So, what is meditation anyways?
Meditation is the practice of a set of techniques that will help you increase your awareness and focused attention.
During meditation, you can use a technique, such as focusing your mind on a particular object, thought or activity, to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state.
Why should you meditate?
Meditation is used for the aim of reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and increasing your state of peace and well being.
Many researches have shown that even 5 minutes of meditation practice a day can help you reduce your stress and anxiety levels.
Mediation has so many health benefits; I feel it’s a waste to skip it…
-Grow your brain (Yes!!!), which will increase your memory, attention, and so much more
-Reduce cortisol production (the stress hormone), blood pressure, and heart rate
-Boost your immune system
-Help you relax your muscles
-Slow your aging process
-Increase your positive emotions, focus, capacity to learn, empathy, sense of purpose and meaning, and so much more…
You will feel the benefits of meditation immediately and you’ll notice a change with every practice.
How often should you practice?
Daily! Yes! To feel the full power of meditation, you should meditate every single day.
Remember - the more you practice, the better meditator you’ll become.
Meditation can be tricky and hard, especially in the beginning.
Your mind might get distracted and it will take time before you can fully meditate.
But don’t give up, it’s really worth it, even if you struggle!
How long should you meditate for?
Well, since meditation can be challenging when you start, I recommend kicking it off with only 5 minutes a day. Another tip is to try guided meditation.
Youtube has plenty of options…
My personal challenge was to try not to get distracted. Listening to someone’s voice is really helpful (hence the guided meditation). Another tip is to let the thoughts come but let them go as well… Let them leave as they enter, don’t try to stop them, as you’ll just waste your energy and time fighting them away.
Just feel them, think - “I’ll be back with you later”, let them flow out, and gently bring yourself back to the meditation.
When you start feeling as if the 5 minutes are not enough (I thought - “That’s it? Already over?” ) - then it is a sign you should move on to 10 minutes.
I still prefer guided meditation over “free style” but you can decide what works best for you.
There are so many ways to meditate - you can have a mantra, breathing, visualization, and more…
The best technique is finding the way that’s right for YOU!!
If one way doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, try a different one.
You can also decide if you want calming music in the background (Youtube and Apple Music have some great options).
When is the best time to meditate?
Almost any time is a good time…
You can wake up a few minutes earlier and mediate first thing in the morning. You can meditate on your lunch break (if you have a quiet space), you can meditate at the end of your workday.
Why almost? I do not recommend meditating too close to bedtime so it you wouldn’t confuse it with relaxing before bedtime. In mediation you want to be fully awake. That’s the same reason I do not recommend meditating while lying down.
However, I do recommend meditating at the same time every day so you have a constant routine. But if some days that time doesn’t work out, try it when you can. Don’t give it up because you can’t commit to the same time. Just commit to try it daily.
So - are you already convinced to give it a try?
If not - go back and read this again…
If yes - why won’t you give it a try? Don’t postpone it. Try one now.. it’s only 5 minutes of your day.
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