I meditate regularly and it has been life changing for me. While meditation is used as part of a religious practice, it is not religious of itself, there are all different ways to meditate. Meditation is about controlling your breathing to induce a relaxed state in the mind. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve mood. It's free, not difficult and has no negative effects, so there really is no downside. I believe meditation should be taught in school, we would have a lot less stress, depression and conflict if every person meditated.
I have ADHD, which I only discovered a few years ago. I now know it's why I struggled in school despite an above average IQ, why I had trouble paying attention at meetings, why I was disorganised. Meditation has helped me a great deal to slow down my busy brain, improve my focus and be more organized. I also reduced my blood pressure from a borderline high 140 to a healthy 118, with no medication. After several years of dabbling with it off and on, I finally got serious recently and I am seeing a huge payoff in increased memory, focus and productivity.
It's certainly worth giving it a try. It does take practice to become good at it, but it is not difficult. There are a lot of ways to meditate, so if one doesn't work, try another one that works for you. I find it helps to have music, but it has to be the right kind. I have Pandora, so I created a station called "Meditation by the sea" that has very calming music with added nature sounds (as an added plus the cat loves it and it seems to calm her down too). It also functions as a timer by using the the sleep timer function under settings. If you don't use Pandora, use a regular timer, five or ten minutes is good to start out with. You need to find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Find a comfortable position, close your eyes and think about your body, make sure you are not tensing your muscles. Think about each part of your body and notice if the muscles are relaxed or not. You can tense them, then release the tension to be sure.
Then slowly breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. As you breath, think about your breath, the noise the air makes as you breathe in and out, how the air feels in your lungs, the pressure change as you exhale, the sound it makes. Try to focus only on that. Other thoughts will intrude, but just dismiss them and go back to focusing only on your breath. The first five minutes will seem like thirty, that is normal. Keep bringing your attention back to your breath. In our hurry up culture our brains are used to constant stimulation so your brain will rebel at being forced to stop the constant stream of conscious thought. This is normal, keep at it and keep bringing your mind back to your breath. Every day add a few minutes. You will find that it gets easier with time, and you will then start seeing the benefit.
You can also try a guided meditation, you can easily find them on line. You just listen as someone talks you through a meditation.
I also like a meditation where instead of focusing on the breath you focus on a pleasant scene that is relaxing to you. I like to visualize being at the beach. You simply visualize the sights, sounds and smells of being at the beach. Think about how the sand feels between your toes, how the air smells, the crash of the waves,etc.
That's it, easy peazy.
