What is it about Meditation, that can improve your life?

So what is it about Meditation that can improve your life? Have you ever asked this question, because there is definitely a lot of people talking about it.

When Meditation came into my radar about ten years ago, I was very sceptical. It was generally thought of as woo woo and unconventional. Now there are scientific studies that show how meditation benefit our brain, and has become a common ritual in many people’s daily routine.

I started dabbling in Meditation about five years ago and have only really embraced the practice in the last three years, which has made a significant difference to my life. Whenever I miss a day meditating, I notice it in my mood and my focus is not quite on point that day. Meditating is as hard or as easy as you want it to be and you can literally do it anywhere. I’ll show you what I mean and how if you started practicing it, it could improve your life.

What is Meditation?

First what is meditation? Meditation is a practice that involves relaxation, focus and awareness. It is a tool used “to get better at life” as described by Emily Fletcher, who is a leading expert in meditation for high performance. This is so true!

Meditation is letting your mind rest, giving it time to process your thoughts, and focus. It is about providing your mind that space to breathe, allowing the thoughts in your head to flow freely.

Our brain is like a computer and like a computer it needs defragging. Meditation to our brain is what defragging is to our computer. Defragging maintains the smooth running of our computer. Meditation enables our brain to perform better. It brings calm, clarity and concentration.

How can meditating improve you life?

If you say you don’t have time to meditate then you are someone who will probably benefit from it the most. Trust me, since I started meditating, paired with journaling, my days are more focused and therefore more productive. Instead of spending my first hour mulling over the many tasks I have to get through, I make a start straight away as I set my intentions for the day and am focused.

Meditating calms your mind and settles your body by letting it rest. This reduces stress and anxiety, and allows you to have a clearer mind. You might have heard the phrase “clouding your judgement”. Meditation “removes the clouds” enabling clearer, better decision making, as thoughts can often cloud ones judgement in any given situation.

Studies show the brains of meditators versus non-meditators, gained benefits that included better memory, more compassion, cultivation of positivity, love and empathy. Which all contribute to increased levels of happiness and overall better health and well being which can lead to successful ageing.

As a society we suffer from overstimulation due to texting, emails, social media, gaming, and the internet. We are constantly exposed to marketing that is focused on keeping us engaged. This means we are becoming more and more conditioned by the media as we use less and less time thinking for ourselves.

This shows that there is an increased need for meditation and times of stillness, so that we can get back more in touch with our own thoughts. Many of us don’t know what we want or haven’t even thought about it. We are influenced by our friends and our family environment, our workplace, etc.

How to get started

Stillness

If you want to get started and have never done any kind of meditating at all. I would start with stillness. This is you sitting quietly by yourself for 5 or 10 minutes. Comfort is key, sit in a comfy chair or if you wish, on the floor. You can close your eyes or just lower your gaze. Then do a couple of long deep breaths to calm your body, breathe in through the nose to a count of 4 and then out for 4 as you breathe out through your mouth. Then allow your breathing to adapt to it’s natural rhythm.

Sit and be present with yourself. Acknowledge how you feel and be ok with it, don’t judge or start thinking any thoughts. Relax your mind. If thoughts do pop up, let them drift past like clouds. Listen to what noises you can hear, close by and then what about those further away.

Body Scan

If you wish, do a body scan from the top of your head to every part of your body all the way down to your toes. This can release tension in the body by bringing focus to that part of the body and acknowledging how you feel.

Guided meditations

I have found a great meditation app called the Insight Timer App, which has a free and a paid version. The free version is more than sufficient. It allows you to filter your meditation time and also what area you may want to focus on that day eg. confidence, positivity or stress. Once you get used to a certain teacher’s voice or style, you can add it as a favourite. Another great thing is if you want to introduce it as a habit you can use the app as a tracker as well.

To Summarise

So the answer to “what is it about Meditation that can improve your life?” is that it is invaluable if you want to be better in many areas of your life. It can calm your body and mind and therefore reduce stress and anxiety. This in effect will give you more focus and clarity and therefore be more productive. It enables you to make better decisions by helping you clear your mind.

Meditation allows you to gather you own thoughts and your own views instead of being conditioned by the outside world. It’s freeing your mind and allowing you to think for yourself.

When’s the last time you spent a moment with your feelings and your thoughts? Maybe you have some untapped ideas? You won’t know until you explore the possibilities.

Happy Meditating!

Keep Living Agelessly

Kath xoxo