How to better handle disruptions, challenges and problems. Your secret weapon: mindfulness!
There are simple things that can help you get through challenges with more ease, wellness – and even emerge into a better state than before.
It all begins within. I know the term “inner work” and “mindfulness” can seem boring, or like a chore. But if people knew the benefits these simple things carried, I believe we’d all be using them to live happier lives!
A simple, free, powerful way to improve your situation from the inside out!
It can be an incredibly enjoyable and easy way to uplift our daily lives and therefore our whole journey.
Take a look at the incredible benefits that come from meditation.
Just a few minutes daily can begin to completely positively revolutionize how you feel within yourself, how your body and system functions, how you interact with others, and how your experience life.
So here are:
7 Major Benefits to Meditation
#1) Improves Immune Response
As well as helping you feel peace and tranquility, meditation leads to great improvement of your immune system! Studies have proved that mindfulness effectively reduces stress hormones such as cortisol. And the less stress hormones we have, the more our body will produce immune responses against diseases. In other words, meditation has been proven to improve our immune system – without having to take pills, supplements or “do” much! It’s simply about taking some quiet time daily to allow our system to relax!
#2) Slows The Ageing Process
Did you ever feel that when you’re stressed, you’re ageing faster? It is because your telomeres shorten with stress, which makes you age faster than normal and is associated with age-related diseases. When people are stressed, these “ageing markers” in the body shorten more quickly. Practicing meditation daily has been proven to slow the shortening of telomeres, therefore slowing the ageing process. This means, taking some time to meditate daily helps you stay physically younger and healthier!
#3) Maintains Healthy Weight
During times of stress and especially during this quarantine year, many of us have been seeking comfort from food. Eating to subdue boredom and stress. And it means many have been putting on excess weight. Meditation is a powerful remedy for stress eating, and not only because it reduces excess stress. Studies have shown that during hardship, we become emotionally depleted, and we’re less able to resist temptations like sweets and unnecessary snacks. So when we practice meditation, it can also help control the urge to seek comfort and distraction in food. So for healthy weight, daily meditation is an easy solution.
#4) Enhances Focus and Attention
So many of us have noticed difficulties concentrating in recent times – and no wonder. Elections, economic disruptions… It’s intense! Because our bodies and unconscious minds sense danger, they’re on high alert. It literally means our systems are preoccupied with survival, and therefore less energy and focus is available for “non essential” tasks like our regular work habits and “higher mental” activity.
In essence, it means the old “reptilian brain” is over active and it prevents the “frontal cortex” from its normal tasks which deal with intellect, reasoning and willpower.
Meditation is immensely powerful for this – it helps relax the emotional “reptilian brain” circuits and allows us to stay more focused. It helps in not letting our attention be pulled away by random thoughts and distraction. Studies have shown that meditation strengthens our focus and improves our cognitive skills, which makes life flow more smoothly.
#5) Reduces Anxiety
Studies have shown that the anxiety reducing benefits of meditation may last for years. As we practice mindfulness meditation daily, it will redirect our mental stress while we focus on clarity or “emptiness”.
Teaching ourselves to notice what we feel at the present and the good things that are happening around us, we learn how to manage our stress and anxiety over time – not just in the moment. This means, as little as ten minutes of meditation a day, can have a positive impact years down the line.
#6) Promotes Restful Sleep
Studies have shown that people who meditate are much less likely to have insomnia. Whenever we meditate, our brains get to produce alpha and theta brainwaves which promotes relaxation and allows us to fall into a deep and restful sleep easier.
#7) Connects You To Your Intuition
At the core of meditation, its purpose is to aid us in identifying our inner self that transcends beyond our physical body. This is often known as awareness, or our soul. Having “me time” with yourself even just for a few minutes is powerful in creating “space” for this subtle inner awareness to be noticed.
This helps us effortlessly release emotional stress and break out of limiting thought patterns and emotions. It helps us feel more guided, makes our intuition easier to notice, and it can over the long run help shift our life into a state of more wellbeing, purpose, positivity and harmony – including with others.
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Little Habits That Build Positively Over Time
Above all it’s about the little day by day habits – it can truly improve our lives when done consistently.
My tip is, don’t wait for the “perfect day/time” to get started – begin today with as little as five minutes and take it from there. The benefits will begin to noticeably grow and you’ll enjoy it more and more.
So how do you meditate? In short, it’s more about your INNER state than the outer situation.
A person who is adept at meditating can do it anywhere, any time. It’s about your relationship with yourself. So you don’t need any equipment or special settings to get started – which makes it perfect for this challenging time we’re in.
How To Begin Meditating In An Easy Simple Way
A simple way to get started is to find a quiet space and sit somewhere comfortable. Do not lie down, as you don’t want to fall asleep but stay restful. Turn your phone to silent and make sure you won’t get disturbed. Sitting with your legs crossed in a position similar to the lotus position is comfortable for most people and ensures your back is in a healthy position.
Close your eyes or gaze into a candle flame, and simply allow your thoughts to drift away. Don’t try to fight your thoughts but allow them to float away.
Release any thoughts that come into your mind. Don’t attach to what comes up. Allow your body to relax. Release any tension. To begin with it can help to focus on your breath.
You may want to visualize light emanating from you, or sitting in a pillar of light that comes down from the pure center of the universe and into the center of the planet. When you inhale, breathe in light, positivity. When you exhale, breathe out any stress, worry or negativity and know that it is dissolved by this light.
The main thing is to relax your mind and body. If you can only do 5 minutes a day for the first week, don’t worry. You can increase this over time. Most people begin to enjoy meditation and its increasing benefits so much they happily include it in their routine for years to come.
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Questions? Comments? I’d Love To Hear From You
I hope you enjoyed this article! Do let me know in the comments if you have questions. And what experiences have YOU had with mindfulness? What’s your favorite technique or ritual?
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