The healing power of meditation is now firmly established in scientific literature. Countless research and studies point to the benefits of meditation for balancing body and mind. Even children can benefit.

A friend who is going through a rough time at present is searching for answers. He is looking for ways to get some peace in his life and so he signed up for a yoga class. I was quite surprised as it’s way out of character. He’s loving it but said the meditation part of the session is difficult. He just can’t relax. I said well don’t do the meditation part – just do the hatha yoga if that’s what floats your boat.

Not everyone is suited to meditation and my friend is a good case in point. I don’t ever see him meditating. No big deal – not the personality for it really. He is a physical down to earth sort of character. Years ago he asked me about meditation and the best answer I could come up with was “stillness in mind”. All types and aspects of meditation have stillness at their centre.

Some say that their mind is never still when they meditate. It jumps all over the place but they get a lot of benefit by just being still and relaxing, even if it’s for 10 minutes. That’s fine of course, but the ultimate goal of meditation I believe is to create a stillness, a quietening of the mind which allows a freedom, a letting go, an acceptance. And that is achieved through practice and importantly setting up a rhythm with your meditations.

Now some people believe that it’s all about emptying the mind, about not having thoughts. But I feel that misses the mark. It’s more about allowing thoughts to be. Not judging them. Accept how your mind responds and reacts to feelings that arise and from that a stillness will arise.

Most people will benefit from meditation, so rebuild grey matter, get in touch with your feelings, unleash your creativity, alleviate pain, reduce stress and anxiety and give it a go.

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