What is meditation? Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist says it well: “Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.”

What else is meditation? It’s sitting or lying down and being in the quiet. Being in the quiet can settle the “monkey mind” or in plain speak: random thoughts. Our world goes so fast and we are all on a treadmill most days, so it’s nice to sit and calm the mind by being in silence. Sometimes with meditation, it’s helpful to also listen to music or guided meditation instruction. The calmer you feel, the better!

Here are five ways that meditation can help you in your daily life:

  1. It makes you smile-Once you start meditating, no one or anything can take away your smile. Negative feelings and toxins are magically released and your heart feels lighter.
  2. It adds hours to your day that you thought didn’t exist-Meditation is powerful in that you can get more done in one day than you thought previously possible. For some reason, hours multiply, probably because worry, fear, anger and sadness are not distractions or upsets that disturb your flow.
  3. It balances and heals you-When your mind settles down, it’s not as frantic and crazed. Because of this, you feel more like yourself and connected to a higher source. This feeling of peace creates love and healing in your life, thus balance.
  4. It helps you communicate better-In relationships (business and personal), there’s a lot of stress. The stress lowers when you are not as panicked and worried. Meditating calms the soul, so when you interact with others, you’re less in your ego and more in your heart.
  5. Mediation makes you see beyond all the problems and disconnectedness-During and after meditation, you can’t help but feel totally relaxed (once your mind calms down). You see the past, present, and future and it all kind of comes together, in a good way. You will find that you’re feeling more instead of thinking and trusting more in the universe.

Quite simply, meditation, especially when practiced daily, brings you unbelievable freedom, balance, and strength of heart.

According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living Foundation:

“Meditation is like taking a bath to wash the mind. You can take a shower in the morning to clean your body and after that you go about your daily activities. You don’t have to keep on taking shower throughout the day. Similarly, you meditate and calm your mind, then go on with other activities. It is not easy to keep yourself undisturbed, but with the regular practice of meditation, it becomes easy.”