Disclaimer: General meditation practice and services like Meditation Rocks are not a replacement for, or a form of therapy, nor are they intended to cure, treat, or diagnose medical conditions. Meditation can, however, be a component of an overall treatment plan, when monitored by a healthcare professional.
Written by Lucy Stone, Founder of Meditation Rocks
Over the past five years, I have taught meditation to over fifteen thousand children and adults, and very often there's misunderstanding or misconception over what meditation actually is. That's why I thought it would be useful to debunk some of the most common myths surrounding the practice of meditation.
The definition of meditation is “focussed attention, on purpose, without judgement on one thing at any one time.” I've noticed a huge increase in interest in Meditation in recent times, and certainly with the lockdown and subsequent change in all of our routine and daily life, many of us are picking up a meditation practice to help us unwind, sleep better, calm down, feel happier and healthier in our lives.
So let's take a look at the most common 8 myths, and I'll do my best to debunk them:
1) I won’t be able to empty my mind and stop thoughts
One of the major myths about meditation is that you have to empty your mind and get rid of your thoughts. Firstly it is scientifically impossible for you to have zero thoughts, at all, nil. You would likely be dead.
So now that’s out of the way, we can work on what state we are looking for when we meditate. The truth is that everyone will have a slightly different experience, and it is not about looking for a perfect meditation experience as that doesn’t exist either, it is purely and simply noticing what the experience is.
Meditation is about helping us to learn how to respond to thoughts, feelings and emotions. Rather than reacting and jumping on every thought as it comes along, it is about letting go and refocussing the mind, back to your meditation.
2) I can't sit perfectly still with my legs crossed for any length of time
The traditional posture of a meditator with legs crossed in lotus position is not true to life, for many sitting down on the floor with crossed legs is not comfortable for longer than a few moments. It’s a physical stretch, a yoga pose, to sit in that posture and takes training and practice to feel second nature.
Instead, I would always suggest a comfortable position, where you can have equal weight across the sit bones (the bony bits in your bottom), as upright as you can through the spine, shoulders down away from your ears, and chin slightly towards your chest, with jaw relaxed. Eyes open or eyes closed is a personal choice (see myth “3”), but we are looking for an active posture where you can feel relaxed but ideally not so relaxed that you fall asleep. (See myth 8)
3) I don’t want to close my eyes
Meditation is about trying our best to only focus on one thing, how you do that is an entirely personal choice. If you do not want to close your eyes, you might like to soften your gaze past the tip of your nose or look at view without focussing on anything in particular.
In some meditation styles you might actually use a visual stimulus such as the trees, a candle, a mandala or mala beads to actually help your meditation. But my “go-to” everyday mindfulness meditation using my breath deliberately doesn’t use any props so that you can do it anywhere at anytime. I personally close my eyes to help me to focus inwards but you can definitely keep them open.
4) I am not spiritual, I am not a Buddhist
Meditation has been practiced by people of all faiths and none. I personally have no religion and would say I sometimes feel like I am not a true yoga teacher as I struggle with some of the overtly chakra led spiritual side of the practice, so in answer, no you don’t need to have any particular faith or spiritual background to practice meditation.
5) It is too difficult and It takes up too much time
OK, I am not going to lie to you sometimes meditation feels like the most difficult thing in the world, although ironically its one of the simplest things to do. Sit fairly still, focus on one thing at a time, try not to react to your thoughts. Everyone can learn to meditate, but it takes time to build up a practice where you are able to feel the benefits. And as I say to many people I meet and teach, even monks have bad days.
How long it takes is a bit of a how long is a piece of string, you could be sitting on a park bench in a lunch break and meditate for 5 minutes or you might try a long session on a quiet Sunday morning before everyone else gets up. Making time to meditate is often the hardest part of the whole practice, but it is one of those things, like eating healthily or exercising, once we start to feel the benefits of having a practice, we make time and might even decide we want to do it even more.
6) I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts
This is a tricky one, there might be stuff in your past which you are worried will resurface if left alone with your thoughts and emotions. And yes, having some quiet time of contemplation and reflection might bring up memories or challenges you thought you had processed, forgotten or dealt with. It is important to remember that there is always someone to speak to, whether that is a loved one, a counsellor or medical professional or a support network such as The Samaritans.
7) I don’t like to focus on my breath
For some people, for all the good reasons, focussing on the breath is not desirable, and the good news is that breath-led meditation is just one of many forms of meditation, some people prefer to focus their attention on an object such as a candle or a mandala, or if you are outside, it might be looking out at the sea or trees. It might be moving your attention to different parts of your body like in a body scan or mudra led meditation. Or maybe you would focus on a word or quote or mantra to help focus your mind.
8) I am worried I might fall sleep
When I was learning meditation, I used to fall asleep all the time, even now if I am super-tired and practicing a body scan for relaxation, I still drift off sometimes. The idea we are looking for is to feel relaxed but not sleepy, alert but not engaged, it’s a fine line and I sometimes call it riding the sleep train. I liken it to driving, when you find the “biting point” when changing a gear driving a car, if you take the foot off the accelerator too much you will stall, if you put too much pressure you will rev up the engine too much.
When we meditate activity in our brain changes, in fact any of our behaviour changes our brain waves. You can see that it would be easy to slip from a meditation into a sleep or dream like state. In mindfulness meditation most research points that our brains move from the Beta (everyday) state to Alpha, but some deeper forms of meditation can take us to Theta or even Delta.
Delta (.5-3 Hz)
Slow brainwaves generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep. We stop external awareness and healing and regeneration are stimulated in this state and that is why deep, restorative sleep is so essential to our physical and mental well-being and health.
Theta (3-8 Hz)
These are dominant in deep meditation but also occur in most sleep patterns. In the theta state our sense are withdrawn from the external world and we focus within. In theta we dream and have vivid imagery, it is also how we develop our capacity for learning, memory and intuition.
Alpha (8-12 Hz)
These brainwaves are dominant when we are allowing quiet, flowing thoughts in mindfulness meditation. Alpha is the state we are in when we are here and in the present moment. Alpha is the resting state of the brain, it aids overall mental coordination, calmness, clarity, alertness and mind body connection.
Beta (12-38 Hz)
Beta brainwaves dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards tasks and engaging with the outside world. Beta is when are alert, engaged, attentive, making decisions and problem solving and is known as the “everyday” state of mind.
Gamma (38-42 Hz)
Gamma is the fastest brain wave state and relates to simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas. The mind needs to be quiet to access gamma and is active when in states of altruism.
In essence meditation is a practice that we can all try and weave into our everyday lives, and just as our lives are all different and unique, all of practices will take a slightly different shape and style. Why not have a go?
Lucy is the Founder of Meditation Rocks and during lockdown went live on Facebook every morning with an eight minute meditation. Over 70 videos later and after reaching thousands of new meditators, she launched her subscription on demand and live meditation streaming service. Lucy has taught yoga and meditation to tens thousands of children with her sister company YOGADOO which runs yoga and meditation sessions for pupils in over fifty schools across the South West. She is also co-founder of The Hive Yoga Studio in Bath.
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