66 Days Of Meditation

Stress and over-thinking have become part of my daily life. I cannot remember a time without them and to be honest, I think I am addicted. I find myself feeling uneasy if life slows down or I feel a little less stressed. I fear something is wrong or that I am forgetting something important that requires my attention, waiting on tender-hooks for it to start up again so that I can feel my stressed out “normal”. But recently I had a realisation that the only things I need to do, are things that I place importance on, and that the world still goes on if those things don’t get done. Nothing really matters that much to allow my every waking thought to be plagued by it. I am alive, living and breathing now, I want to be more present to enjoy it. I am scared my life will pass me by without truly experiencing it. It is time to change and I have chosen meditation to help me.

My first target will be to hit a streak of 28 days. If I successfully reach this, I am gunning for the awkward sum of 66, which according to research, is the amount of time it takes to form a new habit. So, you guessed it, my intention is to meditate for the long term and keep at it. I want my “mind cleaning” to become as habitual as my teeth cleaning.

But Why Meditation?

My simple answer would be: try to give me a good reason not too… no seriously, try.

Wikipedia Definition:

"Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state."

It is estimated that around 200-500 million people meditate worldwide and the number is growing fast. Meditation and mindfulness are hot topics right now and it seems everyone is looking to be a bit more “mindful”, seemingly without truly knowing what it's all about. Not so surprisingly, this comes along side new emerging research suggesting some meaningful benefits to meditation practice. For example, a recent study found that only 10 days of meditation reduced stress by an average of 14% and irritability by 27%, whilst also increasing positivity and wellbeing, improving to a whopping 32% decrease in stress after 30 days of meditation. Who wouldn’t want that? In addition, a study by Northeastern University found that just 3 weeks of meditation increased compassion by 23% and decreased aggression by 57%. Let’s take a moment to let that sink in and reflect on how those effects could impact your daily life, your relationships at work or at home and even the choices you make or the goals you set. I am truly excited and inspired by these results.

When we look more specifically at meditation and mental health, there are promising results that could have some potentially life changing effects. Studies have observed a 19% decrease in anxiety symptoms and 29% decrease in depressive symptoms after only 8 weeks of meditation. These numbers are remarkable to say the least. Now, as a health care professional, I could easily point out that these studies, like all, have limitations and there are potential for bias and error. However, this is not a medication with a long list of negative side effects, where we have to consider whether the pros outweigh the cons on our health. It is simply a mental ‘time-out’ and so there is really only potential benefit to gain here. Even in a study conducted to assess potential harm from mindfulness-based stress reduction, the scientific team did not find a single instance in which harm that was experienced by participants was greater than the increased negative symptoms experienced by people in the control group who received no treatment. Meaning, mindfulness practices may not only be no more harmful than no treatment, it may actually be preventative of developing increased psychological and physical symptoms of those suffering with mental health issues.

Not only does it help to manage stress levels, anxiety and depression. Another study found that meditation improved focus by 14% and significantly decreased mind-wandering. Other studies have discovered that meditation can reduce stress at work, job strain and improve job satisfaction.

In an age where many of us are crippled with overwhelming anxiety and depression or extreme amounts of pressure from our jobs, social media and the balancing act with our personal lives, we are looking towards different strategies to help manage it all. Never before have humans been so over-stimulated, highly stressed and expected to achieve so much in a year or a life-time. I truly believe that meditation offers us a way out, a time to be free from over-thinking, a time to ourselves to reset and re-centre, and a chance to gain some clarity and calm, even if only for a few minutes a day.

So, what’s the catch? Really.

When it comes to health and wellbeing, it seems there really are no downsides, apart from that it requires 5-10 minutes of your day (and your attention) and it’s another thing to add to the never ending ‘to-do’ list. However, I cannot say it is completely free from a clause. It seems no matter how trendy the subject of mental wellness & mindfulness practices has become; meditation still has some stigma attached to it.

This is something I have personally experienced and continue to experience the more I dive deeper. I have family, friends and even clients that I know I would be able to have an open and honest conservation about meditation, they do it themselves or are willing to give it a try, but I also know many others that I wouldn’t dare share the fact that I am even doing this practice myself. Not only that, I am very hesitant to tell family or friends about my keen interest out of fear of judgement.

The truth is that for a lot of people meditation practice is just a bit too far out of their comfort zone, it’s just a bit too ‘hippie’ or ‘new age’ to consider giving it a go.

Thank-fully there are many individuals doing a fantastic job at breaking the stigma often associated with meditation such as Andy Puddicombe and Ion Kabat-Zinn to name only a few. There are now guided meditation app’s at our finger-tips such as ‘Headspace’ and ‘Calm’ that allow you to try different meditations at various lengths of time (even from as little as 3 minutes), with or without music and with multiple different voices to listen to or alternate between if one starts to get a bit annoying. They keep things very simple and guide you through in a very ‘non-hippie’ fashion.

I am personally using Headspace; I have used this on and off for the past 4 years. I downloaded it during the covid pandemic when I was working for the NHS, as they kindly offered it free to NHS staff during that time. I have tried Calm but again the music and voices just didn’t do it for me and is simply down to personal preference. If you are interested in trying some meditation yourself, I’d suggest starting with guided audios on YouTube or via apps like those mentioned above. I advise trying different meditations to find something that works best for you. Then, aim to form a new habit by setting some simple targets for yourself to keep at it.

I am currently on a streak of 11 days and they have felt fairly easy to achieve. In the past, my longest streak is 15-days and then I go on holiday or something interrupts my routine, so I am expecting some difficultly around this time and beyond. I’m confident I will push through and keep at it since I have now written an entire blog post about it, watch this space and wish me luck! Discounts

Headspace: For a discount of 50% off the regular yearly price at Headspace, please use the offer code B2CCX50OFF2023 before check out.

Othership:

App Store: Claim 30 days free by following this link. Google Play: Download app and enter code: BREATHEEASY