What is Meditation?

Meditation is exploring. It is never a fixed destination that you go to explore. Your mind doesn’t become vacuumed free of thought, fully undistracted. It becomes a special place where each and every moment is a moment. When we meditate we venture into the workings of our minds: our sensations, whether it be the wind blowing on our body, or the smell of rain outside. It is our emotions, whether it be love, frustrated, annoyed, and thoughts, why don't I get to play in the game? Mindfulness meditation asks us to suspend judgment and let out our natural curiosity about the workings of the mind, approaching our experience with warmth and kindness, to ourselves and others around us. Meditation develops certain areas of the brain, such as those that are responsible for memory, compassion, and empathy. Meanwhile, parts of the brain associated with fear, stress, and anxiety (the “fight or flight” center) begin to shrink. Anxiety neurotransmitters may decrease, whereas the pleasurable neurotransmitter dopamine may increase. These and other subtle changes result in an overall feeling of improvement in your health and wellbeing. Meditation allows us to gradually change habitual patterns that we dislike in ourselves. In addition, scientists have documented that meditation helps foster resilience. It also seems to improve the way people process pain by actively reducing the stress of adverse reactions to discomfort, even when the meditators are not meditating!