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This is a great question! It is great because it is as good for beginners as it is for people who have meditated for years and years. It is great because there is not just one answer. And, it is great because the answer changes over time for each person.
Meditation offers humans the unique opportunity to reach a state of awareness in which we can comfortably go beyond ourselves to be more in touch with ourselves. If that sounds complex let’s step back. In Western societies in particular we are trained from birth to feel quite comfortable in a physical world where we are actively engaged on a moment to moment basis.
And, our activity often requires us to have either things or money. For example, we need a pair of skis to go skiing. We need a nice car to go driving. We need money to go on a vacation. We somehow feel that if we have things/money that we will be able to be engaged activities that will make us happy. So, we must Have in order to Do so we can be Happy. Quite ironically this is actually quite backward to how the universe works. If we flip it, and allow ourselves to be happy just being; then whatever we are doing or whatever we have is more than sufficient.
During meditation we let go of all the external and internal activity that is engaging us, and keeping us from connecting with our true self. We easily recognize the external activity. The phone calls, the computer, the television, the “to do” list… it’s endless really. We let it engage our mind from the minute we wake up until we collapse in the evening.
What about the internal activity? You know. All those thoughts and emotions that swarm though your mind. Sometimes this is called the “monkey brain”. Like a monkey jumping from one tree branch to another, our thoughts keep pouring in, moving from one subject to the next. And, in today’s modern society where we have MTV-like commercials and television shows; our attention span is quite short. Like a habit, we actually can’t stop ourselves from rather rapid, non-stop and non-sequential thinking. Meditation is a process, a skill actually, that empowers us to drop internal activity as well. The result? A quite, peaceful state where we can witness ourselves and simply “be.”
Meditation offers many benefits. It can help us “re-charge” our batteries. It can help us answer questions we have about ourselves; or address issues or problems that we are facing. It can help us tap into and experience a higher state of consciousness and awareness. Basically, there are many benefits and no “down-sides” to meditation.
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