{"id":533,"date":"2023-11-19T21:03:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T05:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/?p=533"},"modified":"2023-12-01T09:44:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T17:44:28","slug":"does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Have you ever wondered if starting a meditation practice is worth the effort?<\/h2>\n Here is the answer:<\/p>\n

A gigantic trumpeting YES.<\/em><\/h3>\n Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A meditation practice profoundly impacts daily life in numerous ways.<\/p>\n The benefits span a spectrum for me- from overcoming stage fright to making clearer decisions, finding inner peace<\/strong><\/em>, enhancing musical skills, becoming a better listener, seeing beauty in everyday sights, and detaching from results. It\u2019s not an exaggeration\u2014the list is genuinely endless.<\/p>\n Meditation helps you see Beauty<\/em><\/h3>\n Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n This is one of my favourite results. A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.\u00a0This is wonderful, but the deepest benefit is how you feel, in a general way, each and every day. At a certain point, your baseline is a calm trickle of joy that simply runs all day and night.<\/p>\n Here is a link to a short dedication meditation<\/a> from my Chitta Chat podcast<\/p>\n A real-life example of how a still mind instills joy into daily life<\/em><\/h3>\n******* ** *******Recently, I had a professional photo shoot, an event that would have previously triggered a storm of self-doubt, nervousness, and control issues. Posing for pictures always made me uneasy, and I feared my anxiety would reflect in the photos. However, with a cultivated meditation practice behind me this time, I could have a different kind of day.<\/p>\n Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n I was fortunate to work with talented photographer Andrea Latella-DuBoyce.<\/a> (All photos in this post were taken by her)<\/em>Before meditation, meeting a stranger and exposing myself to vulnerability in a photo shoot would have been daunting. But I instantly connected with Andrea.<\/p>\n I felt her genuine smile and relaxed demeanour and appreciated her enthusiasm, unclouded by \u201cHow does this new person see me.\u201d It was amazing! Our session was filled with laughter and just the right amount of seriousness to get the job done.<\/p>\n Andrea\u2019s chosen location, Spirit Park, was perfect\u2014It hugs an outer corner of the city, and the park is a paradise of old-growth trees, well-trampled curving and rolling pathways, wooden benches, inviting open areas with green moss under canopies of skylight and evergreen.<\/p>\n Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n******* ** The constant flow of people on the trail added to the experience: solitary joggers, chatty groups of walkers, and even someone walking a cat.<\/p>\n ** Previously, I may have sought seclusion, but not this time. I welcomed every passerby, feeling a connection with each bright face that ignited my own cheerfulness.<\/p>\n ** And dogs! Ah, such beautiful chaos. There were poodles leaping on logs, talkative huskies, regal labradors, and swift terriers, among others. Their joyful antics brought a sparkle to my eyes. Some of them approached us, attempting to get into Andrea\u2019s backpack or my bag. Most just gave us a curious look or a quick sniff before continuing down the trail.<\/p>\n ** *******\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Kindness of a Stranger Leaves an Indelible Mark<\/em><\/h2>\n********* ** There was one fellow in particular who did something I will never forget.<\/p>\n ** I was seated on a wooden bench in a small clearing off to the side of the forest paths, following Andrea\u2019s prompts for various poses while she held her pro photographer\u2019s power stance. Seriously, she is a human tripod.<\/p>\n ** *********A young man in a baseball hat briskly walked the path behind Andrea. He caught my eye and flashed me a quick and purposeful thumbs-up. His smile, eyes, and thumb were all perfectly synchronized. It felt like a lightning bolt of encouragement, resonating deeply within me.<\/p>\n photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n********* ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Before meditation, I might have missed this gesture, too wrapped up in self-concern. What a waste of a beautiful moment that would have been. But his simple act felt like a divine affirmation\u2014a resounding \u2018YES!\u2019 to what I was doing at that moment.<\/p>\n ** *********His gesture returned to me many times afterward, and I pondered the power of small gestures of support to uplift someone- especially one from a stranger.<\/p>\n Why wait a moment longer? Start now!<\/h3>\n*********** ** If you\u2019ve experienced something similar, isn\u2019t it surprising and wonderful?<\/p>\n ** And if you have uplifted a stranger, know that your kindness was received and cherished! You may have changed someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n ** ***********And if you don\u2019t want to miss these small, great moments that could happen at any moment, start meditating!<\/p>\n Here is a link to my previous post on who can benefit from meditating<\/a><\/p>\n *********** ** Photo by Andrea Latella-DuBoyce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** ***********This post gives examples of how a meditation practice can improve anyone’s life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4753,"featured_media":563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,83],"tags":[7,86,57,36,27],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buddhism","category-meditation","tag-buddhism","tag-daily","tag-joy","tag-meditation","tag-mindfullness"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Buddhist in the City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T05:03:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-01T17:44:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1552\/2023\/11\/IMG_1665.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"812\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Buchanan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/\",\"name\":\"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-20T05:03:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-01T17:44:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/b9cded6551a463506b4dbde0a23af563\"},\"description\":\"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/\",\"name\":\"Buddhist in the City\",\"description\":\"Practical points of view and practicing in a Buddhist way in daily life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/b9cded6551a463506b4dbde0a23af563\",\"name\":\"John Buchanan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/183b1caf2e2a86265f6769e5cc9aa276?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/183b1caf2e2a86265f6769e5cc9aa276?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Buchanan\"},\"description\":\"John is strongly dedicated to spiritual growth and exploration, which he has pursued through meditation, yoga, and Buddhist philosophy. His journey started in 1993 with subtle body meditations focused on chakras and the inner body energy systems. He continued developing his skills during a transformative 14-month retreat across North America, where he spent several hours daily meditating while immersed in nature. After his return, John decided to expand his practice by completing a 200-hour yoga teacher training at Open Door Yoga in Vancouver. This experience ignited his interest in Buddhism, eventually becoming his mainstay practice. Through Buddhism, he learned to integrate both physical and mental aspects of yoga with Buddhist teachings, allowing him to seamlessly fuse spiritual practice into his daily life. His extensive studies included courses in the Asian Classics Institute curriculum, esoteric Buddhist teachings, and in-depth explorations of texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Yoga Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. Furthering his education, he took and eventually taught courses offered by the Yoga Studies Institute, delving into various yogic traditions encompassing devotion, the subtle body, emptiness, pranayama, and more. John has done numerous solo and group retreats, fostering his understanding and dedication to these practices. Now, he shares his knowledge and in-depth experience by teaching yoga, meditation, and Buddhist philosophy in person and online. His passion is guiding individuals towards spiritual awakening amidst the complexities of everyday life, emphasizing that with determination, an awakening path is attainable for all.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/author\/jbuchanan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?","description":"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?","og_description":"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/","og_site_name":"Buddhist in the City","article_published_time":"2023-11-20T05:03:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-01T17:44:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":812,"height":531,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1552\/2023\/11\/IMG_1665.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Buchanan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/","name":"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-20T05:03:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-01T17:44:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/b9cded6551a463506b4dbde0a23af563"},"description":"A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/2023\/11\/does-meditation-help-you-have-a-better-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Does Meditation Help You Have a Better Life?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/","name":"Buddhist in the City","description":"Practical points of view and practicing in a Buddhist way in daily life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/b9cded6551a463506b4dbde0a23af563","name":"John Buchanan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/183b1caf2e2a86265f6769e5cc9aa276?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/183b1caf2e2a86265f6769e5cc9aa276?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Buchanan"},"description":"John is strongly dedicated to spiritual growth and exploration, which he has pursued through meditation, yoga, and Buddhist philosophy. His journey started in 1993 with subtle body meditations focused on chakras and the inner body energy systems. He continued developing his skills during a transformative 14-month retreat across North America, where he spent several hours daily meditating while immersed in nature. After his return, John decided to expand his practice by completing a 200-hour yoga teacher training at Open Door Yoga in Vancouver. This experience ignited his interest in Buddhism, eventually becoming his mainstay practice. Through Buddhism, he learned to integrate both physical and mental aspects of yoga with Buddhist teachings, allowing him to seamlessly fuse spiritual practice into his daily life. His extensive studies included courses in the Asian Classics Institute curriculum, esoteric Buddhist teachings, and in-depth explorations of texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Yoga Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. Furthering his education, he took and eventually taught courses offered by the Yoga Studies Institute, delving into various yogic traditions encompassing devotion, the subtle body, emptiness, pranayama, and more. John has done numerous solo and group retreats, fostering his understanding and dedication to these practices. Now, he shares his knowledge and in-depth experience by teaching yoga, meditation, and Buddhist philosophy in person and online. His passion is guiding individuals towards spiritual awakening amidst the complexities of everyday life, emphasizing that with determination, an awakening path is attainable for all.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/author\/jbuchanan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buddhistinthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}