Meditation: How To Do It and Why You Should
Meditation is a very powerful way to connect with your inner self and create a peaceful body for your soul to live in. Daily meditation has countless benefits that will surely change your life for the better. Investing time in self care is crucial, your mental health is equally as important as your physical health. Meditation can assist in the healing of both your mental and physical health which is why it is such a valuable practice.
How To Meditate:
Meditation is an inside job so the specifics depend on each individual and their preferences. Generally speaking:
Find a quiet, peaceful area that you can fully relax in and trust your surroundings in. This will create the most ideal environment for your practice.
Sit or lay down in whatever way you are comfortable. You should set yourself up in a position that you won’t have to readjust from so that your focus doesn’t have to be redirected at any point.
Once you are settled in, close your eyes or soften your gaze and tune in on your breath. Draw your complete attention to each inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Continue to focus on this. Bring your breath to your belly. If this is difficult for you, place your hand on your stomach and feel it as it fills up with air during each breath. This breath technique is very beneficial for relaxation because it lowers your heart rate which automatically calms you down.
At first it will be difficult to ignore all of your thoughts and focus only on your breathing but it will become easier over time. Whenever a thought, negative or positive, enters your brain, you must become aware of it, acknowledge it, and send it away. Do not give it the power to affect your mood. Just recognize it and then forget it, bringing your focus back to your breathing.
Once you have gained a decent amount of experience in meditating this way, you can also begin to meditate with intention - aka meditating with a specific purpose.
To do this, simply have a topic in mind that you want to improve on or gain clarity on. By putting your focus into this, your mind will work on it during your focused breathing. At the end of your meditation you should feel lighter, calmer, and hopefully more clear on whatever topic you needed guidance on.
You can play calming music while meditating, YouTube has a great variety of videos that contain hours of calming music.
You can set a timeframe for your practice or you can just allow your body to tell you when to stop. Listening to your body is very important.
Benefits of Meditation:
Mental clarity- taking some time out of your day to get in touch with your soul is very effective in removing brain fog. Much of the day is spent doing activities while thinking about something totally different, so taking a moment to shift your mindset inward works wonders for your clarity.
Anxiety / stress reduction- very common coping mechanisms for anxiety include different breathing techniques. By doing some focused deep breathing each day you are resetting your body to a more calm, relaxed state.
Managing ADD / ADHD- slowing down for a few minutes in an environment with no distractions can help improve your attention span and calm your mind / body for a bit.
Improved patience- when you cut a period of time out of each day where you are meant to do nothing but breathe, you can shut off the need to be going constantly. This allows you to live more in the moment rather than constantly being in a rush to do the next thing.
Helps gain perspective- consistent mindfulness opens a doorway that allows you to see things in a totally different way. Meditation enables you to be more open to other opinions and ideas you had not previously considered.
Others include:
Improved sleep
Improved memory
Higher confidence
Increased appreciation for life
Decrease blood pressure
Slows heart rate
And so many more
Adding meditation to your everyday life will greatly improve the quality of each day. This practice can take as much time as you want- just a few minutes a day can show results quickly. This is a method of mindfulness that I will forever swear by and recommend to everyone. The benefits are immaculate but at the very least you will feel relaxed and refreshed after your meditation. Take 5-10 minutes for yourself first thing in the morning or right before bed. I guarantee you will not regret it.
(animation designed and hand-drawn by me)
