WHAT
Meditation means simply to focus your mind. There are many many ways to meditate. From simply being still in silence, focusing on a phrase or word, being guided, listening to music, even incorporating movement. Most forms of meditation are centered around either a single point or contemplative. So either focusing on a single word or phrase, or sitting still and allowing your thoughts to pass in a contemplative state.
I know meditation can sounds daunting, but think of this as a completely free way to improve your physical and mental health.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
I would assume that most days we wash our bodies, brush our teeth, and eliminate toxins (poop). So why don't we take a moment to cleanse our minds from all it is consistently exposed to and processing through our day?
Lately I hear more and more about the benefits of mediating, including decreasing your stress levels, but in doing my research I realize it's so much more than that. Meditation can actually increase the health of your brain & stabilize your hormones!
As we age we will experience a cognitive decline, most notable with memory and executive functions. Many findings show that a daily mediation practice is a great way to lessen these effects that occurs with age.
Studies have shown that those that have practiced meditation regularly can actually change their brains physically. The old thought that our brains are not plastic, i.e. cannot improve and change with age is being turned on its head. The areas of the brain associated with attention, introspection, and sensory processing were actually thicker than those who do not practice mediation. Meditation can also delay the cortical thinning in our brains that occurs with age.
Another clinical study showed that after 8 weeks of daily meditation around 30 mins each day, the left side of the brain was activated to reduce anxiety and enable emotional regulation. This daily practice also led to a stronger immune system.
Here are some of the benefits discovered through clinical research on meditation:
Increased memory & executive functions
Increased focus & attention span
Greater ability for sensory processing
Delay in cortical thinning
Less feelings of stress
Reduced anxiety
Ability to emotional regulate
Lower cortisol levels
More ideal hormone levels
Stronger immune system
Reduce muscle tension
More positive outlook on life
One point to mention is emotional regulation. Why exactly would this be meaningful? With the stress level in today's demanding society, most people live in a reactive state of mind. So stressed out, whether physically or emotionally, that we are unable to actually feel what our bodies are telling us, leaving us with a feeling of being out of control (anxiety) and unable to calm ourselves down. This leads to depression, anxiety, illness, and also leads to aggression in adults and in kids. If we are able to take notice of what we are feeling and become aware of our emotions we can actually begin to work through them, understand them, and gain control over how we think, behave, and react to situations on a daily basis.
The benefits you experience while meditating last far longer than the actual meditation.
A huge thing to remember here is that meditation is a FREE, non-pharmacological, and accessible to anyone with any socio-economic background, any age, any level of health, as a way to improve their brain functioning in their current state and as they age.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT
I would recommend to start small- think just 5 mins a day, or every other day, or on weekdays, or on the weekends. The idea here is start in a way that is doable and practical for your life, removing any barriers or there are less excuses not to practice :)
You can try 5 mins of meditation in the morning and 5 mins before you go to bed. You can sit in a quiet place during your lunch break and practice, you can take 5 mins in your car before walking into your office, home, or picking up your kiddos. Take 5 mins after a workout- I find this is the easiest way for me to begin relaxing my mind since I have moved my body to rid of any physical stress.
One of the recommended ways to create new habits is to tag them onto habits you already have. Think of something you do daily and how you could potentially add 5-10 mins to that to use for meditation.
Here are four meditation styles that you can try out!
All of these start with putting yourself in a calm area and coming to comfortable seat. Taking a moment to notice your breath in your body, the rise and fall of your chest. Taking a few deep breaths to center yourself and relieve any stress you may be holding.
Metta Meditation (aka Loving Kindness):
This uses words of affirmation. You would repeat words or phrased during your meditation. When you are starting you would focus on "I" statements, then after an extended period of time (for some this could be a year or so), you would begin "you" statements to include phrases towards loved ones, then toward the community as "we" statements. For example,
May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be peaceful and at ease.
May we be happy. May we be well. May we be safe. May we be peaceful and at ease.
I learned about this type of mediation from an interview with Rick Ruben, founder of Def Jam. He repeated the following statements & I found it to be quite beautiful & started to repeat this as well.
“May I be filled with loving kindness, may I be filled with loving kindness”
“May I be well, may I be well”
“May I be peaceful entities, may I be peaceful entities”
“May I be happy, may I be happy”
This type of meditation helps to focus your mind and really feel the affirmations that you are saying. An easy way to start is to use the above affirmations, close your eyes, and repeat the words in your head, maybe just 5 times. That could take all of 2 minutes and help you to come into a healthier mental state. If sitting still seems daunting, take a walk by yourself and repeat the words in your head.
Guided Meditation:
I have found that this was one of the easiest ways to meditate as a beginner. Sitting still in silence can feel daunting. Beginning with a guided meditation is kind of like have a coach lead your mind into a meditative state. One of my favorite free guided mediation is by Tara Brach's podcast. There are many different mediation within the 20 minute range that you can turn on and listen to. This makes it so so easy and really does help to guide your mind and thoughts if mediation seems overwhelming. Simply listen to the podcast, sit or lay down, and close your eyes.
Mindfulness Meditation:
This type of meditation can be incorporated so easily as it just is a few moments to be still and notice. You can do this while waiting in line, sitting at your desk, walking, etc. Bring awareness to what is currently going on around you, the noises, sights, smells. Simply bringing awareness to this, without judgement, without any thoughts about what you are noticing allows your brain to focus only on the here and now. To see your surroundings & begin to practice non-re-activeness.
Transcendental Meditation (aka TM):
I have noticed that this type of meditation is really popular among many successful people. I would hear about TM over and over when I would listen to interviews of people I respect such as Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres Jerry Seinfield, Deepak Chopra, Bill Walton, Amy Scheumer, to name a few. The idea is to transcend your regular thinking process.
Traditionally, this practice would include a mantra that is provided to you by a meditation teacher. From my understanding, to "properly" practice you would go through a TM teacher who would provide your mantras and teach you how to practice TM. This is a barrier to some, and has been a barrier for me to practice this as well, but I mention it because many studies do show how powerful this practice can be. My personal belief is that part of the benefits stems from being guided/trained on how to relax your mind and meditate as you have a teacher to guide you when you start.
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