Listen to this articleThe National Women’s Month Celebration every March is part of the worldwide observance of International Women’s Day. In honor of this month, we would like to celebrate the amazing, incredible women everywhere who make the world a better place by meditating.
Many women with incredibly successful (and stressful) careers know that meditation is the perfect way to feel in control of your life and reach even greater heights.
The best part
A new study out of Brown University found that mindfulness meditation may actually have greater benefits for women than men.
As Yogajournal.com reports: “The study looked at 77 undergraduate students taking a 12-week course on mindfulness that featured 30 minutes of meditation three times per week. Compared with men, women showed greater decreases in negative affect (including emotions like guilt or irritability) and greater increases in mindfulness and self-compassion. Moreover, for women, decreases in negative affect were significantly correlated with improvements in mindfulness and self-compassion.”
Of course, this does not mean that men shouldn’t meditate, only that women are lucky enough to benefit even more from the practice.
Strong women take the time to meditate
It seems that many of the world’s famous and powerful women have already discovered this secret. Here are some of their experiences in their own words:
“Meditation makes me feel more rested than a full night’s sleep. I really enjoy powering down for 20 minutes because it’s like shutting off light switches in my brain. I should make more time for it, but meditating even a couple of times a week makes a big difference in my stress and happiness levels.” – Kristen Bell, actress
“One of the things – and this comes from someone who was highly self-critical and a type-A personality – that has changed my life is meditating. The simple act of making my brain shut off for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night may not seem like much, but what ends up happening, besides creating space in your day, is your awake posture begins to replicate your meditative posture.“ – Sheryl Crow, musician
“It isn’t a question of how do I find the time for it. Rather, I look forward to it. (Meditation) is an oasis, a life-preserver. It strengthens you.” – Patricia Harrison, CEO of PBS
“Running a marathon every week, your emotions are up and down. You get so tired—it was exhausting. I really try hard to surround myself with positive people and positive things: flowers, quotes, whatever I can to keep my spirits up. I do Transcendental Meditation twice a day to keep me balanced, and it’s been working very well. I couldn’t let any distractions take me out of where I was headed.” – Julie Weiss, marathon runner
“That way of being ‘still’ with ourselves – coming back to the center – and recognizing that something is more important than you, it’s more important than the work you are doing, brings a kind of energy and an intensity of energy, an intention that we have never had before.” – Oprah Winfrey, talk show host
“The meditation keeps me grounded, learn to be honest with myself, and only do the things which I feel will make me happy. That can come across as conceited but I have reached the stage in life where I feel that if it is not going to make me happy then what is the point…obviously, we all have obligations and things that we have to do (like the washing up!) but I am trying to embrace the fact that being happier is available to us all.” – Lorraine Pascale, author and TV chef
