Sometime in the present day hurried mode of living, have you ever gotten the feeling that you want to take a break and get some healing time with yourself? For the latter one, it is possible to ask a series of questions, including whether stress and anxiety steal your daily happiness away? If so, then meditation can become a method of reaching this great and, sometimes, almost unattainable goal of inner harmony. It has provided the much-needed balance, concentration and mental health, to millions of people across the world today. But how effective is it really, and how could it be applied to an average individual’s lifestyle? It is time to open the curtain and discover the essence of meditation as well as its helpful features .

What is Meditation?

Meditation is most often defined as a set of techniques aimed at achieving mental concentration or focused attention. It started as a divine affair but has developed into non-religious phenomenon, practiced universally. In fact, meditation means to focus awareness or to develop a sense of mental clarity and emotional positivity.

While there are various techniques, the ultimate goal of meditation is universal: For a purpose of gaining such states as inner peace and a range of mental clarity.

Also Read more on Cultivating Calm: 8 Habits to Overcome Anxiety and Sadness.

Benefits of Meditation

Mental Health Benefits

❖ Reduces Stress: Prayer produces relaxation since it assists in reducing cortisol, the stress hormone in your body.

❖ Combats Anxiety: Practice can cut down the symptoms of the anxiety disorders by a very huge margin.

❖ Enhances Focus: Meditation makes you have a better concentration and can concentrate even when there is much disturbances going on around.

❖ Boosts Emotional Health: Mindfulness meditation for example helps to condition out negative feelings hence fostering a positive attitude towards life.

Physical Health Benefits

❖ Improves Sleep: It can also reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and increase the quality of your sleep since it reduces internal anxiety.

❖ Lowers Blood Pressure: Daily meditation can prove helpful to heart health because it lowers blood pressure.

❖ Strengthens Immunity: Some research data indicate that meditation has its positive effect on the strengthening of the body’s natural defenses.

Emotional and Spiritual Benefits

❖ Builds Self-Awareness: Meditation helps you have insights on one’s self and thus embrace the person that you are.

❖ Encourages Compassion: Meta-analysis revealed that the practice of loving-kindness meditation can increase good feelings focused on self as well as on other people.

❖ Provides a Sense of Purpose: To some, meditation merely evolves into a religioius experience where people feel closer to the universe.

Types of Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation

This form involves basically observing the current experience and surrounding without passing any judgement. It’s about being mindful of your thoughts or feelings and the environment without trying to change them.

Transcendental Meditation (TM)

TM employs certain incantations to assist in the coveted attempt of turning the attention outward with the resultant effect of inducing profound relaxation.

Guided Meditation

Also simple, here, the subject blindly obeys the voice of a guide that can be physically present, or in an audio recording, to describe a calm scene or a goal the subject wishes to achieve.

Loving-Kindness Meditation

This practice is done by using positive and genuine phases or statements towards oneself and other people.

Yoga Meditation

Yoga is a process by which various positions are formed through exercises all associated with breath control and meditation.

Body Scan Meditation

Beneath, you focus your attention on every part of your body and attempt to ease the tension as you go through the parts.

How to Meditate: A Beginner’s Guide

Step 1: Find a Quiet Space

It is most effective to find a quiet place, so that you can not be interrupted during the exercise. It may be a corner of your bedroom, a backyard, or maybe even a studio.

Step 2: Sit Comfortably

It is possible to take a seat for the session on the floor or on a chair, with your feet touching the surface you are sitting on. It is also important not to slouch back and forth in order to prevent further back problems.

Step 3: Close Your Eyes and Breathe

Take slow, deep breaths. Concentration should be made on the act of breathing through the nostrils, the feeling of air as it passes through it.

Step 4: Choose a Focus

And this could be your breath, a mantra, or any other mental picture you may wish to have. If you find that you have drifted off, be sure to bring them back softly.

Step 5: Start Small

Begin with 5-10 minutes a day and gradually increase the duration as you become more comfortable.

Tips for Making Meditation a Habit

❖ Set a Schedule: Practice meditation in a regular time of the day, for example in the morning or at night.

❖ Create a Ritual: Dim a light, put on some relaxing music or burn an essential oil.

❖ Join a Group: When practiced in a group the goodies that are related to meditation are boosted especially when it comes to motivation.

❖ Use Apps: Today’s meditation apps such as Headspace or Calm, also contain the guided meditation sessions and  tracking mechanisms for daily practice.

❖ Be Patient: Results take time. You should start meditation with no expectations in your mind that is why you should not set pace to it.

Overcoming Common Challenges

“I Can’t Stop Thinking!”

The students’ minds become more lethargic and some of the time their thoughts would wander off as they daydream. I think mindfulness is not a process of trying to get rid of thoughts but to distract them.

“I Don’t Have Time.”

Every little counts, 5 minute in the morning or in the evening can turn things around. We recommend starting with integrating the practice of meditation into one’s working day, for example, on a bus or during lunch.

“It’s Not Working for Me.”

Every occupation has its instruments, and meditation is the tool needed in practices that deal with the human mind; they take time to master though. There is no one right way of approaching it so one can try new methods until he or she finds the best one.

Meditation in Everyday Life

Meditation does not have to occur at a particular time, or any state at all for that matter. You can integrate mindfulness into your daily activities:

❖ Be careful with how and what you chew which will be enhanced by taking small bites while eating.

❖ As you are starting something new, grab a few minutes to zone in and get yourself ready for that task.

❖ Timing your breaths while waiting for a signal light or while in a line of people waiting for something.

For more such related content, check out blogs on Exercises. 

Conclusion: A Journey Worth Embarking On

You can actually live meditation and this is not just an activity that one can engage in every now and then. Most of us are in search of stress reduction, enhanced concentration, or self-awareness meditation has something that would interest you.

Why not give it a try today? Please, shut your eyes and learn how we can begin your way to happier, more relaxed life.