The best $750 I ever spent

‘$750, that’s crazy!’ I thought to myself. It was a couple of months before I was to be starting university and I’d decided that I should learn how to meditate; I was worried that I might become overly tired due to the amount of exercise I do and the increased workload I would be facing at uni. I had seen an ad in the paper for a meditation course but once I had rung to enquire and found out the cost, I wasn’t in my happy place.

I was pretty concerned about my energy levels so I committed to doing the three-hour course which was spread out over two weeks. After buying an apple and orange (the gods needed them as a part of my learning, apparently), I headed to my first class on meditation. The guy giving the course took me into a room, accepted my gift of fruit and said something that sounded like a prayer. Then he told me my very own individual mantra. He instructed me to repeat it over and over again quietly in my head for the next twenty minutes. I remember struggling to remain focused on the mantra as I was thinking to myself ‘I paid $750 for this!’ After the twenty minutes were up I was taken through the philosophy behind this form of meditation. Some of it was a bit too ‘out there’ for me but there were some things that I could understand and relate to.

Because I had spent what was a huge amount of money to me at that time, I nevertheless decided to stick at it for a couple weeks to see what would happen. Every morning and every afternoon I would sit down and practise the process that I had learned. While at first I had to make a conscious effort, after a couple weeks I was finding my feet and understanding the benefit of meditation. Eleven years later I am still mediating every day, as I’ve found that it provides so much benefit to me. 

Meditation is a process that helps me to relax, but one of the greatest advantages I’ve found is that it forces me to stop for twenty minutes every afternoon and take time out for myself. We live in a time when we have so many demands on us which can create stress and make us lose focus.

If you can commit to putting aside twenty minutes every day to powernap, meditate or just sit out in the fresh air and be free to think, you will likely find that you feel less stressed, are better at problem-solving, that you’re more productive and have improved mood.

Give it a try! Book some time out in your afternoon, find a quiet space away from distractions, get comfortable and relax. You’ll probably find you have a newfound energy for the rest of the day. I know that the $750 was some of the best money I ever spent.