How to Take Advantage of the Benefits of Meditation | Jack Canfield

If you've been following me for any length of time, you probably know that meditation is one of my favorite success tools. I have meditated daily for many years now and the benefits to my life have been enormous. And yet I still meet a lot of people who are skeptical and don't really believe me when I tell them that meditation is one of the key reasons I've been able to achieve such high levels of success and happiness and fulfillment in my life. So today I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about the benefits of meditation and how this centuries old practice has helped me build a multi million dollar company and create the fulfill purpose driven life that I love. Now. From helping me come up with the title Chicken Soup for the Soul which has become a multi million dollar brand for the international best selling book series, an incredibly successful line of healthy pet foods, a successful publishing company, a television series and television production company, my daily practice of meditation has also helped me stay relaxed, be unafraid and creative during the COVID 19 pandemic and lockdown, feeling and looking younger than my 76 years of age and able to run multiple businesses and manage a myriad of investments all at the same time. It's also led me to create the Transformational Leadership Council, an international association of transformational leaders, trainers, coaches, musicians, authors, actors, movie and television producers and thought leaders. And it's provided me with the breakthrough ideas that have led to developing a whole wide variety of training products, services and have helped hundreds of thousands of people in more than 120 countries around the world live more successful and fulfilling lives. Now that's how powerful meditation has been for me and can be for you. Now. Pretty much every successful person I've ever met has told me that meditation plays an important role in their regular routine. You know, I recently wrote the forewords for two books From Homeless to Billionaire by Andres Pera, who was a homeless teenager sleeping every night on the beach in Phuket, Thailand to because he had no money and at the age of 35 he'd become a multi billionaire. And then the book the Billion Dollar Secret by Rafael Batsiag who interviewed more than 20 billionaires in 17 different countries and 17 different industries. And one of the things that everyone he interviewed did as well as Andres Pira did is that they all meditated every day. Now meditation is one of the secrets of success for so many successful people. Think about it. When Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Jennifer Lopez, Phil Jackson, Russell Simmons and Sheryl crow and Paul McCartney and Clint Eastwood and Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres and Kim Ferris and LeBron James, Hugh Jackman, Angelina Jolie and I could go on and on and on. That's just to name a few people who literally say that meditation is one of their secrets of success. Research has shown that meditation reduces stress levels, reduces anxiety, reduces blood cortisol levels. Cortisol, being the stress hormone, increases your ability to focus, helps make us less reactive emotionally, enhances our creativity, increases our access to our intuition, and can bring about greater levels of inner peace and joy. Now, meditation has also been shown to boost people's immune systems and protects them against illness, something that's really important these days. And a bunch of studies have found that meditation reduces inflammation and, and combats the effects of biological aging in the body. Now, meditation is also a very effective pain management tool. In fact, one study showed that meditation lowered the amount of pain people experience by 40% or more. So if meditation is not something you're doing on a regular basis, I want to strongly encourage you to make the commitment for one month to set aside 10 minutes a day to practice some form of meditation. And I want you to do it for a month and see what happens. Now, if you've never meditated before, you can find all kinds of resources to help you. There are books, live and online courses, CDs and DVDs, downloadable MP3s that will teach you how. And there are also many sources of audio and video guided meditations where you just have to sit, close your eyes and follow the instructions. Now, one of the simplest ways is to just go to YouTube and type in how to meditate. All kinds of resources will come up, but I want to take a few minutes today to teach you one of the simplest, oldest, and yet most powerful forms of meditations that you can begin to do as soon as you stop watching this video. In fact, I'm going to have you practice it with me for a minute as soon as I finish telling you how to do it. Now, a couple of things about preparing for meditation. Number one, make sure you can find a quiet space where you won't be interrupted for five or 10 minutes. Whatever you commit to. And eventually over time, you'll want to work up to 20 minutes. You know, I just recently learned that Arnold Schwarzenegger meditates twice a day for 20 minutes each time. Once in the morning and again at night before he goes to sleep. But when you're first starting, maybe five or ten minutes is enough just to get started. Now, make sure your phone's unplugged or turned off. Although you may want to use the timer on your clock function in your cell phone to set it for the amount of time you want to meditate. And then that little alarm will go off and you'll know you're dumb. Now, second, if possible, wear some loose, comfortable clothing. You know, I meditate in the morning while I still have my pajamas on before I exercise, eat breakfast, and take a shower. And third, sit in a comfortable position. You can sit in the cushion on the floor if you want to, but I do it sitting in a chair. And you want your spine to be as straight as you can get it comfortably. And then have your head on as straight as possible. And then simply close your eyes and breathe through your nose. Now, your point of concentration is going to be on your breath. And then simply focus on the sensation of the air as it comes into your nose as you inhale, and the sensation of the air as it comes out of your nose as you exhale. Don't try to change your breathing. Just notice the sensation of how it feels as it's coming into your nose and it's going out through your nose. Now, you may notice that the air feels cooler coming in and warmer going out. Now, what I found deepens my ability to focus without getting distracted by my thoughts and is to also focus on what happens in the transition from the in breath to the out breath and from the out breath to the in breath. At some point, you'll find that you become distracted by your thoughts. This is going to happen. I don't care who you are, you're going to. Thoughts are going to start becoming more important to you, and you're going to be noticing them. And you might be thinking, what should I have for breakfast today? I should call my sister today and see how my mom's doing. Wonder if I should get gas for the car today. Shouldn't have had that dessert last night. I wonder if Inga fed the cat already. I need to get my hair cut. And thoughts like that, trust me, that always happens. But all you have to do when you notice it is bring your attention back to the sensation of your breath, Focusing on the sensation of breathing in and breathing out and the transition between them. This is how you train your mind to focus. This is what ultimately helps the relaxation response kick in. So let's practice that right now, wherever you are, if it's safe, like you're not driving your car, I want you to sit up straight. Let your body relax in that position while still keeping your spine straight and your head up on top as straight as you can and then go ahead and if it's safe, close your eyes and if possible, close your mouth and start breathing through your nose. And now without trying to alter your breathing in any way, just allowing it to be, focus your attention on the sensation of the air as it comes in through your inhalation. Notice the feeling as it comes in your nostrils and then the transition as it turns from inhaling to exhaling, and then the sensation of the air coming out out through your nose and then again the transition. What happens when you stop exhaling and start inhaling? Now I want you to just keep doing that for the next minute and a half and if you find yourself noticing any thoughts, simply return your attention to the sensation of your breathing. Okay? Then you can go ahead and slowly open your eyes and come back into whatever space you find yourself in and just notice what you what that experience was like. Now, we only did that for about 90 seconds and encourage you to do it for at least five minutes, preferably 10, and then slowly over time, work your way up to 20 minutes. Now my challenge for you is is to spend the next 30 days at least, preferably 10 minutes a day every day, practicing meditation. You now have a simple method to use and I promise you you'll see some positive benefits in 30 days and most likely even sooner. And if you already meditate, go ahead and share your experiences in the comments below. And thanks again for watching. And here's to you experiencing greater peace, greater joy, and greater success. Now, if you found this video helpful, make sure you like it, share with a friend who may need it, and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one. And for additional meditation and guided visualization tools and resources, visit my website@jackcampfield.com and also check out the links below.