Hundreds of medical studies have shown the spectacular health benefits of meditation. Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine, puts that scientific research to good, practical use by incorporating easy-to-use, targeted meditations into a 21 day program. This program optimizes metabolism as well as body image by tapping into the hidden strength of the mind. We learn a whole new way to lose weight; and it takes just a few minutes a day.
Each day of the plan in Meditate Your Weight helps you explore and release what’s weighing you down physically, emotionally, and mentally—the mental blocks, thoughts, habits, and behaviors that stand in your way—to make it easier to think more clearly, make better choices, and maximize metabolism. As you lighten up on the inside, you’ll lighten up on the outside.
SOME MYTHS ABOUT MEDITATION—AND THE TRUTH
Though meditating is simpler to do than many believe, it is also a mysterious process—how does it work, exactly? Even scientists are not exactly sure, but they’re getting closer. That mystery sometimes causes a bit of a PR problem for meditation, but I’d love to clear up a few of those misunderstandings.
Myth:
“MEDITATION IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE .
Truth:
MEDITATION IS, FIRST AND FOREMOST, A MENTAL PRACTICE .
Meditation is not voodoo. Meditation is not New Age or mystical. Yes, meditation has been used in many forms in religious traditions and cultures throughout history and throughout the world, but the act of meditating isn’t inherently spiritual.
At its core, meditation is a means of training your mind. It has direct physiological effects on the brain and nervous system that can be studied in the lab, tracked by sophisticated fMRI brain scanners, or analyzed with a blood test, stethoscope, or heart rate monitor. In fact, over the last twenty-five years, more than three thousand studies on meditators have been conducted at some of the most respected research institutions in the world, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the universities of California, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, among many others. The data from these studies is very clear: meditation helps people lead healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives.
Myth:
“MEDITATION JUST DOESN’T WORK FOR ME.” OR “I CAN’T MEDITATE.”
Truth:
MEDITATION WORKS FOR EVERYONE, AND EVERYONE CAN DO IT.
I hear it all the time: “I can’t meditate—it just doesn’t work for me.”
Imagine if a baby who was just learning how to walk tried to take a step and fell down, then turned around and said, “Sorry, Mom and Dad—this walking thing just doesn’t work for me.”
Silly, right? But meditation is like walking—it’s an activity we learn to do in very short spurts, then continue to practice and improve upon for the rest of our lives.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of walking, you can go in any direction you’d like—you can run the fifty-yard dash in gym class, you can train for a 5k, you can become a marathoner. Or, like many people, you might just stick with basic walking to get you through your days. But the core mechanics involved in each of these activities is exactly the same: You put one foot in front of the other, and you move forward.
Meditation is just like that. You might just do three minutes a day; you might work up to twenty. You might fall in love with it and decide to dig deep and do a retreat. But at an elemental level, no matter where you find yourself currently, you are a meditator. From the very first moment you sit, take a breath, and notice that your mind is wandering, you’re already doing it—you’re meditating.
Myth:
“THE REAL TYPE OF MEDITATION IS [X]—AND IF YOU DON’T DO [X], YOU’RE NOT REALLY MEDITATING .”
Truth:
ANY TYPE OF MEDITATION IS “REAL”;
NO ONE TYPE IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER.
When we start meditating, a common trap is to get caught in thinking we have to follow a specific type of meditation. When I first got into meditation back in the early nineties, people were very specific about it. I heard all kinds of dictums:
• You can’t be sitting on a chair—you have to sit on a cushion.
• Your legs need to be in this position.
• You have to have your right thumb on top and your left thumb on the bottom.
• Your right heel must be in front.
• Your spine has to be right over your pelvis.
• You have to chant this or think about that.
All of these might be helpful suggestions to you—or not. To use meditation to reach your health goals, there are truly no absolutes of this kind. What works for you is what works for you. It doesn’t matter if you do a visualization, or count your breaths, or simply take a moment to close your eyes and be still while riding on the bus—all of these are just tools, and all of them are forms of meditation. Anytime you take a moment to just sit there—voilà, you’re meditating.
And that’s the ultimate goal of meditation: that, with practice, you will get to a level of comfort in which you can just tip back into that same relaxed, focused mental space on the drop of a dime, anytime you notice that you’re getting stressed. By developing your meditation skills, you become able to step out of the stress loop and remain cool, calm, and collected as often as you’d like.
If you’re drawn to one specific method of meditation, that’s great—stick with what works for you.
Find the tool that you need and use it. But from a scientific perspective, and for the results we’re looking for in the mind and body, please know there are many “right” ways to do it.
Excerpted from MEDITATE YOUR WEIGHT: A 21-Day Retreat To Optimize Your Metabolism And Feel Great Copyright © 2016 by Tiffany Cruikshank. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Tiffany Cruikshank is the founder & visionary behind Yoga Medicine, a community of expert yoga teachers focused on fusing the best of anatomy & western medicine with the traditional practice of yoga. Tiffany’s classes have evolved over the past 20 years of teaching yoga to reflect her creativity and passion for using yoga as a form of medicine for the mind, body & spirit. With her medical background in Acupuncture & Sports Medicine, her classes are guided by a strong anatomic focus and her ability to teach a deeper understanding of complex subjects. Recognized more broadly as a health & wellness expert, Tiffany has worked with professional athletes and celebrities from around the world. She has run her own clinics and was the Acupuncturist & Yoga Teacher at the Nike World Headquarters and has been featured as an expert in numerous publications including Yoga Journal, Prevention , Self, Marie Claire, Fitness Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Fox News, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Mantra, Thrive, More Magazine, OM Yoga, YogaLife and many others. Visit Tiffany’s Website
Photo credit: Jenny Jimenez
