We have all heard that meditating is good for us, but so many people roll their eyes to the sky as soon as it’s mentioned. It can feel like a ‘chore’ sometimes. Something we ‘should’ do because we have been told it is ‘good for us’.
Meditation has a number of benefits including stress relief and reduced anxiety as well as enhancing your emotional health. Meditation has been shown to help control pain levels in some situations and can help to reduce high blood pressure. It may also induce better sleep patterns. Some studies have shown that certain meditations can help increase kindness to yourself and others.
Meditation can also increase your awareness of, and ability to connect to, a higher or soul level. There are also meditation techniques available which will help to keep us grounded and psychically protected. These are both useful in helping to keep your energy and vibration high.
Most of us would appreciate at least one of the benefits of meditation, and the only answer is to start a meditation practice. The word practice is exactly that – you need to practice! There are some useful meditations freely available online, as well as meditation music which some people also find useful.
It can be helpful to memorise a certain meditation and repeat the same process each day, particularly first thing in the morning. A regular meditation routine really helps, if you meditate at the same time every day, and stick to it, it is a much easier habit to create for yourself. The length of time you meditate for depends on how much time you have and how long you can maintain the meditation for before you become distracted. If you find meditation difficult, start with 5 minutes and gradually build up.
Breathing in meditation is also key, but again try not to get too hooked up on how you ‘should’ breathe. Just go with the flow and keeping your outbreath longer than your inbreath is very beneficial.
As you meditate more, you will start to enjoy the feeling it gives you. There is a sense of immense calm and it can cultivate a feeling of happiness or joy – allow each cell of your being to ‘smile’ while you meditate and let go of all the ‘stuff’ that may be sitting in your mind. The more you meditate, the more this feeling of calm happiness will grow and strengthen. As this happens you will feel calmer and more balanced as you go about your daily life.