Could Meditation Become the New Drug of Choice?

  When practiced regularly, benefits of meditation include: improvement in your immune system, stress reduction, and increased electrical brain activity. These facts, as well as knowing that alcohol and massive amounts of anti-depressants weren't working for me, gave me an initial incentive to begin a meditation practice. However, after several valiant attempts, I deemed the ability to meditate as too difficult. The carnival in my mind would not keep quiet. Fortunately, my persistence to learn was even louder than the carnival and I sought some expert help some from Shinzen Young, (www.basicmindfulness.org). My new drug of choice became my daily meditation practice.

  "Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in eternal awareness or pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity." Voltaire

If you've tried to meditate in the past and were unsuccessful, I'd like to offer the basic steps which make meditation easier than you think:

Pick a place - Limit all distractions and preferably be alone. Instead of worrying about proper posture or if your legs are wrapped and crossed enough over your thighs, just get as comfortable as your can. You're going for letting go of any distractions, external stimulation, and persistent, nagging thoughts.

Pick a time  - Allow yourself 15-30 minutes, preferably twice a day to begin your meditation practice. I prefer meditating before I get out of bed and right before I sleep, but anywhere in your schedule will do. You might want to set a timer if you have obligations to attend to. 

Set an intention to allow - With your eyes closed, give yourself a few deep, cleansing breaths and place your focus on your breath, or on an internal visual of "blank". Continue to breathe in a normal, relaxed state. If your mind wanders, appreciate the awareness of the wandering and bring your focus back to the breath or blank. Let go of any expectations of whether you are mediating correctly or not and just allow it to happen as is.

Don't give up - Remember the gift you are giving to yourself, which is also a gift to others in the bigger of it all. Be easy and gentle with yourself as you view time to meditate not as selfish, but part of your regular self-care routine.

  It has been seven years since I've incorporated both mindful-awareness meditation and transcendental meditation into my daily routine and the changes I've observed have been profound. Big pharma may have lost my sales, but my internal world and those effected by me in my external world, are most grateful.