Meditation is a practice in which one trains the mind to be still and focused in order to achieve relaxation and generate a higher state of consciousness. It aims to build up positive internal energy that promotes life and vitality and releases negative tension.
The internal tension initiated by overcrowded schedules, ill-perceived stress, and toxicity, throws off pH levels and inflames the body, tipping the scale towards disease promotion. Stress is quite literally a killer.
It is confirmed that calming the mind through meditation, emanating an attitude of gratitude, and creating positive thought patterns, increase self-awareness, greatly supporting overall well-being.
Meditative practices have been in existence for quite some time now. In Eastern cultures like Taoist China and Buddhist India, some forms of meditation date as far back as 6th to 5th centuries BCE. Finally, in recent decades, the practice of meditation has penetrated mainstream western culture, generating increasing popularity.
Individuals raised in various cultures are all subject to some form of conditioning based on different interactions and constant influences at home, work, school, media, etc. At the same time, each individual’s life journey is exclusively based on their habits, personal temperament, and life status. So often times when you begin to practice meditation and relax the mind, you may get fidgety, anxious, discontent, or may start to get nervous and worry. This can be a normal reaction based on past conditioning.
Don’t be discouraged if you have a hard time at first, it’s totally normal. Even if you can only meditate for 1-2 min at a time it has benefits and begins to condition you. Be happy with yourself for making a conscious effort to employ this invaluable practice into your life.
Over time, and with continuous consistent practice, you will be better able to release perceived negative thoughts and emotions with ease. Now you will be able to non-judgmentally transform these habitual negative thoughts and emotions that hold you back, into positive ones, helping you reach your full potential without debilitating limitations.
Benefits of meditation:
Decreases muscle tension.
- Reduces respiratory rate and oxygen consumption.
- Slows down the heart rate and increases blood flow.
- Meditation improves energy levels, physical conditioning, and athletic performance.
- Works wonders coping with psychological conditions like anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
- Allows one to develop a more intense, deeper relationship with their higher power, releasing fears and insecurities that support the lingering and progression of anger and hatred.
- Through increased awareness meditation helps instill positive qualities like love, forgiveness, generosity, and compassion for self and others.
- Meditation gives one the ability to stay present, provides a sense of calmness, and enhances mental clarity.
- Sharpens attention, memory, focus, and patience enhances leadership skills by creating agile, flexible, confidant, fearless mindsets, and decreases tension improving resilience and performance in high-stress environments. All of these positive qualities help create a more efficient, productive, peaceful work environment for both employees and employers.
- Helps bring the body-mind-spirit into alignment, creating the conditions necessary for wholeness complete total body wellness.
- Meditation, if practiced properly and regularly, can truly liberate oneself from the tight grip of the ego that encourages attachment to the impermanent and suffering as a result.
- There are various forms of meditation that can be performed in various positions, like simply lying down or in a seated position. This should be done in a comfortable, quiet place, free of distractions.
- In most forms of meditation, the goal is to concentrate on a fixed place like your breathing or specific empowering words like a mantra, while calming the mind.
- The idea is to remain as present at the moment as possible.
- When a thought comes into your mind, just notice it, and release it. Don’t allow your mind to fixate on any thoughts.
Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, began to research meditation and mindfulness after experiencing profound benefits from a yoga class she was taking. “I started noticing that I was calmer. I was better able to handle more difficult situations. I was more compassionate and open-hearted, and able to see things from others’ points of view. Sara was one of the first scientists to recognize anecdotal claims regarding the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans.
Sara along with a team of researchers performed a few studies and found that meditating can literally change your brain chemistry.
In the first study conducted in 2006, Lazar concluded that brain regions associated with attention, awareness, and sensory processing were thicker in seasoned meditation subjects than in the controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula. The researchers also found that the prefrontal cortex involved in the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning, of older participants, retained more grey matter, suggesting meditation slowed aging of the brain. (1)
In the second study published in 2010, Lazar took people who never meditated before and guided them through an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program. The researchers found thickening of grey matter in 4 different regions in the brain enhancing self- relevance, learning, cognition, memory, emotional regulation, perspective-taking, empathy and compassion, and increased neurotransmitter production. The reduction in stress levels caused the amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain which is important for anxiety, fear, and stress to get smaller. (2)
Certain forms of mediation, like mantras or guided imagery, aim to concentrate on specific mental pictures or affirmations helping to control the flightiness of the mind. This practice works best when performed regularly, so be flexible enough to make meditation, or at least breathing exercises by themselves, a part of your daily routine. Take advantage of all the spectacular benefits to attain inner peace and create the best life possible!
1- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
2- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/