Hi there, my first post! I am a dev who has a passion for the, often underrated, topic of taking care of both your body and mind. Especially if you are a developer, whether an aspiring one or an experienced one, you need to take care of your mind.
After all, what is all your education and knowledge worth if you can't think clearly and precisely enough to apply it in practice? Exactly, nothing.
And that's my topic for today: Taking care of the mind. Meditation may still sound like something esoteric or religious to some, and it can be that, certainly. But mindfulness meditation focused on the breath, which is the meditation I've been practicing for 6 years now, is not inherently religious. It came from Buddhism into the west, but there is nothing inherently Buddhist about it.
Mindfulness meditation simply means to practice focusing your mind on a single point of focus. In my practice, the breath. You sit comfortably, in a relaxed, upright posture. Then you close your eyes, focus on the in and out of the breath, wherever in your body you feel it most clearly. When you get lost in thought, as soon as you notice that you are lost in thought you go back to focusing on the breath. There's a little more to it than that, but that's basically it.
Nowadays the science about mindfulness meditation is pretty clear: Regular meditation, as little as 10 minutes per day, measurably changes your brain activity after a while. Anxiety can decrease. Your subjective experience of pain can decrease. Focus increases. And there are other benefits as well.
Why does that matter for devs? Well, who works with the mind more than we do? Our entire job is almost exclusively mental. There really is no physical stress other than sitting a lot on us. What you do, you do with your mind.
I would hesitate to answer the question in the title of this post with a definite "yes", because "should" is very prescriptive. Certainly, you can be a great dev without meditating. But if you feel like you could use a little more stability in your focus, a little more calm, a little more of a relaxed but alert feeling instead of being stressed out all the time - then meditation is something I would encourage you to look into.
How to start? There are many ways nowadays. I started with the app Headspace and found it to be very motivating and accessible. There are other apps, like for example Calm. You probably really can't go wrong if you choose one of the more well-known ones. Books are also a great resource, but one advice on books: Don't start with one about Vipassana. Vipassana is Buddhist insight meditation, and books about it tend to come with a lot of Buddhist philosophy/religion baggage. If you just want something about meditation itself I would recommend books like "The headspace guide to mindfulness and meditation". That book helps a lot to get rid of some of the common misconceptions about meditation, and while the author trained as a Buddhist monk he has a gift for demystifying meditation (which is probably why he was capable of creating Headspace content in the first place). If you want YouTube videos, I can also recommend any interview with Andy Puddicombe, the headspace co-founder.
And before you ask, I'm not affiliated with Headspace in any way. It's just that Andy Puddicombe truly has a magnificent gift to explain meditation concepts in a way that is easily accessible and doesn't come with spiritual/religious baggage.
Courses can also be a great place to start, but I would encourage people to try out meditation with short (10 minutes or under) sessions at home before booking a retreat. In a retreat you sit for hours, and if you've never done meditation you'll probably find 10 minutes quite challenging. I think a retreat as your entry to meditation is a bit too much.
If you have any further questions about mindfulness meditation, let me know below this post. Thanks for reading, and may your mind be happy and peaceful today!
EDIT: If you have a medical condition, especially a psychological one, then please consult with your doctor if meditation is suitable for you. It can be unsuitable for some people depending on the condition.
Top comments (2)
What’s your approach to that? Some kind of regular practice or on-demand sessions to get rid of anxiety, or gain more focus, or whatnot?
Regular practice is key. Meditation is a skill, and you learn it by doing it. Nowadays I don't do much structured sessions anymore, I just regularly close my eyes and meditate for a few minutes, but you have to keep in mind I've been doing this for at least 10 minutes every day for six years now. But meditation, especially in the beginning, is about regular practice. And don't think too much about whether it will be good or bad, or if it will work or not. Just sit down and do it. Over time you'll probably see benefits, but we're talking weeks and months before the first effects become noticeable (for some people anyway. some people like it already after the first session). You have to have patience and stick with it in the beginning, but the rewards in my experience (and according to what most science says) are more than worth it. And even if they aren't: It's just 5 or ten minutes every day. Even if it doesn't work for you, that's not much harm done. But please be careful if you have a medical condition and consult with a doctor before. Meditation can be unsuitable in some medical cases.