Meditation - Reasons for Meditation

 Why do we meditate? We all have our reasons for coming to the practice of meditation. We may have our own expectations for taking up the practice or we may have heard about the benefits of meditation and wonder if it can help us, too. Whatever our reasons, it is important to set our own intentions for meditating so that we can experience for ourselves the effects a dedicated practice may have on our personal health and well-being. It is also important to note that our reasons for meditating may change  over time or even day-to-day and that no reason is better or worse than another. 

Mindfulness meditation addresses all the major reasons we meditate: 

• To bring about happiness in the here and now - we all need a break from the stresses of daily life from time to time, and meditation offers us such relief.
• To calm the fluctuations of the mind -  regular meditation practice helps our mind function better by alleviating anxiety/worry and  increasing concentration/focus.
• To attend to overwhelming emotions -  mindfulness helps us to clear our way forward through difficult situations using the power of inner peace.
• To change our perception to be free from needless  suffering - insight meditation allows us the freedom to be fully present throughout all our life without fear.

Please join  us as we continue our practice of cultivating a boundless heart through  mindful meditation.  

Meditation teaches us to take care of ourselves - body and mind. Just as we physically rest our bodies in response to injury, we can give our over-stressed minds a chance to rest by cultivating a mindful meditation practice. When we recognize that how we take care of ourselves is reflected in the way we treat one another, we come to understand the interconnection among all life on planet Earth.

It is  this interconnection that is the true nature of our reality and forms the basis for morality and ethics rooted in loving-kindness, compassion, peace and happiness for all.

Cultivate meditation as the skills to embrace life rather than the way to escape life's problems.

Regular meditation helps our physical, emotional and mental health by calming and focusing the mind, which opens the heart to better relationships and more meaningful experiences. 

Mental and physical benefits of meditation include: relieving stress, reducing anxiety, increasing attention, decreasing memory loss, and improving sleep in addition to helping control pain, lessen addiction, and lower blood pressure. 

Cultivating the Four Brahmavihara ( boundless qualities of heart ) - kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity -  through mindful meditation teaches us emotional intelligence, which offers us greater self-awareness and a more positive outlook on life.

In times of crisis, meditation becomes more important than ever. When all the world appears as a jumble of conflicting information , noise, and overwhelming feelings, meditation offers us what we need most - inner peace.

Through mindfulness meditation, we learn to find our peace of mind within ourselves, which forms the basis for developing mental resilience - the ability to handle our strongest, most persistent emotions, especially the ones we deem negative or bad.

When we learn to focus our awareness to generate the feelings of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity for ourselves, we strengthen our heart and mind and come to understand that we hold the power to navigate through any storm.

A dedicated meditation practice  helps us to see ourselves and the world around us more clearly. Constantly stressing over our desires and fears, doubts and distractions can leave us feeling physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted

Through mindfulness meditation, we learn to connect mind and body in the present moment, to see through the limits of our perceptions and to gain insight into our very nature - to 'be with mind and body'.

By diligently cultivating the qualities of a boundless heart, we transform our thoughts, speech and actions to reflect infinite kindness, compassion, joy, and peace.