We all have expectations placed on us. Some are external, and some are internal. Be the best parent, the best spouse, be skinny, wear the right clothes, have a great job, have work life balance. I feel like I wrote the book on setting high expectations for myself- I went to private school, I went to medical school, I got into my first choice for residency, and then I practiced medicine for 10 years in Chicago.

Burnout brought me to meditation. As a result, I was no longer a slave to my stress, to the events of the world around me, and to my reactivity to those events. I felt empowered. Here’s why:

1. Conscious Health Meditation doesn’t impose any limits or control. We learn to embrace everything as it comes up in meditation, and to let go of forcing a certain experience

2.     Conscious Health Meditation uses the mind’s inherent tendency to wander as part of the technique. It’s a good thing to have thoughts! No more stapling our faces to the wall! We get to be our natural, fabulous selves, without a struggle.

3.     By the end of the 4-part course, Conscious Health Meditation students are self-sufficient. We don’t need apps or guided visualizations. We can take our practices anywhere, and we don’t need a silent padded room with crystals and cushions to do it- I’ve meditated on airplanes, at the hair salon, in my car, at my old office at the hospital, while getting a pedicure (I don’t actually recommend that!), and leaning against a makeshift wall at Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

4.     We get results immediately, by transcending our thoughts and going to a place deep within our minds where our thoughts originate. The source of thoughts. Its already inside us, and its super easy to get to. Like, me the skeptical, atheist, type A, anxious doctor could do it on day 2.

5.     Conscious Health Meditation gives us some control over our response to life-threatening events: the all-too-familiar stress reaction. The stress reaction is the fight or flight response, and it is binary- it’s either on or off. And in today’s world, our bodies respond just the same to our kids not making their beds yet again, or to someone cutting us off in traffic, as they do if we get held up at gun point or attacked by a wild animal. The good news? Every time we mediate, our bodies get 2-5 times more rest than sleep. This deep rest gives us extra energy to adapt to what life throws at us, and it makes us less of a slave to the stress reaction. The result: we become less reactive and more in control, which is a powerful feeling.

Have you tried meditation before? Have you felt, as one of my students said, that meditation felt like she was trying to staple her face to the wall? The last thing we need is for a wellness practice to feel limiting and intimidating. Meditation should be, and IS, empowering. Let’s rise up and claim it.

Re-claiming control of your life begins with one phone call. Schedule your private meditation consultation today!