With our changing world, I find many people are finding their emotions and life are out of order, and their norm. I’m hearing complaints of lack of sleep, overwhelm, chaos, feeling anxiety, and lack of motivation.
Finding calm and having the ability to relax is not easy. I’ve realized the importance of taking time to just be present and focus.
I personally have implemented a daily meditation routine that has enabled me to do more, feel better, and stay focused. The practice of mediation can be calming and insightful.
The intention of calming meditation is to create a quieter, more peaceful state of mind and improve your concentration.
Some people meditate by focusing on a particular object, for example; a mantra, their breath, an image in their mind, a physical object like a candle, or even physical sensations in their body.
When their mind wanders or they get distracted they bring their attention back to focusing on that object.
Another method of meditation is to set an intention to transform your mind by developing qualities such as wisdom and compassion.
This is known as insight meditation and can involve focusing on your breath and being aware of all the physical and mental sensations that arise.
The popularity of meditation is increasing and there is a reason for that. Meditation is a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.
However you choose to meditate is perfectly fine. Developing your own practice takes time
Here are 10 health benefits of meditation:
- Reduces stress
When we get stressed, mentally, or physically – it can cause increased levels of stress hormone cortisol. This produces many harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals. The effects can disrupt sleep, promote depression and anxiety, increase blood pressure, and contribute to fatigue and foggy thinking. - Controls Anxiety
Less stress translates to less anxiety. Making mindful meditation a daily habit can reduce anxiety and phobias. - Promotes Emotional Health
Some forms of meditation can improve depression, and also improve one’s outlook on life. - Enhances Self-Awareness
When you take the time to meditate, you take the time to look inward. This helps you to “know yourself” better. It can be a starting point of making other positive changes. - Increases Attention Span and Focus
Focus-attention meditation is like weight-lifting to enhance attention span and concentration. It helps increase the strength and endurance of your attention. Many of us have monkey minds that are filled with so much information and tasks, that ability to focus can be a challenge. Studies have shown that meditating as little as four days can help improve awareness. - Improves Sleep
Many struggle with insomnia at some point. A variety of meditation techniques can help you relax, and control the chaotic thoughts that can interfere with sleep. This can shorten the time to fall asleep and increase the quality of your sleep. - Helps Control Pain
Your perception of pain is connected to your state of mind and can increase when stress is present. It has been proven those that meditate are less sensitive to pain. Meditation can diminish the perception of pain in the brain. It can help treat chronic pain when used as a supplement to medical care or physical therapy. - Can Decrease Blood Pressure
Blood pressure decreases not only during meditation, but also over time for those who meditate regularly. This can reduce the strain on the heart and arteries, which can help prevent heart disease. - Improve Relationships
Some types of mediation have proven to improve one’s own state of mind, and relationships with others. Some meditations begin with kind thoughts and feelings toward yourself, which can be reflected to others as well. - Improves Memory
The improved focus you can gain through regular meditation helps improve your memory and recall. Meditation helps fight normal age-related memory loss and has even been proven to partially help memory in patients with dementia.
Meditation is something everyone can do to improve their life and well-being. It can be done anywhere at any time without special equipment or memberships.
If you would like assistance with your meditation and access to other mental mastery tools I recommend my 7 Pillars to Peak Performance, click here for more information.