Welcome friends. I want to start off this blog with massive calming vibes. Hear the ocean waves, feel the breeze, smell the salty air…. I could go on and on. But let me be real, I am two second from geeking out on you all today and I need you to buckle in and be ready for the ride. We are about to dive into… MEDITATION!!!
To start, Im going to say that when I was growing up, this was frowned upon. I was always told that it meant we were talking to a different god. Not the God that I believe in. So I was very nervous and honestly viewed it like I was worshiping a different god. I honestly had the biggest negative mindset on this until recently. Y’all I’m telling you it has taken over 30 years to get to a point of realizing not all meditation is bad. There is some that, yea they may toy with the line that I do not agree with, but a lot of the time meditation is more so working on your personal self. So as I learned this, I ended up practicing myself and truly have found such a benefit from meditating on my own!
For myself, it has taken on a way to calm my mind and stress. Stress has been a big struggle with my life and I truly didn’t see how much it was a struggle until this past year. Taking the time to meditate has also provided the ability to calm my mind and my emotions during struggling moments. When I can really get into a meditative state, I actually come out feeling refreshed. Mostly I feel like I had a much needed break and can get a better handle on my emotions.
Meditation really helps bring down that fight or flight mode in my body when I take the time to practice. But what else can it do? Here is a list of how Meditation Benefits you:
-Improves Mental and Emotional Health
-Helps in Psychiatric Treatment
-Improves Physical Health
-Improves attention and self awareness
-Promotes positive emotions and mood
-Increases gratitude, kindness, empathy and compassion
-Develops Immune Sustem
-Improves focus and concentration
-Improves intelligence and memory
-Greater self-confidence and self esteem
-Improves productivity
Looking at this list, I see that it is heavy on the brain positive changes. To which, if we think about it, your brain is a very powerful being. It controls our entire body and some times we have medical struggles because our brain produces a psychosomatic medical struggle. You go to the doctors and they can’t find anything wrong with you after running tons of tests, only to find out it was a psychosomatic occurrence. Now I’m not saying that that is what happens to everyone, but to put into prospective, this can occur due to our brains strength and how we process our emotions. So starting meditation could actually help your brain a lot more than we truly realize.
Now when you look back at the list, there are some other benefits that you may not think are so much brain related but those benefits are just as amazing as the brain ones. Building self confidence and self esteem, improving productivity, improving your physical health and developing your immune system, these are all great benefits to add into your daily life!
To begin meditation may I share some recommendations with you first?
1) Let’s start by trying this video below on mediation. They walk you through, as a guided mediation, on what to focus on during the mediation and it give a wonderful picture in your head as you go! I personally use this one and sometimes I just ignore what they are saying because the meditative state becomes really strong and I go to my own personal Happy Place. But on the days its not as easy, this video really helps keep my mind from wondering! Try it out: Click Here.
2) Let the passing thoughts happen. It is such a struggle to get our minds to quiet down and stop the endless cycle of thinking. As a mom and house wife, I am constantly thinking about how I have to get the house cleaned, school with the kids, my own school and so much more but during mediation we want to let those thoughts pass through. Instead of going “op I shouldn’t be thinking” and stopping the thought mid- way maybe try letting the entire thought pass through. Then when the thought is done, come back to focusing on your breathing. Focus on taking deep breaths and get your mind back into the moment. This is also where guided mediations help!
3) Be consistent. Do mediation daily. Don’t skip because you don’t want to. If this is part of your health journey and you want to actually improve yourself, then take the steps to actually do the meditation. If you are on a health journey, you really need to put in the work to actually do what you want to assist your health. It is so easy to skip or give up but with meditation you will see it works best when you are consistent. Set aside 10 minutes each day for meditation.
4) Relax your body. Get comfortable, get cozy, relax. Meditation works best when you relax and enjoy your time. Grab a yoga mat or a cushion to sit on on the floor, do whatever is needed so you can relax. Maybe you need some candles burning or some calming “music” on in the background. When I say “music” I’m talking spa vibes, not heavy metal. (Trust me, I understand)
5) Lastly, treat it like self care and a prize. Don’t go into this thinking “I have to meditate” today or I won’t be consistent. Go into this with the excitement of “I get to go relax and take care of myself.” Get the positive mindset in place before you try to start. When the mindset is positive, then you can truly get into the time!
When you take the time to put your health first, just remember the brain is a powerful being. It can truly make or break some of your health struggles. Meditation can really be used whenever it is needed. Stressful day, standard practice or for your health. Whatever your reason is, mediation can truly benefit you in life! But I will say there is something else I like to practice for the mental side of my life….
Come back next week for that blog!