I started daily meditation (5–10min) when I came back from Madrid during NYE this year. I randomly stumbled upon this audiobook- How to train your mind by Chris Baliey- when I was on the plane. To my surprising first try at the audiobook, I really bought into what the book is selling about how meditation could actually improve your productivity, mindfulness, and health. Since I already had a bit of experience of positive affirmation and mindfulness practice during my daily yoga routine (thanks to yoga with Kassandra, I’m still going on ;), I also started this new routine for meditation right in the first moment in the morning. And I can tell you, the 3 benefits the book mentioned are 100% true.
1. Productivity
With Meditation, I’m pushed to learn how to sit still and do nothing. Just like how the audiobook’s intro, the author observed and was astonished by how a monk can just order a cup of tea and sit for hours without moving. Sometimes, we think being productive is to be always hustling and squeezing every minute of the day and maximizing everything by multitasking. However, by doing so, your brain got over-wired and exhausted and you actually become less productive and efficient than you’ve planned.
By doing meditation, I’ve learned to sit still and just focus on my breath for a short moment (not hours like a monk yet). I then apply this to moments during the day when I felt my head spinning, my inbox flooding, and overwhelmed by information and work. I stand up, go for a walk, focus on my breathing, and try to re-focus and prioritize what’s the most important thing I need to get done first. I’ve learned to stay calm in chaotic situations and concentrate better when working.
It might not be possible to quantify how meditation truly improves my productivity but in my head and during my day at work, I can truly tell how I’m working differently with focus, prioritization, and calmness.
2. Mindfulness
Similar to the point before, with meditation, I’ve learned to listen to my mind and realize how I’m feeling way better than before. Whether I’m happy or sad, busy or chill, nervous or calm, I can feel it better and find ways to get through and live with the negatives and turn into and stay in the positives.
One example I have of this is on the first day when the Ukraine-Russian war broke out. I’ve held my temptation for watching the news the whole day even though I’ve heard the first missile was fired but to stay focused at work, I’ve mindfully left my phone aside and avoided checking any news. By the end of the day, I want to at least know what was going on so I turned on the TV. 5mins in, I started to feel nauseous, anxious, and nervous. I can’t help but start to feel I’m downward spiraling about all the negative domino effects it might have in the world and in my life. I quickly turned it off and called a friend to talk about it.
Even though the feeling didn’t go away immediately afterward, the next day, I felt extremely proud of myself for noticing how I’m feeling and how I reacted to it. I’ve become so much more mindful of how I’m feeling and utilized the right methods to alleviate such negative feelings. If not for meditation, I don’t think I’d be able to react so well to it and really take care of myself.
3. Health (Mental and perhaps Physical)
With all that’s been said in the previous two points, meditation has improved my life in a gradual but momentous way. The more I do it, the more I can feel it’s improving my life and my health.
Mental health is connected to physical health. How you feel can also affect how your body reacts to the daily chores and exercises. It might be coincidental but since this year, after my new job at Adidas and how this year has been, even though there are down moments and hectic times, I’ve been feeling mentally more healthy- less anxious and nervous and more happy and calm. It’s also shown on my Whoop (fitness tracker) scores. My recovery score and HRV have improved since the end of last year when I felt trapped at work and constantly feeling ill. This physical improvement of recovery has also supported my fitness performance where I started a new personal training program and I think even though small, I’ve seen some progress in my physique and performance in the gym.
Lots of things happened during the first 3 months of my meditation and they could all be a factor in how my mental and physical health improved, but I truly believe it has something to do with the meditation practice I started.
So after reading this, if you’re interested in starting meditation, I highly recommend reading/listening to this book-How to train your mind by Chris Baliey-before starting the practice to learn, why, what, and how to start meditating. As for the app, I’d recommend Insight Timer for finding guided meditations or just a timer for it.
If you also started meditation and would like to share how you feel afterward, feel free to comment below. Until next time, happy meditation :)
