Lots of people ask “why meditate?” The reasons are profound and wide-ranging, but I’ll start by answering a simpler question: “what is meditation?”
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice using various techniques to become deeply present, to direct your focus, and to develop mental clarity, emotional calm, and stability. The fundamental idea is that our mind generates millions of thoughts each day and at least 80 percent of these thoughts are repetitive and useless. Our untrained minds are inefficient, and we waste time and lose energy thinking about meaningless things.
A daily meditation practice is a way to make your thinking more efficient and effective, resulting in greater mental focus and emotional balance. Just as your body needs exercise to be toned, your mind needs meditation to be trained. Do you have thoughts that you’d like to stop thinking about? Meditation can help you do that.