there all the time. The rising of the sun everyday makes you feel joy because why shouldn't it? Do you know how much has to happen for the sun to come up? Why not say thank you?. Your thoughts just become like clouds passing by. Instead of being your psyche, you start to be yourSelf (the capital S is on purpose). When you stop wasting your energy on past thoughts, you become open to greater ideas aka intuition. Meditation helps you to become more focused. This helps you to show up as your best. By default, you can get more work done in less time while enjoying the process. Just because you are focused!. You experience a greater level of spiritual and emotional energy which affects every single area of your life. This is why people who start meditating oftenly report that it has changed their entire life. There are many studies on meditation which show that it reduces PTSD  symptoms and Depression. It is a way for your mental/psychological, emotional and spiritual healing.

There are many different forms of meditation and it doesn't matter which one you practice. It doesn't require you to sit hours and hours chanting "OMMM!" in the full lotus posture. All you need is 15-30 mins a day. A 15-20 min meditation gives you all the benefits. If you really want to do more, 15 mins a day and 15 mins a night are more than enough. 

Here are some of the best (tried & proved) guided meditations you can find on YouTube:

1. Priming by Tony Robbins

2. Emotional flood exercise by Tony Robbins

3. RMT (Release Meditation Technique) by Brendon Burchard

4. 6 Phase Meditation by Vishen Lakhiani

You can also try just focusing on your breath.

Pro tip: Use your headphones and play binaural beats for a deeper meditative experience.