How to meditate
How to meditate
In 2012, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reported that over 18 million American's meditate, and experience the associated benefits of relaxation and calming the central nervous system. Having supported hundreds of clients to improve their health since I founded Three Pillars of Fitness, 15 years ago I find that most people are receptive to meditation but give up because their mind wanders. If this is happening to you and you would like my help to calm your stresses and support healing, reach out today, using the button below.
What is meditation?
During meditation an individual focuses their mind on a particular object or thought. This trains the attention and awareness, creating a calm state of thought. Meditation is a very personal activity, it’s a way for you to connect with your soul and inner voice and to reconcile your experiences. Even if relaxation is not the goal of meditation, it is often the result.
In 1970, Herbert Benson, a researcher at Harvard University, coined the term “relaxation response" -after conducting research on people who practiced transcendental meditation. In Benson’s words, the relaxation response causes a reduction in the activity of our sympathetic nervous system. -This is the same system that activates our fight or flight response and manages balance throughout the entire body (and mind).
What isn't meditation?
It’s not all about dreadlocks and magic mushrooms. It’s not about changing who you are, your thoughts or feelings. It’s about offering a way to create balance and perspective. Our thoughts and emotions are often erratic, without taking the time to listen to them we end up in knots and possibly detaching from our daily lives, or we begin panicking that we have too many things to do and not enough time to do them. Observing our thoughts helps us to understand ourselves. In the same way as going to the gym creates a stronger body, meditation builds a stronger more resilient and compassionate mind, which is less burdened by the baggage of life.
5 Reasons to meditate:
Meditation promotes in peace and a sense of wellbeing.
It allows you to connect to your intuition and your surroundings. Meditation can help communication between your body and brain. Those that meditate regularly find that they can understand their body more fully than those who are constantly busy.
It can lift a mental block or cloud and will help you to make more balanced decisions. Meditation is a great way to develop emotional control and intelligence.
It lowers blood pressure, improves circulation and lowers the heart rate. Often deep breathing is part of a meditative practice, this allows us to access our subconscious (deep) thoughts and to stimulate the vagal nerve which is said to control our general sense of well being.
Meditation can help with seasonal affective disorder / anxiety and depression. Spending time on meditation can allow us to moderate our moods and thoughts particularly during Winter, when natural light is scarce.
How to meditate for beginners:
It’s worth noting that meditation takes practice. If you are new to meditation, you will often become distracted, that’s not a problem. It will help if you begin with 2 minute meditations, increasing duration as you become more skilled. Meditation is about practicing being peaceful, not being perfect. To enjoy meditation It’s important to find a space where distractions are minimal. Sitting or laying on the ground is fine:
To begin with keep eyes open, focus on one spot, something small, the other side of the room is helpful.
Take one long breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.
While breathing out, close your eyes.
Take a moment to pause and enjoy being present in the moment. Be aware the pressure of your body beneath you, the feet on the floor and the hands and the arms resting on the legs.
Focus on your breathing and notice the breath, chest rising as you inhale, falling as you exhale.
If your mind has wandered to other thoughts or sounds bring the focus back to your breathing.
Bring the attention back to your body and the space around you. Then open your eyes again.
Take a moment to soak in how that felt for you before continuing your day.
If you’d prefer a simpler way to meditate, check out this simple “Relaxing river” meditation. You need do nothing more than close your eyes and listen to the wonders of nature. Yes, it really can be that simple!
Grounding exercise (5-4-3-2-1 technique):
Did you know that grounding is a form of meditation and creates similar results? If you are new to meditation and want to begin experiencing your senses to distract from your feelings and stresses, try naming:
5 things you can see.
4 things you can feel.
3 things you can touch.
2 things you can smell.
1 thing you can taste.
According to Pubmed, National library of medicine (2022), grounding can have profound impact on reducing anxiety, depression, stress and improved sleep. Click here to read more.
Summary:
If you are feeling overloaded, stressed, anxious or struggling to make decisions daily, the answer may lie in taking a “Time out” - Take the foot off of the pedal and use the steps above to experiment with meditation. Maybe meditation is the missing piece to your jigsaw. Begin by implementing steps 1 to 8 and begin meditating for two minutes at a time, increasing to around 20 minutes when you have the time. As with all things, health related the benefits will come as your consistency increases.
Do you like to meditate? How does it help you? -We’d love to hear!
Here at Three Pillars we believe that your mind can be at odds with your health and wellness goals. We’ll help you to be aware of your thoughts and use these as a springboard to help you create a lifestyle of health and happiness. We do this by teaching a range of meditational and mindful skills. To experience this for yourself CLICK HERE to book a Trigger Point Pilates class Trial.
To learn more about how we can help you, use the button below.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Andy
To read my blog “How to sleep better” CLICK HERE.