In this episode on the 5 Interesting Facts About Meditation, I will help you understand meditation. Although there is diversity in meditation styles (Mindfulness, compassion, transcendental, and focused attention meditation), interventions show that meditation practices improve prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions like cognition, self-awareness, attention, and memory and reduce psychological symptoms. Every day, you face adversity and challenge that affect the way you care for your clients. If unable to self-regulate your emotions and address the stress in a productive way, these challenges can affect how you manage your personal life too.
While Episode 14 discussed the top 5 Myths About Meditation, this podcast episode is all about the 5 Most Interesting Facts About Meditation (and why it truly is the #1 best kept secret for managing your stress).
Fact # 1 – You Gain Momentum
One reason people don’t stop when they’re working is they feel they’ll lose momentum. One key fact about vedic meditation is the Prefrontal Cortex gets turned-on in meditation. Instead of losing productivity, and slowing down from stopping for 20 minutes, you gain more mental clarity. This is a direct result of having a rest and getting an energy boost. Bottom line, if you feel you can’t find the time to meditate, it’s actually because you’ve not prioritized your time enough. Changing things in your life takes effort. Meditation will offer you the extended benefit of added momentum regardless of how busy you are.
Artist Mindy Weisel credits her meditation practice “for transforming her from a state of exhaustion and hopelessness into a happy, fulfilled woman” (Rosenthal, 2016,, p.33)
Fact #2 – You Feel Happier
The second most interesting fact about meditation is that it makes you feel happier. We all have a happiness set-point, I think. You know what makes you unhappy, and you know generally what is going to make you happy. From that position, I’ve noticed that people often live in the future – in order to escape their moments of unhappiness. They plan a trip so they will have moments of happiness in the future.
But….daily meditation is proven to allow you to transcend stress, be in the moment and allow you to cherish greater moments of happiness. In Norman Rosenthal’s interviews for his book, Super Mind, he asked the question: “Have you been happier since starting to practice TM?” The answers to the question often came in a louder voice, and higher in pitch, stating “Absolutely!” as well as “100 percent!”.
Katie Finneran, Actress, said “oh, a hundred percent, yes. So much happier. My number one priority is living a happy, positive life. And I consider TM part of my education at becoming a happier person”(Rosenthal, N, 2016, p.199).
Fact #3 – You Detach From Your Thoughts
I bet you’ve been wondering how people truly learn how to sit still and meditate. I bet you also have the preconceived notion that you’ll never be able to learn to meditate because you just ‘can’t stop thinking’. I have some good news. Fact #3 of the 5 Interesting Facts About Meditation is that the mantra is your vehicle to go within. This is where you learn detach from thoughts. Yes!
Meditation promotes a balance between the mantra and the thoughts as you learn to become an observer of the mind. Twice daily, for 15-20 minutes, you learn to allow the mind to wander without judging it. The mantra and the thoughts travel together in unison. Suddenly you are in a place in your mind that is just mantra. Then, you arrive at a place where it’s quiet. It’s usually only for a brief moment – and then you become aware that you’ve had no thoughts and you start racing through. But you do reach a place of stillness and peacefulness, through mantra meditation.
Questioning if that’s possible? I’m living proof that it is. I’ve got a pretty active mind. But I’ve learned from being a meditator for 25 years that you can train your body and mind to sit still, even when it’s counterintuitive to do that.
Fact #4 – You Enter Different Streams Of Consciousness
What happens to the mind during meditation? As I just described, you get to a place of stillness. People share different experiences when they’re meditating – and reach that transcendent state. Ultimately, there is a sense of peace and the body when your breathing and metabolism slow down. You might even notice you get cold during meditation and you might need to have blanket nearby.
You may also have exotic and esoteric experiences, but there are ordinary thoughts that come and go too, in the same way that you just close your eyes and have thoughts. However, with the use of the mantra, after being taught how to access it, your meditations and stream of consciousness will be different with each meditation. It’s important that you not judge your thoughts, or your experiences. Just allow the mind likes to wander into magical places…with the use of your mantra.
You don’t need to ‘focus’ or ‘force’ a thought in the middle of your forehead. Nor do you need to focus on a sound to ‘block out your thoughts’. Nothing of the sort!!By using a mantra, given to you by a teacher, you allow yourself (and your mind) to go a little deeper in thought, accessing the more abstract and intuitive levels of the mind that are rarely available in your waking state.
Reference: Super-Mind by Normal E. Rosenthal (2016), which reveals the brain waves of people in different states of consciousness, from a very focused state, to waking state, dreaming and Transcendental Meditation. (Rosenthal, NE, 2016).
# 5 -Meditation Improves Productivity
Meditation can actually create structural changes in the brain. By regularly engaging in meditation, research has found individuals can improve their ability to concentrate. Meditation practices can lead to improved cognitive abilities, better memory retention, and increased productivity. It helps calm the Sympathetic Nervous System, which regulates the body’s internal processes in response to our environment. It’s the part of the body that increases our heart and respiration rates during times of stress. So, instead of running on empty and pushing your body, you can implement the SYAD20 rule, and take time-out, which relaxes your muscles and calm the nervous system.
By reducing your stress and anxiety, you’re lowering your cortisol levels. Even if you’ve only meditated at 11am, you’ve allowed your body to slow down and recover. All this further enhances the quality of your sleep, simply by the taking time to reduce cardiac stress. This further promotes emotional stability, self awareness and improved cognitive function. Meditation can also lower your blood pressure as well as your heart rate. This gives your organs a much-needed break and supports your focus and productivity.
What Can We Do For You & Your Team?
At Satori, we specialize in helping workplaces and busy health professionals lead healthy and balanced lives. We do this through our monthly 3-session virtual mantra meditation groups. A more engaged workforce will align better with the company’s vision, which will provide a better brand experience for prospects and customers. While this does lead to increased revenue, this component is hard to measure.
A Gallup study estimated that the cost of employee disengagement is $1 trillion a year in lost productivity in the U.S. alone. By arming your staff with a brief 3-session Mantra meditation group, they’re learning to slow down as a way of boosting productivity and creating better states of health. This can help you reduce turnover, absenteeism and on-boarding costs.
The truth is, in today’s world, you need to train your mind to connect with your body and be present. While internet guided meditations can help you do this, none compare to the extensive cognitive and physiological benefits provided by mantra meditation (TM STYLE).
