Common Myths

What comes to mind when someone mentions meditation? I have spoken with a lot of people, and mindfulness meditation is often misunderstood. I have had people mention that it is associated with New Age religions or Buddhism. Meditation is a part of Buddhism, but just because you practice meditation, it does not make you Buddhist. It also does not mean that you practice New Age rituals. Further, the meditation that is most common today is NOT Buddhist meditation.

Some Christians have discussed that they do not want to meditate because they feel that prayer and devotion are better. Mindfulness meditation is actually another tool that a Christian can incorporate into their routine. You can repeat a Bible verse with your breathing or a mantra of your choice. Another method that some use is to imagine breathing in love from the world and breathing love back out into the world.

Some people believe that meditation can take over your mind and make you susceptible to cult type teachings. This is not true. Meditation, does change pathways in your brain so that coping mechanisms do not directly go to the fight or flight network in the brain. Instead, it helps a person develop adaptive coping mechanisms in which you can take a second and truly evaluate if the event you are responding to is really a threat to your well-being.

Another common myth is that is that you are too busy to do mindfulness meditation. Everyone, these days, has a busy life. We really can't argue that one of us is any busier than the other. However, mindfulness meditation is self-care. Self-care is so important especially with busy lives. Just like the airlines and "put your own oxygen mask on first" instruction, we have to take care of ourselves before we can truly help anyone else. Can you really not spend a few minutes a day? Even taking a mindful minute several times a day can help! Who can't take 3 extra minutes a day on your mental, emotional and brain health?

If you have ideas or questions, please respond to the blog post and you can listen to a short talk on my youtube channel @bethakelley https://youtu.be/7NeVPceUQww