Myths of Meditation

You have to "empty your mind"

Personally I have never actually come across any real meditation technique that instructs you to do this!

You don't have time

Meditation relieves fatigue and increases concentration and focus, you will find that 20 minute's meditation in your tea break will give you hours more productivity with increased focus and efficiency.

You have to sit still for ages

Nope, 10-20 minutes a day if you can, or even meditate while taking a walk or doing activities such as yoga or Tai Chi.

It makes you feel worse

You may feel a bit fidgety and anxious at the start of your practise but this is just your mind and body releasing stress (which is the point isn't it!) Some yoga or a breathing exercise before you begin to meditate can ease this.

It's about chanting in an ancient foreign language

This may be required in some practises of meditation, but there are many, many more that do not require you to understand Sanskrit!

You must sit on the floor in 'lotus position'

Meditation can be done seated on a chair, sitting up in bed, reclining on a park bench or even walking or dancing!

Meditation is religious

Meditation is of course practised in many religions but the act of meditating is not religious, it is about giving your mind time to rest and reboot.

I tried it and it didn't work

There are 100s of techniques of meditation, not all involve the practises that you tried. There is definitely one to suit you, talk to someone who has experience in different styles of meditation to hear about the differing effects.

You have to wear beads and a blanket wrapped around you

Not unless you want to! All you need is to be comfortable.

People that meditate are a bit weird

Well, yes as with anything in life some may seem to be! But take into consideration that the NHS, schools, the military and large multinational businesses such as Apple, Google and Nike are applying meditative techniques within their workforces and it starts to seem less weird and more common sense.