I like to think of meditation — the practice of sitting still and focusing on the breath that the word now popularly refers to — as “pull-ups for the mind.”
In essence this is just pointing out that meditation is a form of mental exercise, and so any type of physical exercise could be used as an analogy. Actually, endurance exercise probably bears the closest relationship, and if I really wanted to see how far the meditation-as-exercise analogy could be taken I would probably use jogging. But I am going to stick with pull-ups for this introductory post, because it illustrates the difficulty of starting a practice.
Of all the elementary forms of exercise, pull-ups are usually the hardest for people just starting out. A proper pull-up requires substantially more strength than any other standard issue bodyweight exercise. If someone hasn’t worked out their upper body much, they might not even be able to do a single pull-up; instead they will have to start with some easier variations.
Likewise, someone who tries for the first time to sit down and empty the mind will likely find their brains screaming at them in less than a minute. And so most people who try to meditate soon decide that they “just aren’t good at it” and give up.
This would be a mistake akin to giving up on developing their upper body strength because they couldn’t immediately do five pull-ups.
Instead, the lesson should be that the person needs to do more of the exercise until they have adequately developed their physical or mental strength.
What is “adequate”? In my physical fitness book I suggest that everyone (other than elite athletes) should aim for a basic level of general fitness across the entire spectrum of physical abilities. When it comes to pull-ups I would say that being able to do five in a row is a fairly minimal level of strength everyone should aim for. (Maybe just three for women, though I am loathe to say that women should have lower aims than men.)
If someone can’t do 3-5 pull-ups in a row, then they are letting themselves down, not even barely approaching what their body is capable of. Likewise, if someone can’t sit still and pay attention to what is happening inside their mind for 3-5 minutes, then they are letting themselves down as well, and not even beginning to approach their true mental capacities.
Just as having the back and arm strength that is developed through pull-ups will increase one’s ability to more fully engage with and enjoy life, so there are also important practical benefits to having the types of mental abilities that are developed through meditation.
Why Meditate?
Below I am going to list four clear benefits that come from a regular meditation practice, and hint at several others. I am going to discuss them in simple functional terms that make contributions to one’s well-being.
I am not going to focus on some of the commonly touted benefits like stress reduction and enlightenment. “Enlightenment” is way too hairy a topic, and there are more efficient ways to reduce stress than sitting meditation. Besides, such benefits are indirect: they don’t come immediately, and they don’t come if they are your goal.
Instead, I’d like to highlight some of the most immediate and practical benefits, some of which will arrive after just a few sessions.
Benefit 1: Increased Willpower
First off, engaging in a regular practice of sitting still and focusing the mind is an exercise of willpower. And while it’s a specific exercise of willpower, it’s one that spills over into other areas. If you can force yourself to sit still and focus on the breath for long periods of time, you’ll find that your ability to will yourself to do (or not do) other things increases as well.
Benefit 2: Increased Focusing Skills
Beyond the exercise of willpower, the most immediate benefit of a regular meditation practice is that it strengthens your ability to focus. This is especially important nowadays, since the forces of distraction are stronger than ever. Partly because of the smartphone and related technology, we have all become habituated over the past decade to incessant hijackings of our attention, with accompanying reductions in our ability to concentrate for long periods of time.
The number of people able to concentrate well enough to read a book, or even finish a long form news article, has fallen dramatically in the last decade or two. But if you can learn to maintain focus on something as boring as your breath for even just 10-15 seconds at a time before your mind slips, then maintaining focus and avoiding distractions while reading, working, having an important conversation, etc becomes a breeze. This benefit is obviously practical, and you’ll also notice it quickly, with just a handful of meditation sessions.
Benefit 3: Disengagement from Automatic Thoughts
A third benefit, and one which also develops fairly quickly, is that regular meditation will help you to disengage from automatic thoughts. In order to maintain focus on the breath, meditation trains you to let thoughts go: getting wrapped up in thoughts means you are not focusing on your breath. And since thoughts arise naturally, a meditation session involves repeatedly having thoughts and then letting them go instead of following them down the rabbit hole of daydreams and ruminations.
This process — begin to have a thought, then let it go — becomes a little more ingrained each time you meditate, and soon becomes a trained disposition that affects your regular life. The clearest benefit from such a disposition is the ability to more easily change habits, since you become less likely to unthinkingly react in automatic ways to stimuli.
Benefit 4: Development of “Watcher’s View”
Another development occurs along with this disengagement from automatic thoughts, which I’ll call the “watcher’s view.” In addition to training yourself to disengage from automatic thoughts, meditation also teaches you not to identify with your thoughts. When you don’t identify with your thoughts you develop a sort of meta-awareness: you see them form and you realize they are doing so in a way that is outside your control and therefore they aren’t really “you.” It is this meta-awareness which I am calling the “watcher’s view.”
We all have a “higher self” and “a lower self.” I don’t mean to make a metaphysical claim with this statement, but simply mean it in the psychological sense which anyone who has ever had to fight urges or sacrifice present delights for better future rewards can appreciate.
Acquiring the “watcher’s view” means developing this the “higher self,” which brings benefits like more philosophical objectivity about outside events and the tendency to remain true to your long-term goals and values in the face of short-term pleasures and profits.
Higher Benefits
Beyond these fairly immediate and easily appreciated benefits, a regular meditation practice will soon prove to be helpful in other ways as well. It has a definite psychotherapeutic value, it will help you to appreciate the present moment, and — after you’ve practiced a while — it can even lead to the type of tranquility and stress reduction for which is often touted. Spiritual insights are in the cards as well, as well as the possibility of “enlightenment.”
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However, these “higher benefits” do not come quickly, nor do they have the obvious practicality of the four benefits I listed above. Most importantly, and paradoxically, these benefits typically won’t come if you are trying to obtain them.
If you want to start a meditation practice, then, don’t do it for such esoteric reasons, but instead use it as a way to train your willpower and ability to focus, and allow the other benefits to come along for the ride. They will — some sooner, and some later — but only if you actually train your mind.
For instructions on beginning a meditation practice, see my Meditation Primer.