I took over leading a meditation group for a couple of years, after our teacher passed away. In his classes and the ones I facilitated using his teachings, we discussed concepts like awareness, mindfulness, and stillness, as communicated through excerpts from teachers like Eckhart Tolle, Osho, Mooji, and others. A foundational point of understanding that just about all people can relate to is how much repetitive thinking we all have, and how much of it contributes very little to making our lives better. It goes without saying that positive thinking is better than negative, but life has its share of problems, and it is very easy for thinking to be directed toward (and obsess) about them. So any adage telling people to think positive isn’t as easy as it sounds, and is not sustainable for many people. We have tens of thousands of thoughts each day. A question that Eckhart Tolle asked was “can you find the off switch?” (for thinking).
I used cannabis for a period of time a decade ago due to depression. One of the things that I enjoyed and that was most noticeable about my experiences with it was that my thoughts would slow down substantially. When compulsive thinking subsides, there is a noticeable sense of peace – in comparison to when the mind is running rampant. Of course cannabis is temporary, but the sense of peace that I experienced and the correlation to the slowing down and reduction in thinking led me to meditation.
Meditation can be any one of many techniques intended to slow down and quiet thinking. The most simple one (and that the Buddha taught) was to sit with your eyes closed, and put all of your attention on your breath. As you breathe in you can say to yourself “breathing in”, and “breathing out” as you breathe out. In that way, those two phrases serve as a mantra. After a point you may not need to repeat those things to yourself, and your attention and focus will remain on the act of breathing itself. When you do this with any regularity, a few minutes a day, with some practice your thoughts will naturally quiet down while doing this. The “place of watching” is an aspect of our consciousness that most people are not aware of, because their attention is accustomed to going to their thoughts and the external world.
Many people say they cannot meditate. I do not believe that to be true at all. Meditation teachers will tell anyone that there is an inner peace within all of us, a place where we can watch our thoughts rather than be run by them. But many people who take a very short try at meditation will conclude that they don’t have this capacity. This is simply not true, and it is not a capacity or skill of the mind, but learning to anchor ones attention in a deeper place of awareness. It is about attention, not mind control. An analogy I love is that of someone being told about the peace and quietness of a still lake. Someone decides to check this out, and races out to the middle of the lake in a motorboat and turns off the engine. Of course the lake appears choppy to them and not peaceful at all, initially. It takes TIME for the waves to subside and become peaceful. When we sit down and try to meditate, the mind is not going to just shut up. It takes time to relax, focus on breathing or a mantra, and start to watch thoughts rather than go with them, in order for the thoughts to start to slow down and diminish. If you meditate for 10 minutes, it may take 8 of those minutes for the mind to become quieter. But even a short break from the compulsive thinking surrounding your problems will create some space around them. If you are charged emotionally about something, the break in thinking may reduce the charge, and you may have a more clear and objective perspective after meditation. On a metaphysical level, with how our mind relates to the world, I have had instances where not only did I gain clarity about a problem after meditating, but the problem itself shifted in some way. That may sound weird and should not create an expectation, but our thinking and outer world are not necessarily completely unrelated.
I would encourage people not to meditate more than twice a day or for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time for quite a while. More is not always better, and like anything else, a gradual approach and moderation often serves them better than anything in excess.
Here is a link to a page listing some potential benefits of meditation for people as they age, that include the immune system, reduced blood pressure, reduced stress, and better stress management. These certainly make sense, as our state of mind certainly affects our body:
https://www.retireguide.com/retirement-life-leisure/healthy-aging/mental-wellness/meditation/
Here is a guided meditation for anybody so inclined. It combines one of my favorite meditation teachers (Mooji) and one of my favorite pieces of music to meditate to:
Asymmetrical Awareness 