Meditation (What It Is & How to Do It)

Meditation is an experience in focusing. It is NOT letting your brain “free float.” In fact, it is just the opposite: meditation is an attempt to stay hyper focused on something very specific for a few minutes. Each time you sustain focus on something specific, it’s like doing a bench press for your brain. This exercise of your prefrontal cortex (the thinking part of your brain, just inside your forehead), conveys 2 specific benefits: (1) your pre-frontal cortex becomes a stronger, and (2) it also becomes more focused. However, similar to exercising your muscles, growth is gradual, incremental, and almost imperceptible. In other words, you will not look like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) or Arnold Swartzeneger after ONE day in the gym. For best results, you will want to meditate for a few minutes, preferably every day.

Although there are a myriad of different meditations, let’s experience three types. The first is BREATH meditation, the second is PASSAGE meditation, and the third will be GUIDED meditation.

Breath Meditation

Close your eyes and pucker up your lips, as if you are sucking in on a 2-inch straw. Notice that the temperature of the air coming IN over your tongue is cool. As you breathe OUT, the temperature is warmer. Try to stay focused on the temperature in and the temperature out. If you have any runaway thoughts like, “I hope nobody walks into the room and sees me doing this“ or “this is really boring,” raise your hand for a moment, so that I can see you’ve recognized a runaway thought. Let’s practice breath meditation for the next 40 seconds. Close eyes and stay focused on temperature in and temperature out. Ready, start.

Ok, stop. What you just did is a “bench press for your brain.” Tomorrow, the prefrontal part of your brain is going to be a little more focused and a little stronger than it was today. As your pre-frontal cortex gains MORE strength, you will begin to notice your emotions have LESS strength. In other words, you will begin to better manage emotions, rather than being a slave to them.

The word “breath” starts with the letter “B,” and so does the word “boring.” In my opinion, breath meditation is probably the most boring type of meditation. But the cool thing is you can do it almost anywhere. Additionally, you can use it with other types of meditation to break up the monotony of doing the same type of meditation over and over and over again.

Passage Meditation

In passage meditation you recite a memorized passage, very slowly in your brain (not out loud). You could use memorized lines from a favorite scripture, a play, a movie, patriarchal blessing, or favorite Conference Talk quotation. If you run out of passage before the time’s up, just start reciting it again. Again, if you have any runaway thoughts, raise your hand so I can see you’ve captured a runaway thought and are bringing it back to focusing on the passage you have memorized. Think of something you have memorized. Recite it in your brain quietly and slowly. Ready? Close your eyes and start.

Okay, stop. Again, you just did another a bench press for your brain. Tomorrow, your prefrontal cortex is will be a little more focused and a little stronger than it was today. The word “passage” starts with a “P” and so do the words “productive” and “powerful.” In my opinion, passage meditation is the most productive and powerful, because you are not only strengthening your prefrontal focus, but you are also programming your brain that this is who you are, this is what you value, and this is what matters most to me. Passage meditation promotes two powerful processes simultaneously.

Guided Meditation

The last type of meditation we’ll explain is called guided meditation. This involves listening to and focusing on the voice of someone talking to you on an app. So your focus is on the words the person is using. Here’s an example. There’s an app called “Mindfulness Coach.” All missionaries can download this App on their phones. This particular App has a timer you can set. I would recommend when you first start meditating, go with 1-2 minutes in the beginning or whatever is comfortable. Initially don’t overwork your brain. We do not want to tear any mental muscles! But, after meditating consistently for a while, you will be able to do four or five minutes. A good place to start is probably 1-2 minutes. I will start the App on my phone and this is what you will hear: “Please take a comfortable seat with your eyes closed or gently cast your eyes downward and focus softly on a point a few feet in front of you.”

In my opinion, Guided Meditation is the easiest. Breath Meditation is the most boring. Passage Meditation is probably the most productive. I recommend you rotate through a different meditation each day during the first few months, so you have an experience with each one. James Clear, who wrote the book “Atomic Habits,” said the best way to start a NEW HABIT like meditation, is to TIE IT TO a habit you already have WELL ESTABLISHED. For example, I will not brush my teeth, get dressed, comb my hair, put my glasses on, or charge my phone each night UNTIL AFTER I MEDITATE. My question is, what habit do you already have, that you could tie meditation to?

Baseball Metaphor

Here is a metaphor that might help you understand WHY meditation is so important. If you cut a baseball in half, you will notice a rubber ball in the middle. Compare the rubber ball to the CONTAINMENT TECHNIQUE. Around the rubber ball is tightly wrapped string. Let’s compare this string to the SEQUENCE. If we hit that rubber ball and string with a baseball bat, it will quickly fall apart. However, let’s put a leather cover and stitch it tightly around the rubber ball and string. That tightly stitched leather cover is MEDITATION. Adding MEDITATION (a leather cover) to our baseball creates a lot of durability. So when the “baseball bat of life” hits you in the head, you hit a home run rather than falling apart. That’s what meditation will do for you. Meditation provides more stability, more resiliance, and minimizes the number of times we emotionally fall apart.

QUIZ: Use the handout “The Benefits of Mediation (while using CT and SEQUENCE).”

Meditation pairs naturally with the Containment Technique and the 2-Minute Surf Sequence: CT handles the small, annoying thoughts and feelings, the Surf Sequence manages the full compulsive surge, and meditation makes the whole system durable. If you’d like help putting these skills into practice, our clinicians offer sexual compulsion recovery treatment in person at our Pleasant Grove, Utah clinic and by telehealth across Utah, Arizona, and Idaho.

Meditation: What It Is & How to Do It

Meditation (What It Is & How to Do It)

Breath Meditation

Passage Meditation

Guided Meditation

Baseball Metaphor

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