Many of us have heard about the benefits of meditation but have not yet, for various reasons, embarked on a regular practice. It’s a shame, because meditation is a simple and powerful tool to increase our well-being!
Meditating on a regular basis will help us to:
● Become more aware of our own patterns and behaviours
● Be more present
● Become calmer and more harmonious
● Be more joyous and happy
● Get more creative and feel inspired
● Feel less stressed
Physically, meditation also has several benefits. Meditating on a regular basis:
● Boosts the immune system
● Lowers blood pressure
● Relieves depression
● Increases our productivity
1. Sit comfortably! Experienced meditators often prefer to sit on the floor, but if you are not used to it, start by sitting on a chair or on a sofa or maybe in bed. The important thing is that you aim for a straight back.
2. Decide that you will try to sit still during the whole meditation. IF you need to move, do it slowly.
3. If possible, meditate immediately in the morning. It is easiest to meditate and find our inner stillness when we haven’t filled our minds with a lot of information from the outside. Therefore, I highly recommend that you wait to check news and social media until after your meditation session.
The purpose of meditation is to calm our mind so that we can hear our own inner voice and get in touch with who we are. A common reaction from beginners is that they feel that they cannot calm their mind at all and that the mind chatter just won’t stop.
This can be solved by the following approach:
1. Accept the current situation and be grateful that you have a fast and creative brain.
2. Smile at yourself and say that it’s wonderful with so much going on, but now you also want to experience stillness.
3. Guided meditations will help you to stay more focused.
There are many different meditation techniques. When you are a beginner, I recommend that you start with a guided meditation. There are many meditation apps, Headspace is one that I recommend and there are also lots and lots of free ones on the internet.
When you have become more accustomed to meditating, you can try so-called silent meditations where you focus on your breath, for example.
I hope this will inspire you to start meditating!
Jessica Isegran has been practicing meditation for over 12 years. She is a trained meditation teacher, has been to Vipassana and has produced a number of guided meditations and there are also several for free on her Youtube channel. If you are new to Yoga and are looking for the perfect Yoga mat, click the highlighted link to find a review on the best Yoga mats available.
