Meditation | Julian Varah-Sikes | TEDxYouth@Conejo

I'm Julian Varah-Sikes, and I'm a meditator. I am also president of the Agoura High School Mindfulness Meditation Society. I haven't been meditating for long, but I went to a mindfulness retreat over the summer for five days, meditating 6 hours a day, and I have been continuing my practice ever since. In my somewhat brief experience, I've found that meditation can help in just about every aspect of life, from going to sleep to enjoying your food more. At any rate, meditation has certainly improved my quality of life, and I encourage everyone to try it with an open mind.

TEDxYouth@Conejo is organized by students for students. Thinkers and innovators, both young in age and in spirit are invited to share their experiences, exchange ideas and inspire the next generation of student leaders. The theme of TEDxYouth@Conejo 2011 was "We Have a Voice."

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

All right, so I figure probably
the best place to start is the beginning.

So I've been raised with kind of
a spiritual background my whole life.

My mom has always been
into yoga and meditation.

She actually was trying to get me into it
for most of my young life.

I tried it a few times,
went to a couple of classes

and it never really clicked.

It wasn't something that I liked
or so I thought.

And then over the summer,

my mom decided it would be a good idea
to sign me up for a mindfulness retreat

at the Ojai Foundation.

What I didn't know
is that mindfulness retreats

tend to involve a lot of meditation -

in this case like six hours a day.

So I kind of had to learn to live with it,
and then I learned to love it.

So before I go on,
I want to define "mindfulness."

Mindfulness is the practice
of being present and aware

and showing up for your everyday
experience in the present moment,

if that makes sense.

So basically what you do

is you just pay attention
to what's going on right here, right now,

and enjoy it like you should.

And a mindfulness meditation is done

by finding an anchor
in the present moment,

which can be anything
that you're experiencing right now.

So it can be your breath, your heartbeat,

a sound that you're hearing,

the heat in a room, really anything.

You focus on that and let yourself
not think about anything else,

and it's really just that simple.

The reason I meditate
is because in modern society,

with the internet and all that,

we're all occupied with rushing
from one thing to the next

and not stopping to smell the roses,

figuratively.

What I like about meditation
is that it lets us stop and slow down

and just pay attention
to whatever's going on right now.

So what I'm going to do here
is I'm going to lead you guys

in a meditation session.

It's only going to be a couple minutes.

It's going to be easy.

So what you do is find an anchor.

I want you to find an anchor right now,
something that you're experiencing.

So it can be the sensation
of the seat against your back.

It can be that noise of the fan,
heartbeat, breath, anything.

So focus on that and close your eyes

and let yourself experience
the present moment.

So I'll join you.

Remember, if you find your mind wandering
from whatever you're focusing on,

that's normal.

Just acknowledge that

and gently guide your attention
back to your anchor.

If you find there's a thought
that you keep returning to,

I use a visualization exercise:

inhale through your nose

and imagine that you're inhaling
pure white light.

Exhale through your mouth

and with the exhale carry the bad thought
that you want to stop thinking about

and exhale it as a cloud
of thick black smoke.

All right.

That's just a sample,
and for some of you I'm sure it was hard,

or at least difficult, and that's normal.

It was hard for me too.

It can be hot, exhausting,
but as long as you stick with it,

it's really rewarding.

And before I leave,

I just want to leave you with one thing:

remember the past, plan for the future,

but always remember
to live in the present.

Thank you.

(Applause)