I am almost 40 now and I do see it seems to be diminishing in terms of effectiveness. I've tried to vary the amount and intensity but that has had limited impact.
I find now I need to manage other factors: alcohol intake, my diet, socialization, sleep, news consumption are all big ones for me.
I think there is a reason people do simplify many aspects of their lives as they get older. The sharp tools of youth aren't quite the magic they used to be.
Apps like Headspace, or just meditation generally, is something I have tried and I can see the benefit. I try to "clear my head" twice a day. Usually that's a 20 minute nap, and I've been trying to find another option and meditation seems like a good one.
sleep right > eat right > exercise right
If you do not have the sleep and eat part down (including alcohol), then proceeding to exercise will not have all the desired effects. Not to say that meditation does not help, if it works for people then it works for people.
Where I would get same benefits from 45-60 min cardio where I focus on the training and rhythm of music.
I definitely also felt "meditation" effects from reading books - but of course with intense focus on the book not thinking about anything else and not having tv running in background and people trying to talk to me.
In the end I do believe I get the same benefits when I focus on something intensely so basically any hobby.
Watching series on streaming services is for me not that immersive and too much stimuli so it does not work that.
“Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.”
It explicitly does not say that.
Reread your quote, slowly.
> such as mindfulness, *or* focusing the mind on a particular object,
and
> to train *attention and awareness*, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.”
You will note the intro distinctly does not say this applies to all meditation, and that awareness is one of 7 different goals mentioned.
It's a shame you didn't continue to read, particularly the section on definition:
> Meditation has proven difficult to define as it covers a wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions. In popular usage, the word "meditation" and the phrase "meditative practice" are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures.[19][20] These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention of mind or to teach calm or compassion.[21] There remains no definition of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation that has achieved universal or widespread acceptance within the modern scientific community.
Even the word "meditation" comes from a phrase that can mean either quiet reflection on a topic, such as reading, or a deep intense self focus (how we tend to use it).
Exercise absolutely can be a form of meditative practice and there are still monks who do this practice today!
Reading a text and meditating on it, especially in a religious context, is thousands of years old and goes back to the earliest books and book like things we have (eg clay tablets).
This idea that meditation is where you sit and listen to an app and have self awareness is a very modern interpretation. It's not wrong - if that is useful for you, then do it - but to pretend anything that isn't vibing in a darkened room isn't meditation is plain wrong.
> GP is just saying that cardio and reading is not really equivalent to mediation
Both you and GP are incorrect on the most basic of levels. If you insist on correcting others at the very least read the rather good wikipedia page on the topic.
The idea that being a practicioner of meditation somehow brings you to be a spaced out peace loving beatnik is a fiction created by Hollywood.
> If they are wrong, teach them — but not in that tone.
You can not add to a full glass.