This past summer I completed a weeklong mindfulness meditation retreat in the beautiful foothills of Rocky Mountain National Park. Meditation is one of the most effective ways to relieve stress. It’s simple. Just be still and sit in the quiet. I offer here a primer on meditation for those who’ve been thinking about trying it.
I’ve been meditating for about 15 years now, and enjoy it’s regenerative powers. Because there’s always so much to “do” in life, I often resist meditating even though I know the benefits. Once I get past my resistance, I get to a place of such peace that I wonder at ever putting it off.
Meditation is a part of many ancient spiritual traditions, but can also be a purely secular relaxation technique. “The practice,” as it’s often called, is most often associated with Buddhism—I learned it from a Buddhist monk—but also has long roots among Christian contemplatives. Catholic mystics were famous for their meditation practices. A few Christian denominatons today include short meditation periods as part of their services.
If anyone is rejecting meditation because they see it as a foreign religious practice, they are missing out. Many meditate solely for the stress-relief benefits. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training, based on meditation, is growing in popularity as a therapy recommended by both medical doctors and mental health professionals.
They see it as a useful way to combat not just mental stress, but the physical ailments that often flow from it. Ever so slowly, just as they’ve done with other forms of alternative medicine such as massage and acupuncture, a few insurance companies are beginning to cover meditation as therapy.
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