The Benefits of Meditation for Individuals with ADHD: Mastering Mindfulness of Breath

Meditation is one of the most impactful habits you can develop in your life. It serves as a powerful tool for addressing the root cause of many life's problems: stress. Meditation not only alleviates stress but also enhances your awareness and brings you closer to your True Self—a state of pure consciousness, bliss, and peace. Once this state of pure consciousness (PC) becomes a 24/7 reality, you reach a state known as enlightenment, where suffering has ended and the ultimate goal of life has been achieved.

The Steps to Meditation

Would you like to learn how to meditate? Here are the simple steps to get started:

Find a quiet place. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Think the mantra “OM”. Allow thoughts and feelings to come naturally as they will. When you realize you have wandered from the mantra, bring your focus back to it. The mantra can be vague or soft, and that is perfectly fine. Practice this for 20 minutes, both in the morning and evening.

Meditation and the Roving Mind

Every brain is designed to continuously intake information, process it, and make sense of it. This includes information from the outside world as well as the inside. While a silent brain might seem to some as a sign of potential stagnation, it is, in fact, a sign of life and activity. The goal of meditation is not to silence the mind but to increase your awareness or mindfulness. The more we try to silence our minds, the more frustrating meditation can become, and the more likely we are to give up.

Bhante Sathi, a respected teacher, emphasizes, 'The goal of meditation is not to sit down and instantly achieve mental focus; it is to cultivate a habit of returning your focus whenever it wanders. Embrace the fact that thoughts will inevitably wander most of the time, and take pleasure in the fact that you have noticed and brought them back, even if only temporarily.'

Vipassana Meditation: A New Perception of Reality

For those with ADHD, meditation can be particularly useful. It's a deep form of practice known as Vipassana meditation, which allows us to scrutinize our own perceptual processes with precision. As we delve into Vipassana, we learn to observe the birth of thoughts and perceptions with a sense of calm and detachment. We also learn to calmly view our own reactions to external and internal stimuli.

This practice helps us realize that we often react to situations without fully engaging in them, and eventually, the obsessive nature of our thoughts diminishes. We can still function in our daily lives, such as getting married or avoiding danger, but we no longer suffer over these events as intensely. This new perspective on reality brings peace, a zest for life, and a sense of completeness to every activity.

Meditation, particularly Vipassana, is seen as a correct view of life by Buddhism. The Buddhist texts refer to this as seeing things as they truly are. This profound change in perception comes through a series of training procedures that gradually open us to this new understanding of reality.

Central to this new reality is the concept of 'me.' Through meditation, you begin to see 'me' as a process of constant change rather than a static entity. The false sense of 'me' as something separate from the universe and all other beings is dissolved, leading to a profound shift in your perception of yourself and the world.

Embracing the Process

Realizing the illusion of 'me' is not an overnight transformation. It's a process that has been reinforced over a lifetime. However, with consistent practice and attention, this illusion can be dissolved. Vipassana meditation is the process by which this transformation occurs. It involves a gradual and persistent observation of your own thoughts and perceptions, chipping away at the false sense of 'me' bit by bit.

Conclusion

Meditation is a powerful tool for individuals with ADHD. By mastering the practice of mindfulness, particularly during the meditation of the breath, you can bring about a profound change in your perception of reality and yourself. While it might be a lengthy process, the rewards are immense, leading to a more peaceful and fulfilling life.