Several years ago, I was attending a meditation at the Amaravati Buddhist monastery near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is an amazing place and if you have never been there, it is well worth a visit.

Her injuries were so bad that she could easily have bled to death. However, she had a trick up her sleeve.  She actually thought that her time was probably finished, so she decided to meet her end in a state of meditation. This is what saved her life!

My brother and I met an elderly lady who was a retired nun. She was a wonderful and very wise person. The sort of person that makes you feel relaxed just by being there. She told us a story about when she was a lot younger; she was in a nasty car crash.

Her injuries were so bad that she could easily have bled to death. However, she had a trick up her sleeve.  She actually thought that her time was probably finished, so she decided to meet her end in a state of meditation. This is what saved her life!

When we learn how to do real meditation, as opposed to simple relaxation, we learn how to change the state of our nervous system so that we are no longer in "survival mode" but in a much different "relaxation" mode. 

What happened with our friend, the nun, was that she had gone into relaxation and this slowed down her heartbeat sufficiently for her to not bleed to death.

Benefits of meditation

Meditation has been around for a long time and is done all over the world. Consequently, much work has been done to work out the benefits of meditation. Most of them derive from better regulation of the fight-or-flight response. Here are some of the many examples of the benefits of meditation:-

1.   It Boosts Your Health

·        Increases immune function

2.   It Boosts Your Happiness

·        Decreases depression, anxiety and stress

3.   It Boosts Your Social Life

·        Increases social connection & emotional intelligence

4.   It Boosts Your Self Control

·        Improves your ability to regulate your emotions

5.   It Changes Your Brain (for the better)

·        Increases grey matter

6.   It Improves Your Productivity

·        Increases your focus & attention 

A Simple Meditation

Meditation does not need to be complicated. Sometimes it is - and that's part of how the meditation works but I like to keep things simple in my classes - both online and in person (within the COVID guidelines of course!). Here is a simple meditation for you to try:-Here is a simple and powerful meditation for

you to try:-

·        Sit in a comfortable quiet place

·        Straighten your spine

·        Close your eyes and listen to your breath

·        Notice how inhalation and exhalation sound different

·        Every time that your mind wanders - come back to the sound of your breath

That's it! Meditation demystified and simplified. There can be more to it than that but if you can manage this simple version of what is called Zazen meditation then you are getting the idea!

The more you practise, the easier it becomes.