13 meditation myths you probably believe
I’ve found that meditators and non-meditators alike sometimes hold incorrect beliefs about meditation- what it is, how to do it, and who it’s for. Here are the 13 of the most widely held ones that I’ve found:
1. It’s selfish
From the outside, meditation can look like narcissistic navel-gazing. After all, you’re just focusing on your thoughts and the functioning of your mind, when you could be doing something productive or helpful for others. However, it’s nearly the opposite- meditation has been proven to increase empathy and positive feelings towards others, as well as reduce emotional reactivity. This leads to better interactions with everyone around you.
So, yes, meditation does make you a better person, but that improves the lives of others, too. Selfish? Meditation is less self-serving than exercising or eating right.
2. It requires sitting still
When someone says “meditation”, the image that springs immediately to mind is a person sitting perfectly still in the lotus position for hours on end. This is meditating, but it is not the whole picture.
The fact is that there is a whole class of meditation types known as moving meditation. These include walking meditation, labyrinth meditation, and running meditation. The running monks of Japan meditate while jogging along a mountain path for 50 miles a day for 100 days at a time. Actually, you’ve probably heard of the most popular form of moving meditation- Tai chi.
Don’t be fooled into thinking meditation isn’t for you if sitting still isn’t your thing- there are plenty of options.
3. It’s hard
Believing that meditation is hard mostly springs from the idea that you’re only meditating if your mind is completely free of thoughts. Novices are lucky to get a second or two of this here and there in a 20-minute session, and even experts sometimes have “bad” meditation sessions.
But that’s a myth. Meditation is the act of trying to free your mind from thought (or be fully aware of the world around you), not the brief time you spend in that state. Anytime you’re deliberately trying to calm your racing thoughts for any length of time, you’ve successfully meditated. Yep, you win just by trying. What could be easier than that?
4. It’s spiritual
Whether its monks in orange robes, gurus sitting cross-legged or friars contemplating God quietly in a monastery, meditation seems inherently spiritual. And it’s true that every major religion has a meditation practice as part of its teaching.
However, when you strip everything else away, meditation is simply a tool for greater awareness and self-improvement. The essential steps of basic meditation are these: 1) choose something to meditate on, 2) focus on that object, and 3) when your mind wanders to other thoughts, gently bring it back to your meditation object.
While meditation can be used for spiritual purposes, there’s nothing inherently religious or spiritual about it.
5. It takes a lot of time
The popular myth that you need to stay on top of a mountain for 20 years or meditate for hours a day is just that: a myth.
While it is true that the longer you meditate (both at a time and over time) the greater the benefits you’ll see, you can start seeing benefits after just one short session. Even a 2-second meditation can be beneficial on a busy day- when I am in a rush to get somewhere, I try to meditate every time I hit a red light (I recommend doing this with your eyes open). Which brings me to my next myth…
6. It can only be done with your eyes closed
The first step most people think of when they think about how to meditate is “close your eyes”. This can be extremely helpful for gaining and maintaining focus, especially for beginners.
But closing your eyes is not only unnecessary, it makes some forms of meditation impossible (staring at a candle flame and most forms of moving meditation, for example). I would also encourage you to keep your eyes open when you meditate at a stop light or while standing a line (nobody likes being the guy holding everyone else up).
7. It’s just for hippies & new age nuts
Meditation first truly reached the collective awareness of mainstream America in the 60s, and since then many of its practitioners and proponents have also been interested in chakras, crystals, and various other things labeled “new age” (some of which have since gone mainstream, like yoga).
So it’s understandable that some see meditation as the sole realm of people like this, and perhaps at one time this was true. But today people of all classes, backgrounds, and beliefs have a daily meditation practice, from the happy hippie to the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Which leads to another myth…
8. It’s just for the elite
There are plenty of business leaders, celebrities, and athletes who have publicly admitted to having a meditation practice. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in one of these categories who doesn’t meditate, has never meditated, and has no interest in meditation, thank you very much. This gives some people the impression that meditation is only for the rich, powerful, and/or famous.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Meditation is one of the few things you can do to improve yourself that requires no money, no special equipment, and can be done almost anywhere at almost any time. The only things you need to meditate are yourself and time (and not much of that, either).
Meditation is for the masses, not just the privileged few.
9. The results take forever to get
We went over this a little bit earlier, but this is important enough to dig into further. One of the excuses you’ll hear often if you talk to people about meditation is “Yeah, meditation is great and all, but I’ve heard it takes a long time to see the benefits, and I just don’t have the time”.
This is only partially true. While it is true that some benefits might take years of regular practice to gain (like strengthening your alpha and gamma brainwaves and being able to switch brainwave states at will), you will see significant improvements in others quickly: improved creativity (three 45-min sessions), decreased blood pressure (8 weeks), improved reaction times (7 days), and a more positive outlook on life (8 weeks), just to name a few. Plus, many people report feeling less stressed after only a few minutes!
10. It’s just for relaxation
Speaking of stress reduction, many people feel like meditation is only good for this purpose. This is probably due to it being one of the main reasons people today start meditating, and it does work wonderfully well for this.
But meditation has many more benefits, such as increased grey matter in the brain, improved attention, increased focus, improved ability to work under stress, reduced perception of pain, improved learning, reduced need for sleep, decreased inflammation response, and increased feelings of compassion, to name a few.
11. It’s complicated
Don’t get me wrong- there are some very complicated ways to meditate. If you want, you can add all sorts of mantras, steps, and unnecessary things until meditation is more complicated than swinging a golf club properly. However, as I said before, meditation really only has 3 essential steps: 1) find something to focus on, 2) focus on it, and 3) gently bring your focus back when it wanders.
12. It requires silence
The myth of silence is a big one in the western world. Here, many people believe you need silence (or a relaxing background soundtrack at most) to meditate properly.
When you are first starting, silence is generally golden. As you progress, you’ll begin to realize that noise is just another thing you can gently push your focus away from. You might even find that some sounds are great for focusing on. In fact, the Komusō, a sect of Buddhist monks in Japan, incorporated flute playing into their meditation practice as an essential part.
Even beyond this, certain types of sounds have been proven to help people enter the meditative state quicker and easier. There are several different types of this music, including binaural beats, isochronic tones, and monaural beats. Here’s a great binaural beats meditation course for those who are interested in this.
13. You need incredible willpower to do it
This meditation misconception really bothers me. This myth is really the result of several of the others- if you think meditation is complicated, requires you to sit still, takes a lot of time, and is just plain hard, then of course you’ll think it takes a superhuman effort to do!
Plus, this belief becomes almost a self-fulfilling prophecy, as trying to force your mind to empty of thought just makes it more difficult and leaves you demoralized. This makes it even harder to get up the gumption to try again at a later date.
People who have little self-control will actually benefit the most from meditation, as it replenishes willpower.
Despite this, if you have difficulty starting or continuing a meditation practice, I would suggest looking into implementation intentions. This clunky-sounding tool makes it easy for you to pre-make the decision to meditate at a specific time in the future, largely removing willpower from the picture.
So how many of these did you know? Did I miss any meditation myths you think are important? Let me know in the comments!