Human beings spend 47 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are doing right now. This wandering mind is considered to be the cause of unhappiness. Meditation and mindfulness are often used in religious and spiritual practices to calm the mind and reduce stress. Could this be the secret to keep the doctors away?
The centuries-old Chinese slow-flowing exercise of Tai Chi is often described as “meditation in motion”. Tai Chi instructor Chunmei Yang was introduced to the exercise nearly 30 years ago by her master who taught the practice right until the end of his life.
A 2010 Harvard study shows that people’s minds wander 47 percent of the time. The Tai Chi philosophy of “Jing”, or quietness, can be the answer to calming busy minds.
Yang teaches Tai Chi to students of all ages – several in their nineties, and two being centenarians. The moving meditation has research-backed health benefits for the mind and body. It can prevent falls, improve arthritis and memory, and delay the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Contemporary Buddhist artist Karma Phuntsok (pronounced as “poon-tsok”) has been practising meditation for over thirty years. His daily practice starts with a sitting meditation at five in the morning - involving Buddhist studies and chanting.
Phuntsok’s meditation is based on Buddhist techniques passed down from the eighth century.
Phuntsok says he still isn’t immune to feelings of anger, jealousy or desire after many years of practice. But he sees meditation as a way of training the mind to cope with difficult times such as living with an illness or preparing for death with less fear.
Brayden Zeer manages Mindful Meditation Australia in Perth, an organisation that takes a scientific approach to meditation. Zeer has practised meditation for 15 years, with five of those years spent in a dedicated meditation community, where he explored different forms of meditation.
Zeer describes mindfulness as a mental skill of attention - basically a shift from an automatic reactive process to a more conscious-directed thought process so that thought can be applied to gratitude or a problem we are experiencing.
You can start right now with a simple guided breathing exercise.
