The British School of Meditation Blog

The power of meditation in difficult times

In the 1990’s interest rates were at 15% and many houses fell into negative equity. It took several years for the house I then lived in to pull out of negative equity. I am convinced my wellbeing was supported during this difficult time by meditation. I was suffering from terrible anxiety, sleeping badly, and drinking too much. I was fortunate enough to make contact with someone who seemed to me to be the calmest person I had ever met. I asked him what his secret was, and he said it was meditation. Through him I learnt to meditate and gradually my life was transformed. I coped better with my money worries, I started to drink less, and I began to sleep better. Eventually I was able to sell my house and having plucked up the courage to resign from my teaching job I embarked on a new career as a self-employed meditation teacher and therapist. Meditating for 20 minutes twice a day helped me achieve a state of calm I had probably never experienced before.

Today we have increasing interest rates, higher mortgage rates and soaring energy costs. War in Ukraine.  None of which we have any control over.  We have not, yet, got into the very difficult times people experienced in the 1990’s and hopefully we won’t.

When we get anxious the amygdala expands and we can get into a cycle of catastrophic thinking. Meditation helps us to shrink the amygdala and let go of persistent thoughts. We begin to realise that our thoughts are not us. The image I like to use is to think of your mind as the sky, and your thoughts as clouds drifting across the sky. The clouds are not the sky and you are not your thoughts.

A simple meditation that can quickly help in times of stress is squared breathing: breathe in for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, breathe out for 4 and hold for 4. Try it the next time you feel anxious.

Mary