Meditation is a sham,” Ruchin Singh admits that this is what he would have said if he had been interviewed on the topic only a few years ago. “The word reminds me of mystics, hermits and yogis living an austere life in the woods. I wouldn’t want to live that life.”

But now, as managing director at Edushala Nepal, Singh testifies that meditation has helped him reach where he is. “After I went through a lot of stress, I took a short yoga class as part of a social entrepreneurship course; that was when I discovered this marvelous tool. It’s amazing how merely minutes or even 30 seconds of mindful breathing and can clear your mind and help alleviate stress and anxiety.”

What caused such a drastic switch in perspective? According to Singh, he uses meditation to calm himself in the morning, just before major meetings and during stressful situations. “Just a few minutes of breathing, zoning out and letting your thoughts flow. That’s all it takes,” he says.

The appeal of meditation has grasped major global communities. NYU’s Stern School of Business and UPENN’s Wharton Business school both provide courses in mindfulness meditation. Major companies such as Apple, Google, Nike and AOL Time Warner have separate meditation or “quiet-rooms” which promote employee meditation. Proponents of Steve Jobs know about his deep relationship with meditation and it is speculated that the control he achieved with the practice enabled him to reach great heights of corporate success.

So, what is the secret? What does meditation do to the mind which makes it such an important facet of success? The general benefits of

meditation are widely touted: an increase in confidence, focus, motivation, self-control and a decrease in stress, anxiety, anger, uneasiness and brain fog. Numerous scientific studies support the claim that meditation physically changes the brain (for the better). Forbes went to the length of calling meditation “the next big business opportunity”. The internet is bursting with such articles claiming meditation to be the end all and be all for most emotional, mental, and now, even corporate problems.

Despite the buzz, knowledge of the scientific basis of meditation is still muddy in the Nepali community. How does meditation change the brain?  It develops neural connections in a part called the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher functions such as decision making, planning and managing cognitive or social behaviour. It mediates another part of our brain called the limbic system, which controls primal emotions and impulses—pleasure, anger, hunger and sexual desire. When you ignore that plate of momo and go for a walk or when you’re very tired but, with difficulty, you start the report which is due tomorrow, it is your prefrontal cortex kicking in, over riding primal impulses of instant gratification. If the opposite happens too often, well then, according to the science, meditation might help.

How does having strong willpower, ie, the power to override the demands of the impulsive limbic system, relate to success in business? The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment may provide some insight; in the study, the test subjects—children—were given a marshmallow. Then, they were told that if they waited for approximately 15 minutes without eating the marshmallow, during which time the tester would leave the room, they would receive another one.  In follow up studies, the students who were able to delay gratification had more success in life, as measured by their SAT scores, educational level, body mass index (BMI) and other factors.

With common logic, we can conclude that the key to battling procrastination, maintaining work ethics, taking risks, exercising, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, avoiding harmful drugs depends heavily on being able to resist initial impulses such as tiredness, hunger, indulgence, laziness in order to strive for higher rewards. These qualities of self control, willpower and confidence are also essential for a having a successful career.

For starters, meditation may seem like a daunting task. Trying to have no thoughts at all and remaining in full control of your impulses may seem impossible. Also, there’s the rather uninviting prospect of adding one more thing to your to-do list. However, according to Lila Lamichane, an instructor at The Art of Living Foundation, meditation is not something that you do, in fact, meditation does you.

“Meditation is the art of doing nothing,” says Lila Lamichane “Even as one rests in his leisure time, he is doing something; the mind is being stimulated. Meditation is the art of letting go; it is the most relaxed state one can be in. It shouldn’t be seen as something that ‘should be done.’ In fact, it is a break from ‘doing.’ It is the bringing forth of a serene state, an escape, a stress reliever. And to those who have experienced the joy and peace meditation brings, they know it’s true, they’re unwilling to let meditation go.”

Entrepreneurs, businesspeople as well as employers are increasingly adding meditation to their repository of productivity strategies. What is it about meditation that is so alluring to this unlikely corporate clientele? Why would doing absolutely nothing for a few minutes a day reap so many benefits? Is meditation really the powerful tool it is touted to be? Well, the only way to know is to give it a shot.