Breathe Magazine

We’re busy creatures, us humans. Everything’s whizzing by as we rush out the door in the morning to work, race to beat the clock on projects and deadlines, shoveling our quick meals in our hungry mouths as we go. We extend this frantic lifestyle to our children, as our parents did to us. We are always on the go. It is the American way. Achieving success takes all our time—we have none of it left to give ourselves, or do we?

What would we gain if we were to stop, sit and be absolutely silent and completely still? The world would not leave us, as we might fear. It would wait for us, available as soon as we came back, but we would return to it differently, with a heightened sense of self-awareness and be able to connect to the world and its inhabitants much better. This is just one aspect of the practice of meditation, but it is a very important one, as it is a major draw for people who are drowning in life, for whatever reason. But you don’t have to be in inner turmoil to meditate. “I think most people come to meditation because they have a feeling that they’d like to connect more in their lives, and they’d like to have more sense that they’re actually living their lives, that it’s not just passing them by,” says Jackie Muse, practice and education director of the Atlanta Shambhala Center, of which she is a founding member. “Especially in our culture, it seems like life gets speedier and speedier as we go along so people have a feeling that their mind is racing. Some people that I instruct say they don’t feel like they have control of their mind, like their mind is driving them crazy, pulling them along.”

So what does it mean to meditate? The basic practice of meditation begins with sitting cross-legged, spine upright, eyes closed and concentrating on your breathing—and nothing else. From there, the world of meditation is your oyster. There are guided meditations, solitary silence, walking meditation circles, retreats, temples, and entire communities devoted to finding inner peace through meditation. A plethora of meditation variations exist, and a trip to a bookstore or the Internet will provide the education, if you yearn to know the 2,000-year story of Buddhism. Though it’s important to note that you needn’t change your religion to enjoy the grounding powers of meditation. Swamiji Nithyananda, a world-renowned leader in the practice, is quoted as saying, “Meditation is nothing but a preparation to rediscover the state of bliss that is already inside you.” A visit to a meditation center, a class, or a retreat will provide the beginning of a life or could be the catalyst of change in your life.

Slowing life down with the focus of meditation helped Kara Danner, 37, of Washington, DC. A member of the Insight Meditation Community of DC, Danner attends meditation classes weekly. “I love it,” she gushes. “There’s a bunch of things offered in the community: retreats, programs and events. But what I really like—and am committed to—is a weekly program. Teacher Tara Brach starts off with 30 minutes of quiet meditation, and then she does an hour-long talk after that with moments of silent reflection in between.” Danner became interested in meditation when it was offered as part of a business conference curriculum several years ago, but when her personal life got rocky within the last year, she found herself yearning for more self-reflection. “Taking some time to settle down and look inward has been remarkable for me,” she says. “It’s not easy. It can be painful sometimes, but it brings a sense of clarity like nothing else that I’ve experienced before.”

In addition to helping us deal with the emotional stress of life, meditation offers a multitude of other health benefits. Along with having better posture and lowered blood pressure, which can lower your risk for heart disease, Muse says meditation is “helpful with sickness and dying—for both the patient and the caretaker. There’s a lot of anxiety involved, but meditation helps you relax and let go.”

One draw for meditation, then, is the allure of silence and stillness. “The first thing that happens with meditation is you sit down and stop the body. Then the mind has a place to come home to. So we’re really talking about making friends with ourselves, taking a journey inward and rediscovering ourselves,” Muse says, “And then you can see what’s going on around you.” •

Kirsten Ott is an Atlanta-based writer specializing in lifestyle, travel, art and dining. For more about her and to read more of her works, visit kirstenott.com.