First off there is a reason why meditation has been around for literally thousands of years. It is an amazing practice, packed with so much healthy, positive energy!
The word meditation comes from 16th century Latin meditat (contemplated) and meditari (measure) It is now known as to think deeply, to focus, be still, be silent, to be in the moment and is used as a form of relaxation and spiritual practice.
Meditation can involve focusing on your breath, your body and sensations, or on a word or phrase known as a mantra. Meditation is turning your attention away from distracting thoughts, everyday life and focusing on the present moment and just being in the moment. People are starting to get a better understanding of why it is so beneficial for so many areas of our lives. Meditation and mindful practice has so many benefits from dealing with illness and disease, pain relief, getting a more restful night’s sleep, helping with depression, gaining more control of a person’s emotions and daily interactions with others in business and personal lives. The list of benefits from this amazing practice goes on…
Let’s define mindfulness which is what you are striving for in meditation: Finding the mental state of peace by focusing on one’s awareness of the present moment. Accepting your thoughts, feelings and sensations of your body.
There are so many reasons why you should actually incorporate meditation into your daily life. These are just a few!
* Meditation is said to have four key elements that help us in different ways. The health benefits of mindfulness are self-awareness, body awareness, regulation of your emotions and your attention.
* Meditation lowers stress. Meditation and mindfulness is not only associated with feeling less stressed, it’s also linked with reducing Cortisol. Meditation can help reduce belly fat and inflammation caused by higher levels of cortisol in the body caused by daily stress. Stress is one of the leading causes of depression, illness and disease.
* Meditation helps you learn to breathe better. Meditation teaches you how to breathe better and actually helps your lung function. We live in a society that is so stressed out, in a rush and too busy, so busy in fact that we actually breath in shorter breaths, meditating teaches you how to take deep oxygenated breaths that are healthy and life giving.
* Meditation helps us connect with who we really are and what we really want in life. Being mindful of your thoughts can help us see beyond those rose-colored glasses when we need to really objectively analyze ourselves. It helps us to stop and be in the moment, which in turn brings things to the forefront and gives us the ability to think about things in our lives and make changes where it may be needed to increase the quality of our lives. It also gets us to step away from the cell phones and calm our minds and give our neck and upper back a break too!
* Meditation could possibly help people with arthritis and joint issues. A study in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Disease shows that even though meditation may not help to lessen pain for people with rheumatoid arthritis, meditation can help to lower stress levels in the body which could in turn help with negative effects of the disease and it’s symptoms.
* Meditation makes music beautiful and relaxing. According to a study in the journal, Psychology of Music, meditation improves our focus on music and sound, helping us to truly enjoy and experience the music that we are listening to during our meditation experience! Have you ever noticed how soothing the music sounds when you are meditating or getting a massage? Now learn to listen to more calming and restorative music on your down time and even in your car driving, add a few deep breaths and you are on your way to living healthy already!
* Meditation can help you sleep better. Meditation and being mindful can help us control our emotions and moods, it can also help us to get a better night’s sleep. People who reported higher levels of mindfulness after meditating felt more peaceful and had better control over their emotions and behaviors throughout their day. Meditation helps you handle stress better in turn helping you to get a good nights’ sleep.
* Meditation makes you a better person! That’s right a better you! Meditation helps us physically but it also benefits people we interact with. Researchers from Northeastern University along with Harvard University found that meditation is linked with more virtuous, “do-good” behavior in people. Further studies have shown that when you do good for others you feel good and that makes you happy, healthy and positive.
* Meditation can make cancer diagnosis and treatment just a little less stressful. Learning to meditate and breath properly may help reduce the stress when going through cancer treatments and related therapies.
*Helps you to cope with loneliness and fear. Loneliness can be dangerous to the body through the mind and emotions because it is known to raise risks for a number of health conditions due to depression. Mindful meditation can help if you feel alone especially among the elderly population, which helps boost their health overall. It also helps with fear and mental health conditions.
*Meditation and exercise can help raise your immune system. When practiced together over your week, these two healthy practices pack a major wellness punch! Researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Health found that people who engage in these practices miss fewer days of work from acute respiratory infections, and also experience a shortened duration and severity of symptoms. That is just another reason to add meditation to your health and fitness routine.
* Meditation helps with weight control. Trying to shed a few pounds to get to a healthier weight is tough. Meditating and Mindfulness training is considered to be an excellent addition to fitness routines and weight loss goals. Many people eat due to stress because meditating is a proven stress relieving practice it can help in a well-planned weight loss program too.
* Meditation can help your fitness routine too! Proper breathing during your exercise routine is an additionl benefit of meditation, it teaches you to breath better by being more mindful of your breathes and posture, in turn helping you with your core strength and lung function.
*Chakra Clearing. Meditation with the added practice of Chakra Clearing is an amazing practice and one that I do daily to remove any negative energy I may have picked up throughout the day. Chakras are beautiful colored energy wheels located throughout or body. Chakras are where the life force energy is stored in our body, this energy is also known as “Chi” or “Prana” Chakras are responsible for the flow of energy throughout our entire body, when our Chakras become dirty or develop wholes in them from daily interactions and stress they will finction at a lower level and with low energy, this low energy can stop the free-flowing, healthy energy in our bodies and therefore cause illnesses, diseases, low energy, depression and even pain.
Meditation is a simple way to improve all areas of your life.
You can choose a program that is 8 minutes to 60 minutes in duration, the choice is yours. I always recommend smaller periods of time until you can sit calmly without thinking about all the things on your “to do” list. The benefits of Meditation are endless! Remember the whole point of meditating is to center yourself, be still, quiet and to find YOUR state of calm.
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