What is Meditation?

Meditation is a practice of stillness which allows us to witness ourselves, cultivate hesitation and awareness and therefore, change patterns. Ultimately, it is a practice to connect with the universal Self and experience wholeness.

We have the same thoughts over and over (and over) again. I know you’ve noticed. Our minds chatter away, incessantly. It is the mind’s nature to chatter, to obsess, to judge, to worry, to attempt to solve, to attempt to make sense, to command our attention and to want to constantly be in charge. Statistically, 99% of the thoughts we have today, we had yesterday, and the day before. These repeated thoughts create “grooves” in the mind, or neuropathways. Meditation pops us up out of those grooves.

The mind is like a stampeding horse pulling us unaware in all directions. Meditation is a tool to get a handle on it. To cultivate some quiet. It is also a tool to bring about change and deeper understanding.

When we meditate, we are cultivating awareness. We are watching: what is happening in my own mind and body? The mind chatters away (because that’s what the mind does), and we’re witnessing the mind chattering. We’re just observing. We’re not judging. We’re not reacting. We’re witnessing. Instead of following from one thought to another along that same groove in our minds, we’re saying, “Huh, I’m feeling anxious about that. Interesting.” Breathe in; breathe out.

Through witnessing, we cultivate hesitation, and through hesitation, we stop reacting in the same old way. That is the moment of change. It is in one little moment of hesitation at a time that we release old patterns, and we cultivate better relationships, with ourselves, with others and with our businesses.

I believe that when most people use the word “consciousness” in reference to conducting business, they actually mean awareness: awareness of your own patterns; the ability to witness your ego and distinguish it from your higher Self; and then to act from your Higher Self. From awareness, we can make a conscious choice—at every turn, even in every moment—to act from the Higher Self.