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How meditation keeps me calm and focused, and makes me more effective

Why Meditation Works

Why meditation works

Why Meditation works, and makes me feel better calmer, more focused.

Are you into meditation, or a cynic? It’s amazing how meditation can sort out your stress levels.

I love to meditate, and try to meditate most days, and I’ve even managed to get my cynical husband to start a practice, and I’m proud to say it’s working! 

MEDITATION ON THE JOB

I remember meditating just as I was preparing to cover President Obama’s visit to China in 2009. I was reporting on his important visit for TV news and it was one of the biggest moments of my professional career, and I was a bundle of nerves and anxiety. It helped me stay
focused on the job, and calmly be up close and personal with the US President throughout his visit to China.
 
I’ve used meditation for the past 15 years to help me cope with a demanding career and whatever life’s stresses hurl at me. Sometimes it’s easy to slack and think you don’t have time, or I’ll do it later… and those are the days when my day sucks.
 

MEDITATING MOTHERS

 
 Now I’m a mothers, I use my toolkit of meditations to help me manage the toddler tantrums and “uh-ohhhs” much better.
 
Little one was awake at 4am this morning… and sometimes as mothers we can feel too tired, too grumpy to care. 
 
Despite our restless sleep, I sat on the sofa with him in the dark, and he curled up in my arms and I quietly meditated. I could feel the light from the meditation washing over me, and it gave me energy when I was feeling so exhausted, and also calmed us both down.
 
By 8am we’d read a bookshelf full of books, built a train set, painted pictures with chalk, paints and (badly) attempted hand prints. Normally when I am tired and slightly frazzled, I’m not showing up as my best mama self, and I have clients who feel the same way too.

 

MEDITATION DOESN’T HAVE TO BE “PERFECT” 

I can’t recommend the benefits of meditation enough! I’m not saying that everything has to be perfect – an altar, serenity and an hour doesn’t usually work when you have kids – and a life. But there are some wonderful 10-20 minute guided meditations that might just work if you’re feeling exhausted or stressed, and want to feel more energised, and calmer. Meditation connects you with your true source of energy.

I got into meditation when I was living in Thailand, and would go for 7am yoga and meditation classes before work. The classes were held in a spa where I would go to for pampering and beauty treatments (oooh, those were the days!!!), and some mornings the meditation would be disturbed by drilling work from the building site next door… Instead of getting frustrated with the noise, our teacher taught us to go within, and focus harder on going inward and not even being aware of the noise. I soon learned that my meditations were so much more effective when I was meditating in a noisy place because it kept me focused, and silence meant my mind wandered.

I still apply that thought to my meditations today, and I have been known to meditate on the tube in London, or certainly with a toddler and his train set. Why am I telling you this?

Because meditation has so many proven health benefits: it relieves stress, it can improve your health, it improves brain ability and concentration.

It can help you handle whatever life throws at you, and enable you to cope with the stresses of being a mum, and juggling work, family, house and life. You might think you don’t have time but it’s amazing what you can achieve in 10 minutes.