The idea that meditation is the domain of monks and spiritual gurus is outdated thinking. In reality, meditation or internal training is the only way to develop increased capacity over our emotions and how we feel. Meditation or internal training equips us to focus the mind, relax the nervous system, and enhance our quality of life.
It’s like the gym; if you have a consistent fitness and nutrition routine, you will see benefits over time. The same holds true for internal training. Many of us engage in what we consider bad habits that perpetuate anger, sadness, fear without even realizing we are perpetuating it. Meditation is the only way we can see this for ourselves and shift it if we choose to.
Inner Matrix Systems explains how meditation can help everyone achieve their goals and looks at three distinctly different groups of people.
Business leaders
The use of mindfulness meditation in executive coaching is becoming more and more popular. High-performance professionals are finding that meditation can help them achieve elevated levels of success by improving their ability to manage stress and stay focused.
The intense pressures of the corporate boardroom cause some executives to act on emotions when feeling stressed. Mindfulness teaches leaders how to exercise patience, focus on the task at hand, and avoid reacting in ways that undermine their long-term best interests.
The emotional intelligence that is developed using mindfulness meditation facilitates more meaningful personal relationships. These deeper relationships promote better teamwork and healthier home life.
Athletes
To be successful, athletes need to stay focused, endure pain, and stay healthy. Meditation can help with these areas and more. Athletes face distractions from all sides. Crowds, competitors, and even fear and doubt can prevent them from performing at their best. Often what separates winners and everyone else is their ability to block out distractions and focus on the task at hand. Mindfulness meditation is the perfect exercise to develop the ability to stay focused and block out pain.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) cites a Wake Forest School of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study that indicates that mindfulness meditation relieves pain and provides an alternative to opioid use, an important consideration for athletes. One study showed that participants, on average, rated pain 57% less unpleasant and 40% less intense after they went through meditation training.
Everyday people
In addition to all the benefits that mindfulness provides for business executives and athletes, every person can increase their quality of life by using meditation to promote creativity, increase self-awareness, and improve sleep quality.
In a study entitled ‘Mind the trap’: Mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity, researchers show that mindfulness meditation reduces cognitive rigidity via the tendency to be “blinded” by experience. In other words, mindfulness meditation promotes creative thinking. Thinking creatively, or outside the box, makes life more exciting and enjoyable. The researchers note that the benefits of meditation were found with as little as six weeks, and they were not limited to individuals who were experienced meditators.
The ability to be self-aware is vital to control emotions and live a satisfying life. An inability to see oneself objectively leads to frustrations and misunderstandings in personal relationships. Meditation allows you to be more objective about your strengths and weaknesses. It provides a stabilizing influence, so you are less affected by life’s highs and lows.
From the executive coach to the athlete on the field to the soccer mom, people from all walks of life have learned the benefits of living in the present moment achieved by mindfulness meditation.
About Inner Matrix Systems
Inner Matrix Systems, based in Denver, is a personal mastery training system for high achievers. For more than twenty years, IMS has delivered a proprietary methodology that rewires, trains, and aligns the nervous system, emotions, and thought strategies to create real-life results. CEO, Joey Klein, and IMS have worked with more than 80,000 individuals from around the world through both live and online training programs, as well as one-on-one coaching. Clients have included: Boeing, IBM, Dell, Google, Panda Express, Coca Cola and The World Health Organization. Joey is the author of The Inner Matrix: Leveraging the Art & Science of Personal Mastery to Create Real Life Results (June 2021).
Elena Deeley did her degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She has an ongoing interest in mental health and well-being.
