Regular meditation changes how you think. It changes the structure of your brain. It changes how you relate to yourself and others. Beginning immediately, and then cumulatively, over time, meditation alters your mind.
To witness the immediate effects of meditation, take ten, ten-second breaths. Adjust your posture, so that your back is straight and head is level, then bring your attention to your breathing. As you breathe in, count from one to five. Hold the breath for a moment, then, as you exhale, count down from five to one. At the end of each exhale, count the breath. Count ten breaths and the mini-meditation is complete. Within one or two breaths, you can recognize a difference in your mind. Ten breaths like that, ten times a day is equivalent to around 20 minutes of mediation.
The difference that you notice immediately is more pronounced if you are stressed or tense. Breathing deeply and evenly switches on your relax mode. The more you work the switch, the better it works for you. If you are too relaxed, you can work the switch the other way, and take fast short breaths to get your anxiety up.
Ten breaths is a short form of mediation, which will take around two minutes. A five minute mediation will be 25-30 breaths. For around twenty minutes of mediation, rest your attention on your breathing for 100 breaths.
If you spend a lot of time angry, you have a mind built for anger. If you spend a lot of time afraid, you have a mind built to fear. If you spend a lot of time feeling grateful, you have a mind built for gratitude. If you spend a lot of time in meditation, you can see the mind you have and make adjustments to create the mind you want.
A long-term effect of mediation is a physical change to your brain structure that allows for more executive control and better emotional regulation. Another is that your outlook changes. As you intentionally practice thinking of gratitude, compassion and love, your mind gets in the habit of feeling those feelings and naturally settles into those pleasant states.
Life will always bring you circumstances to send you through emotional highs and lows, but with a regular meditation practice, no matter what is happening around you, you will be able to bring your attention back to your breath, be present where you are, and compassionately, intentionally build the mind you want to live with for the rest of your life.
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