I find that for me personally I tend to overthink near enough EVERYTHING!! The majority of the time this is not a good thing! So I have made a conscious effort to slow things down and to try and train my mind to think and react differently to many aspects of my life. I really enjoy yoga and love that time to myself, even if it is just 1-2 hours a week, I really notice the difference in how I work and feel after practising yoga. I would recommend in trying it if you lead a stressful life or would like to try something different and would highly recommend finding a yoga class with some deep meditation throughout.
So why meditate?
Meditation gives the access to inner peace and strength... which we ALL have! And recently I have found how simple it can be (not easy, but simple) and what huge benefit it can have for my day to day happiness. I have first started off with trying meditation for 5 - 10 minutes a day (I admit I haven't done it everyday). Now I know this seems like nothing but I am strong believer in taking small steps to achieve a goal and of course I hope this time of meditating increases the more I practice.
How to meditate?
Focused-attention, or mindful meditation is where you focus on one specific thing—it could be your breathing, a sensation in your body or a particular object outside of you. The point of this type of meditation is to focus strongly on one point and continually bring your attention back to that focal point when it wanders. I find concentrating on my breathing really fascinating and it zones me out which feels like half hour when really its only a couple of minutes. I love that during this I have forgotten about everything that has happened that day/week and its recharging my brain.
The other type of meditation that’s often used in research is open-monitoring meditation. This is where you pay attention to all of the things happening around you—you simply notice everything without reacting.
What are the benefits of meditation, if any?
For many years I have heard about meditation and what the benefits are. These benefits are what have got me into it plus I can already see a difference from the time I do spend meditating.
Benefits I know of:
Better focus Because meditation is a practice in focusing our attention and being aware of when it drifts, this actually improves our focus when we’re not meditating, as well. It’s a lasting effect that comes from regular bouts of meditation.
Focused attention is very much like a working muscle, it needs to be strengthened through exercise
Less anxiety
I always knew it could reduce anxiety and that meditating can be used to help suffers however I wasn't too sure how but I found this good article that covered the answer to my question, read below:
The more we meditate, the less anxiety we have, and it turns out this is because we’re actually loosening the connections of particular neural pathways. This sounds bad, but it’s not.
What happens without meditation is that there’s a section of our brains that’s sometimes called the Me Center (it’s technically the medial prefrontal cortex). This is the part that processes information relating to ourselves and our experiences. Normally the neural pathways from the bodily sensation and fear centers of the brain to the Me Center are really strong. When you experience a scary or upsetting sensation, it triggers a strong reaction in your Me Center, making you feel scared and under attack.
When we meditate, we weaken this neural connection. This means that we don’t react as strongly to sensations that might have once lit up our Me Centers. As we weaken this connection, we simultaneously strengthen the connection between what’s known as our Assessment Center (the part of our brains known for reasoning) and our bodily sensation and fear centers. So when we experience scary or upsetting sensations, we can more easily look at them rationally. For example, when you experience pain, rather than becoming anxious and assuming it means something is wrong with you, you can watch the pain rise and fall without becoming ensnared in a story about what it might mean.
Less stress
The UK are busy bodies and work extremely hard with putting in far too much overtime resulting in less time to relax, de-stress and to have time out. Stress is one of the biggest risk factors for all types of conditions such as stroke, hypertension, depression and cancers, to name a few!
Mindful meditation has been shown to help people perform under pressure while feeling less stressed.
These are just a few benefits I have found since my time of meditating, but remember I haven't been doing it for long so if there are any more you feel I can add then please share by emailing me your thoughts and I shall post them on here.
So, how to get started?
I was recommended an app called Headspace (app in pic below) and I would truly recommend it to anyone who wishes to get into meditation but unsure of what to start! Invented by a former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe, this is meditation geared towards busy people like you and me.
The way it works is that Andy guides you through 10 minutes of simple meditation every day. You don’t have to do anything, just sit down and turn on the app and let Andy’s calm voice (his voice is truly amazing – the app is worth trying just for that!) explain to you how to approach meditation.
The best part about the app is of course that it’s completely free! For any beginning meditator, this is, so far the best option I’ve come across to start reaping the amazing benefits of meditation and start on a new path to a happier life
Have any tips or advice then please send them over... I would be happy to hear and share them as like I've mentioned, I am new to this and willing to try anything thrown my way
Give it a go and see how it makes you feel.... you never know it may change your life!!
Ciao for now!
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