I want to tell you about the benefits of “sitting” for 15 minutes a day. Just sitting… No need for fancy words, objects, or environments. Remember I mentioned that the brain can be trained, and you don’t even need to move to do it? 🙂

“Doing nothing makes all things possible”

Lao Tzu

I’ll explain it step by step…

Starting point: Every day, just SIT for 10 minutes and observe your breath.

The research by Richard Davidson and Jon Kabat-Zin, two of the most influential names in neuroscience, is noteworthy. The study was conducted on employees of a biotechnology company in the business world. After an 8-week mindfulness training, there was a significant decrease in their anxiety. The electrical activity in the brains of the subjects showed a significant increase in activity in the region of their brains associated with positive emotions. The most surprising result was related to the subjects’ immune systems. Towards the end of the study, the subjects were given the flu vaccine. The immune systems of the subjects in the meditation group produced more antibodies against the vaccine. So, after 8 weeks of mindfulness training, the subjects were both happier and had significantly stronger immune systems. This research wasn’t conducted on people living in a monastery in orange robes. 🙂 It was conducted on people working in the stressful business world in America.

In just 8 weeks, a lot can change in your brain. What we’re doing is training our attention.

Another study found that those who meditated for a long time produced higher levels of gamma brainwaves. Gamma brainwaves are associated with strong memory, learning, and perception capacity. They are seen in states of happiness. Even better, when the mental muscles are strengthened, feelings of calmness, pleasure, and clarity permeate every moment of your daily life. Let me give another example from sports. When we build muscle during sports, it’s with us even when we’re not exercising; it’s the same here. Once that muscle in the brain is strengthened, it continues to be actively with us all day long.

All you have to do is sit. Sit and follow your breath. That’s what meditation is, essentially, that simple.