From a spiritual perspective, the ultimate purpose of mediation is to reawaken you to your true self. But this is almost impossible when we are caught in a cycle of chronic stress, an endless "to do list" and too much on our plate. A meditation practice can help.

Stressed, unfulfilled, stuck? Do you have the feeling that there just has to be more to life than the way you are living it today?

Anyone who has had even the slightest introduction to Buddhist teaching is familiar with its starting point: the inescapable truth that existence entails "suffering." This is The First Noble Truth, one of the most central teachings of Buddhism. One of the fundamental teachings behind Buddhism, its ethics, philosophy, practices and community life, is the discovery that freedom and joy are possible in the face of the regular "suffering" of human life. 

It’s no surprise that some of the strongest areas of research centered on attention. Researchers at MIT and UC Santa Barbara found that merely eight minutes of meditation practice improved concentration and reduced mind-wandering. They also found that mindfulness had a dramatic effect on working memory - the facility we have to manipulate stored information in order to reason and make decisions.

"No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew." - Albert Einstein

Feeling scattered and having trouble focusing? Is your attention divided all day long and you don’t seem to feel as though you can catch your breath? Sit. Stop moving. Just try it for five minutes a day for this week and begin to notice that incessant internal dialog that doesn’t seem to want to give you a break. Don’t expect instant results. Enlightenment and awakening take practice and dedication. Start right where you are. Just start.

Do you notice that at times you seem to react to situations and circumstances with a bit more emotion than seems warranted for the situation? If you are like millions of us, stress puts our nerves on edge making it super easy to overreact. I’ve seen it in my own life time and again when I haven’t taken as good of care of myself as I’d like to, haven’t slept enough or have just way too much on my plate.

Are you one of the millions of Americans who has a difficult time getting to sleep or staying asleep throughout the night? Do you lay awake ruminating about the day or worrying about the day ahead tomorrow? Research has proven that the regular practice of meditation promotes sound sleep that is deeply restorative.

Why should I begin and foster a meditation practice? Have you ever noticed that the moment you try to sit still and stop thinking, it’s next to impossible? Having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep? Consider the many benefits of a dedicated meditation practice.