Burning the Myths of Meditation

While I'm not the one in our home to turn on the news, I do try to stay fairly current, especially when the subjects covered align with my interests.

A few Sundays ago, CBS Sunday Morning was on in the living room while I was cleaning up the kitchen.  When I heard the next two stories that were coming up were two of my favorite topics – meditation and cats – I nearly ran into the room, green tea in hand.

The Cat Island Story was adorable and made my day, but I had a mixed reaction to the meditation portion of the program.

Part of me is absolutely thrilled that meditation is so mainstream that it’s highlighted on such a popular and long-standing show.

But part of me was saddened, because I know of few people who are able to stick to a twice-daily practice for any length of time, let alone 20 years like the man featured in the story.

In typical American news fashion, we were told how Allan Lokos had survived a fiery plane crash – literally engulfed in flames and told he had no chance to live.

“He says had he not been calm, ‘I would be pretty certain that I would have died in the plane. The person right behind me did,’ Lokos said.”

I’m awed, inspired and motivated by his story. He’s a true inspiration for us all. Not only did he make it through alive and recover more quickly than any doctor predicted, he was teaching meditation classes just four short months after the crash. How amazing is that?

Yet even though I only personally know one person with a twice-daily meditation practice, I know that those of us with a more casual meditation practice still experience innumerable benefits from better sleep, to learning to PAUSE before reacting, to simply being a kinder person.

Am I more likely to survive fires as a result of my almost daily meditation practice? Yes. The fires of life, that is. Meditation has helped me to weather through intense challenges in ways that I could never have before I began meditating. It works. It’s life changing. It can save your life – literally and figuratively.

But it doesn’t have to be done every single day, two times a day, for decades, in order for it to work.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for that ideal – we should. But I worry that those who watch the CBS story will make up that meditation isn’t available to them, because their own dedication will never match that of Allan Lokos.

Enormous benefits can be realized with just ONE minute of meditation – or even five mindful breaths – once a day. It’s that easy. Start there and I bet that you will naturally begin to increase the time you devote.