BabyBoomersBlueprint

Meditation became part of many lifestyle choices and a source of a lot of conversation as far back as the 60s for baby boomers when there was a big interest in eastern religions and things that were exotic and new.  But while many of the flash in the pan interests in exotic religions during that time frame faded away in the progressive life style of baby boomers, meditation itself has endured and become a common practice and resource that has benefited numerous practitioners in every decade of their lives.  If you’ve never tried meditating before, why not consider incorporating it into your daily practices for 60 days and see if you notice any differences in how you feel and think, you may find yourself having a richer life for doing so.

There is a good reason meditation has endured and even grown in popularity far beyond any religious context.  People seem to be under even more pressure as the economy is changing and many are looking for an alternative way to release stress.  Meditation has tremendous benefits for virtually every aspect of life and those who integrate it into their daily lifestyles can experience those benefits almost as soon as they start.  You don’t have to be a guru at meditation to realize benefits from the very first time to give it a try.  Some of those benefits include…

• Meditation is calming.  Because the act of meditation calls for you to quiet your thoughts and to still your mind and focus it, that sense of your soul being in turmoil eases and you are able to see a solution more clearly because your emotions are not clouding the issue.

• Meditation helps you focus and concentrate.  The great thing about meditation is that the effects of meditation continue past those few moments when you are actually meditating.  Those few moments of calm create an atmosphere of focus and clarity of thought that goes on throughout your day helping you focus your mind and more easily concentrate when you need to.

• Meditation reduces stress and mental anxiety.  So often the stress that comes out of problems and difficulties (especially in these tumultuous times) is dominated by emotional reactions even more than by the problem itself.  Meditation clears away the effects of the stress making it easier for you to solve the problem itself.

• Meditation helps reduce physical anxiety.  The process of meditation involves extended periods of quiet deep breathing.  This simple action floods the brain with oxygen and energizes blood flow throughout the body which refreshes tired muscles and causes your entire physical system to relax and release pent up anxiety.

• Meditation helps you sleep and digest your food.  The refreshed blood flow, rich in oxygen that comes from the session of meditation, takes action immediately on the digestive system often reducing or eliminating digestive problems and even easing the symptoms of ulcers.  Because the mind is relaxed and well supplied with vital oxygen and blood flow, sleep comes more easily and is more recuperative.

Some successful role models in all walks of life that come out of the baby boomer generation credit meditation to why they are able to accomplish such great things.  In addition to all of these benefits, meditation is easy to integrate into your lifestyle and you can go at your own pace learning to become better at meditation and grow in your ability to use it.  Take a class, find a book, or a CD that will walk you through the concepts to get you started.

Meditation is profoundly easy to do.  The image of a meditation practitioner in painful “lotus position” going into a virtual trance is the extreme of the discipline.  Because meditation has been adapted so that any of us can benefit from the health benefits it brings, you can begin meditating immediately and see the benefits from the very first session.

Small wonder many baby boomers have continued down through the decades to be enthusiastic proponents of meditation.  And there is no reason baby boomers cannot continue to enjoy the tremendous benefits as they move into their late middle age and retirement years as well.

“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”