Marina Spence
A Guest Post by Marina Spence
Don’t you love eWomenNetwork’s emphasis on giving back? The joy you get from knowing your generosity of spirit makes a difference in someone’s life?
And as an entrepreneur, haven’t you become good friends with stress? Stress from hours spent at the computer, on the phone, or on your feet your body begs for bed? Stress from worries about the bills, the sales, and everything in between?
Now you can marry your love for giving back with your need to give away your stress. But first, do you know what the #1 stress-reducer is, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz of Oprah fame?
It’s meditation.
Don’t start yawning. Meditation’s not that boring. And it’s not that hard either. In fact, you’ve probably done it before and didn’t even realize that you were.
From almost 20 years of teaching mediation to beginners, ranging from Manhattan professionals to prisoners at a correctional facility, I’ve seen that motivation is key. There’s a saying that if your “why” is big enough, you’ll find the “how” to get something done. At the end of this post, I’ll make the “how” super-easy. Let’s talk first about different “whys” to mediation.
Why bother? What’s in it for you? Here are my top ten reasons to meditate.
10. You better remember why you walked into a room—OK, maybe this more applies to us Baby Boomers than anyone else. But meditation does increase focus and concentration for anyone.
9. The light changed at the crosswalk and you aren’t left behind, lost in thought—Being lost in thought generally happens when you worry, and meditation is a natural antidote for worry. Through becoming more aware of our habitual, robotic thoughts we can begin to change them.
8. You stop the nervous foot tapping thing—Instead of nervously tapping your foot, you breathe instead. It’s subtle and not annoying (unless you’re breathing really, really loudly).
7. You smile more and grind your teeth less—One of the meditation techniques I teach involves a BIG GRIN at the end of the technique. People hate it and love it. I challenge you to try it.
6. You have the feeling you do after an hour of yoga, but without the exercise—Don’t get me wrong, I’m a yogini too and nothing takes the place of a yoga class. But there’s no reason to think the yoga studio is the only place to have that cleared out feeling.
5. Your obnoxious uncle/aunt/cousin doesn’t bother you as much—As well as not being so bothered, you start liking people that you never thought you would. The expression “we are all one” begins to feel like less of an expression and more of a truth.
4. You look younger than you are—OK, meditation is about turning inward, not outward. But why not enjoy one of the side-benefits of less stress and anxiety?
3. Your intuition becomes your secret advisor—Amazing, we have this brilliant compass instead of us that can guide us at every turn. Who knew? The more you meditate the more intuitive you become because the doubting thoughts are turned down to low.
2. You have moments of not thinking, and feeling brilliantly alive—We Westerners are raised to do, not be, so meditation is counter-intuitive. But we need the clearing swish of meditation to re-set. The most creative ideas, for me, come after a meditation session.
1. Your heart heals, and holds more love—How many times have you been heart broken? If you are alive to be reading this, it’s probably more than you care to remember. Meditation, especially on the heart center, can heal the heart, allowing you to accept and receive love more fully. There are also forgiveness techniques, focusing on forgiving ourselves first, to aid in our healing process.
A final thought: meditation is like a shower for the mind. You wouldn’t go days and days without showering would you? So how can you even consider going months and years without clearing out your head?
Now here’s the intersection between giving back and learning to meditate. The Pink Edge (that would be me) is offering a meditation tele-class, Practical Meditation for Impractical Times, which begins 1/5/2010. The tele-course is a benefit for Women for Women International, the organization that helps women victimized by war become self-sufficient. What a fabulous organization Women for Women is! They empower women in the worst of circumstances to become the best, for themselves and their children. Women for Women has earned top ratings for the amount of money that goes into their work (as opposed to overhead), and were recently featured on Oprah’s “Half the Sky” program.
So you can learn meditation, or pep up the practice you already have, and help a mother, daughter, or sister at the same time. For de-stress details or to register for the tele-class, visit http://www.itseasytomeditate.com
Meditation: don’t leave the house without having done it. It’s easier than you think.
About Marina
Marina Spence is an author, management consultant, speaker, and teacher of meditation. Of these roles, she enjoys the latter the most. Her specialty is teaching beginners how to incorporate meditation into their busy & stressful lives, just has she has been taught by master meditators in Buddhist and Indian traditions. The styles she teaches range from gazing to chanting to using music as a way to increase concentration and drop into silence. She believes that meditation is the foundation to dropping old ways of thinking and acting, as well as gaining energy and insight for personal and social change.
Marina has taught meditation in Manhattan, and Washington D.C., as well as at a Brooklyn shelter for battered women and to inmates at Rikers Island Correctional facility. After many years of working & living in New York City, Marina is now in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of Make Every Day a Friday! The Joy of Connecting Who You Are with What You Do and the founder of The Pink Edge, www.pinkedge.com.
