You'd have to be living under a rock not to have been recommended mindfulness meditation by someone in the last few years. Big name entrepreneurs swear by it, whole conferences are dedicated to it, and prominent dissenters have even pushed back against the mindfulness craze (so you know it's really reached peak buzz).
But just because you've heard about mindfulness meditation, doesn't mean you don't still have questions.
Is it just the latest wellness fad or are there real benefits? Do I need to have a particular (probably wacky) set of spiritual beliefs? And probably most prominent in the minds of busy entrepreneurs -- do I even have time to meditate? (Spoiler alert: you almost certainly do.) Here are the answers in brief, with links for…show more content… No wonder so many prominent people, from Richard Branson and Marc Benioff to Oprah Winfrey and Arianna Huffington, swear by mindfulness meditation.
HOW LONG DO I NEED TO MEDITATE FOR EACH DAY?
How long do you have? Scientific studies have shown measurable brain changes with a commitment of around 20 minutes a day. But as meditation training site Wildmind points out "any amount of meditation is better than none."
"Just do it," Wildmind advises. "If you can only manage 20 minutes a day, do 20 minutes. If you can only manage ten, do that. If three minutes is all you have, then spending three minutes is much, much better than not doing so." And you don't have to sit cross legged on a pillow in a silent room either. Meditation can be slipped seamlessly into even the busiest of days, meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg insists.
"You don't have to leave the world behind, you don't have to do endless retreats, and you don't have to sit six hours a day," she told Inc.com. "It's so accessible." In fact, you can sneak in a stealthy moment of mindfulness by simply giving yourself a few seconds to consciously breathe before picking up the phone or by pausing to fully focus on that steaming cup of tea you're
