Meditation is Good for the Soul

Hello All! I hope the beginning of your week is going good so far, and I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Did you remember to take some time for yourself amongst all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas? I admit...I got up very early to be able to do just that on Christmas morning. I have made it a habit to take time to myself by meditating each morning and each night, which leads me to today's topic...meditation.

What is meditation? Meditation is a practice of the mind and body which focuses on the interactions between the brain, mind, body, and behavior. Basically, we discipline our minds to focus and relax. This practice is very beneficial in helping you to stay relaxed during stressful situations. Meditation also helps you to notice patterns of your mind so that you can decipher what triggers emotions and can rewire your thought process to remain calm in all situations. Meditation is something that I started to do a few years back. I enjoy it. I admit, I still have days that I have trouble concentrating, and that is okay! At that point, I just focus on my breathing and send healing thoughts and prayers out into the world to those that I know and even to those that I don't.

Meditation has many benefits on both the mental and physical aspects of the body. You see, according to Cleveland Clinic, your brain processes about 70,000 thoughts per day. Let's not forget that not only do they process these thoughts, but they also store a lot of them into the memory. This may explain why your mind is always racing with thoughts. When your mind is racing, it causes stress, not only on your mind, but also on your body. Meditation helps to calm those thoughts to give your brain and your body a rest, which helps to manage your stress. It gives you a new perspective on stressful situations and helps you to handle them differently. Meditation increases self-awareness and allows you to focus on the present. It aids in the control of emotions and can even increase patience and tolerance in different situations. It also has medical benefits as you can lower your blood pressure and heart rate by meditating. One thing meditation has helped me with is my sleep quality. I meditate each night and sleep much better than I used to.

There are several different ways that you can meditate. When starting out, I would recommend a guided meditation, as this actually walks you through the meditation. Also, focusing on breath. If you breathe slowly and deeply through your nose and focus on the feeling of the breath moving in and out of your lungs. Is the breath cool on your nostrils as it enters? Does the temperature change as you're breathing back out? How do your lungs feel? How does your body feel? I am here to tell you that your mind WILL wonder, and that's okay. When it does, just acknowledge the thought, visualize it floating away, and refocus on your breath. This is meditation. Other types of meditation are mindfulness meditations that focus on the now. Mantra meditations in which you repeat a word or phrase while focusing on it for a length of time. There are meditations such as walking meditations, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Yoga, which uses physical movement with focus and concentration. Basically, you can meditate no matter what you are doing. Once you get better at it, you can even meditate in loud, or high stress, situations. You won't believe the difference it makes.

There are 5 main components needed to meditate when you're starting out. The first is to focus your attention. This is trickier as it sounds and could take some practice. I still get distracted at times. To start out, try meditating for 2 to 5 minutes a day and build up from there. This helps you to not get discouraged. I still sometimes can only do it for a couple of minutes at a time. Other times, I get lost in it. Just do what feels best to you. Another component is relaxed breathing. This involved deep, even-paced breathing that uses the diaphragm to expand the lungs. I normally count to myself. I breath in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4, etc. This is called boxed breathing and you can change your counts up to your liking. This is just an example. When starting out, I do recommend finding a quiet spot to meditate in, which is the third component. Some even use a candle flame to focus on while deep breathing. It just helps with the concentration and focus. The fourth component is to make sure you are in a comfortable position. This may be sitting, lying down, walking, or in other positions or activities. The main idea is comfort. Last but not least, keep an open attitude. Have fun with it. I even meditate while gathering 4-leaf clovers. Keep your mind open. Let your thoughts flow. Imagine them floating away. I like to visualize my thoughts floating away on leaves down a stream. I thank them and let them go. Everyone does things differently so find what works for you.

So, I hope you enjoyed this little bit of information on meditation. Give it a try and, as always, I'd be happy to help any way that I can. I have just given some examples that I have tried. So, if you have any techniques that you prefer, I would love to hear them. I am always looking for new techniques to try. Have a wonderful evening! Blessings and Love!