The Practice of Meditation or Mindfulness
Mindfulness or Meditation Practice
This practice 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.
Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness:
- Decrease your body's stress response.
- Increased relaxation
- Increased calmness
- Balanced mood
- Decreased blood pressure
- Decreased inflammation.
- Decreased symptoms of depression.
- Decreased severity of anxiety.
- Improved symptoms of chronic pain
- Decreased post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD symptoms/episodes)
- Improved sleep, less insomnia and fatigue
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, fear, 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 5 years. It has
made a tremendous impact in my ability to remain calm even when highly
stressed, feel more well rested and can sleep more deeply, 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.
Meditation is part of several elements that are an important
way to help balance out your body and mind, which in turn gives you more
resiliency, builds your immune system, and helps with an overall better sense
of well-being. So, pick one or more to improve how you incorporate it into your
life: better sleep, better hydration, better nutrition, daily increase in
physical activity, and daily meditation or mindfulness. You can make one change
at a time, and when ready add another.
If you would like to have guidance and support while you
make any changes in your life you can contact me for a free health history
consult. If you have had any experiences with a meditation or mindfulness
practice and would like to share it, please comment below.
Hope you have a beautiful day,
Tina
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