Expectations About Meditation

1, 2, 3, 4…

Counting to 10 seems like a simple task. One that I thought I was capable of until about four weeks ago when I was sitting in my Neeley Leadership Program class. We had the privilege to participate in different meditation labs led by Dr. Mark Dennis and the opportunity to learn about the positive side effects meditating can have on our lives. The task we were given was easy, take ten minutes and count to ten over and over. If you lose count, start over. I started strong, finishing the first couple set of ten in their completion. Then slowly as I became more relaxed, I found my thoughts drifting away from my internal counting. By the end of the ten minutes, the highest I could count was 4 without starting over. I left our first meditation session discouraged, thinking that meditation was not for me. I believed because I am easily distracted, I would never be able to receive the anxiety control or stress relief through meditation so many have found.

It was not until our second session when my perspective began to change on meditation. Our program director set up a video conference with a representative from Journey Meditation, a company dedicated to helping businesses embrace the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. We were given the opportunity to freely ask questions about our personal struggles with meditations and get real-time answers. The leader tackled the subject of getting distracted while meditating. He said something that completely reshaped my understanding of what meditation was. He explained that meditation wasn’t the absence of distractions, instead, it was the active decision to move your thoughts back to meditation once they drift away. After hearing his explanation, I was relieved to know that meditation is something I can practice even though I lose track of my thoughts frequently. In addition, meditation could become a way to manage my thoughts if I integrate it into my daily life.

 I believe meditation is something that is deeply misunderstood by most college students. When I told my friends about our meditation experience, they assumed we sat in a circle and hummed. Most students believe you have to be extremely focused or spiritual to participate in meditation, and this is the stereotype I held before this semester. My perspective has changed and I am more open to the possibilities that meditation can provide.