Finding Peace in a Chaotic Life
Mindfulness or Meditation Practice
In this months blog I am introducing you to the use of Mindfulness and Meditation. This is something that can really impact the amount of calm and peacefulness you have in your life. When all else fails, especially on a really bad day, meditation can help reset your emotions and your stress levels.
Benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation
Meditation can decrease your body's stress response, increasing relaxation, calmness, balancing mood, decreasing blood pressure, inflammation, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and fatigue. Meditation leaves you feeling happier, more balanced emotionally, and improves your resiliency to life's stresses.
Some people use Mindfulness and Meditation interchangeably. My interpretation though is that they are two different things.
Mindfulness
To me, Mindfulness is something you where you are alert and more aware of your surroundings, but you are more relaxed and not necessarily interacting with your surroundings, just observing them passively. You are taking slower deeper breaths, you are noticing the little things around you, or even in you and observing them, or your feelings, you are not judging what you see or feel, but just acknowledging them. The act of Mindfulness gives you the ability to disengage with the busyness going on around you, focusing on the Now, slowing down your breath, which in turn slows down your heart rate, which then calms your sympathetic nervous system, your fight of flight response. This helps with multiple health benefits to your mind, body, and spirit.
Mindfulness can be practiced while you are participating in an activity, or while at rest or sitting. It gives you the opportunity of Pause, where you can momentarily breathe a little deeper and re-center yourself. This is a great tool for decreasing stress and anxiety throughout your day, anywhere you may be. No one has to even realize you are doing it. This flexible method can be adapted individually, or even as a group. It is being taught in schools to young children with great success. The younger generation tend to have a lot of difficulties dealing with anxiety and stress, and need to learn ways to calm and self-soothe without internalizing their pain, anger, and anxiety.
Meditation
Meditation in my interpretation has a different level of meaning. Meditation is a method of relaxation where you sit quietly allowing your mind to focus on a neutral word (mantra) or object which allows extraneous thoughts sounds and distractions to fade into the background. It is something deeper, something where in stillness and quietness you go deep inside of yourself.
There are many different methods and teachings of Meditation out there, so it is easy to find something that works and feels right to you. With meditation it is best to practice this on a daily basis, making it part of a routine for the most benefit. It is also very helpful to minimize external distractions by meditating in a quiet area where you will not be interrupted by other people, pets, or a lot of other noises. Many find it helpful to meditate first thing in the morning before many other family members are even up. It is recommended to meditate from 5-20 minutes once or twice daily. You can start out with 5 minutes and work your way to 20.
The benefits of Meditation are much the same of Mindfulness, but Meditation allows you to go much deeper into “the Gap” or silence. You will begin to realize there is a moment where this inner stillness occurs, and you are unsure of where you just went, or for how long you went there. It can leave you with a feeling in your head of lightness, pressure lifting, a disconnection of your conscious mind to that of your physical body. It’s like for a moment you disappear. At times during meditation you gain insight or thoughts to issues you have in your waking moments. It can be helpful to have paper and pen nearby where you are meditating to jot these down.
The type of meditation I use is a “Mantra” meditation. Mantra means “man” = think or mind and “tra” = transport of vehicle. So, Mantra means it is a vehicle for the mind. A Mantra is a word, or sometimes a phrase said silently within your own mind. It allows you to have a focus point to go back to when your mind begins to drift and think. Mantra’s can be chosen, or given to you by a meditation teacher. They are usually one or two syllables, or sometimes small phrases. Some people like to choose a mantra that embodies what they are trying to accomplish with their meditation like “peace.” Common other mantras used are “om”, “I am that I am,” & “Sat Nam.”
With meditation your position is important. You can be sitting cross legged on a cushion on the floor, or upright in a chair. The main thing is that your spine should be erect and in alignment. Your chin should be tucked slightly so that your cervical (neck) spine is also in alignment. Your hands can be resting on your thighs or knees, they can be open facing up, or in a relaxed position. By sitting this way, it also facilitates better breathing during your meditation.
As you begin to meditate, close your eyes, focus your inner vision towards your third eye, or the space between your eyes and just above your brow. Silently repeat your mantra that you have chosen, or a mantra that has been given to you by another teacher. While you do this, take slow deep breaths in through your nose, expanding your abdomen to draw your diaphragm down, which further expands your lungs. Hold your breath for a moment or two, then slowly exhale while you draw your abdomen back in. You may exhale through your nose or mouth, whichever is most comfortable for you. Research has shown it is better to inhale and exhale through your nose, this may be uncomfortable for some, but this is something that can improve over time if you practice.
By taking slow deep breaths in and out you are relaxing your sympathetic nervous system, your fight or flight. This helps to decrease your respiratory rate, which in turn decreases your heart rate, and slows down any stress response your body may have previously been going through. During this time, you should continue repeating your mantra within your mind. You may lose focus of your breathing as you relax more, and maybe even your mantra, and that's okay. Let your mind drift. If you feel tension in any other part of your body as you exhale a breath allow that area of your body to release the tension. You can continue this process for several minutes, starting at 5 minutes and work your way up to 20.
Meditation has the best benefit if it is a practice that you take part in daily. Intermittent meditation, two or four times a week is okay, but if you want real results, it is best practiced daily. You will find over time if you continue it, that it brings a great sense of relaxation and restoration. I have been doing daily meditation now for around 4 years. I has made a tremendous impact in my ability to remain calm even when highly stressed, feel more well rested, my thoughts in general are clearer, I am able to tune into other people more compassionately and be more present for others in my daily life. Meditation helps also to decrease my anxiety, lower blood pressure, and be more productive in general. I hope that you will give it a try.
If you are interested in finding ways to improve your quality of life and health please contact me for a free Health History Consultation and we can start mapping out your goals.
I hope the upcoming month will be refreshing and renewing to you!
🙏 Tina
Excerpted from my upcoming book: Tree to Better Health-Finding Your Wellness Balance
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