Last month I also had the opportunity to travel to a destination full of beauty and history – Scotland. Once a year, I take on the role of being a Tour Lead for Womens Travel Network. I had the pleasure of travelling Scotland with 16 amazing women to see the sights of a country I call my heritage and it did feel like home. The people, the Highlands, castles and delicious food all warmed our hearts. To see some of our adventures visit the Womens Travel Network Blog.

Now, let me share with you what I have in store for October. This month I’m teaming up with Stouffville Natural Health Clinic and hosting a 8-week Mindful Meditation Program which starts on October 10, 2018. If you would like to learn, experience, and develop your own meditation practice please join me. You can read more about the 8-week program here, or contact me (corey@coreymccusker.com). Also, let me share with you the many benefits of mediation.

10 Benefits of Meditation

Many find they don’t have the time nor the energy to get all they need to get done in a day. Often I hear complaints of lack of sleep, overwhelm, feeling drained, and no motivation. These are signs of burn out. Sparking energy and drive are not always easy. I’ve realized the importance of taking time to just be present and focus in our busy world. I personally have implemented a daily mediation routine that has enabled me to do more, feel better, and stay focused. 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.

Here are 10 health benefits of meditation:

1. 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.
2. Controls Anxiety
   Less stress translates to less anxiety. Making mindful meditation a daily habit can reduce anxiety and phobias.
3. Promotes Emotional Health
   Some forms of meditation can improve depression, and improve one’s outlook on life.
4. 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.
5. Increases attention span and focus
   Focus-attention meditation is like weight lifting to enhance attention span and concentration. It helps increase your strength, and endurance on your attention. Many have monkey minds that are filled with so much information and tasks, and the ability to focus can be a challenge. Studies have shown that meditating as little as four days can help improve awareness.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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. So, if you are looking to release stress, learn a new simple easy, technique that will give you more energy and focus – join me on this 8-week Mindful Meditation Program starting October 10, 2018 or contact me at: corey@coreymccusker.com.