What many people learned as a result of the pandemic that we’ve lived through is that self-care is an essential part of our well-being. Self-care involves all the things that we’ve typically thought of, including facials, manicures, pedicures, and hair care. However, self-care includes a lot more than the outside or what people see. It also consists of our inner self, the parts of us that people cannot see. That is why more people are getting into meditation. Continue reading to discover some of the different types of meditation that are practiced and the five benefits of daily meditation.
Meditation has been done for centuries and is a way of intentional and mindful focus on a heart’s object and your breathing. It involves sitting quietly and focusing so intently that when your mind wanders, you have the awareness to bring it back to the present.
There are several different forms of meditation, including:
- Spiritual meditation
- Focused mediation
- Loving-kindness meditation
- Guided meditation
- Mantra meditation
- Mindfulness meditation
- Transcendental meditation
- Progressive relaxation
They all work in similar ways but have minor differences. Regardless of their differences, meditation has many health and physical benefits. Five of those benefits are:
1. Meditation Reduces Stress.
Stress is the way that our body reacts to change that it views as traumatic. Over time, stress can be extremely harmful to a person’s overall health. Some problems related to stress are depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, headache, obesity, and more.
Meditation causes the body to relax. Deep breathing brings the body back to a repaired state because it is calmed. The repair helps your body heal from the physical effects of the stress that it has suffered.
2. Meditation Helps you Need Less Oxygen.
Meditation causes changes in your body. It forces you to focus on your breathing, making your heartbeat different and your breathing differently. As A result of your slower breathing and relaxation, your heart needs 10-20% less oxygen. Taking in less oxygen is one of the reasons why many people say that they sleep better after meditation. On the opposite end, less oxygen revitalizes and helps energize us for the day. In addition, our bodies can repair cells and tissues, which helps make us healthier overall.
3. Meditation Reduces Negative Emotions.
Negative emotions can create unnecessary tension in our bodies. It can cause us to respond to situations that don’t exist or that we’ve created ourselves. However, mediation allows our minds to slow down and relax. Although we are focused on an object during meditation, the clear mind and feelings we experience after mediation reduce the negative emotions that have been weighing us down.
4. Meditation Increases Patience and Tolerance.
It’s no secret that we live in a world of overachievers. There are competitions for students and employees; we even fight for parking spots at the grocery store. However, meditation teaches us to slow down and enjoy the process. That is because the art of meditation is a process in itself. Many people find it takes time and patience to learn mediation because their minds naturally want to wander when they begin mediation. Instead of giving up, meditation teaches patience and to keep going.
5. Meditation Helps Improve Your Blood Pressure.
Meditation requires a certain level of breathing for it to be effective. Those breathing techniques help control your blood pressure to the point that those taking medication may no longer need it. The inflammation and blood vessel tightening become less active and widen with the breathing done during meditation. Those with a life coach certification can lead you through guided meditation, but the basics to do this are:
- Sit in a place where you won’t be distracted.
- Set a time limit for yourself. Increase your time slowly.
- Find an object to focus your attention on.
- Pay attention to your breathing in and out.
- When your mind begins to wander, bring it back to focus on the object.
- When your timer goes off, thank yourself for the patience to practice meditation. Say kind, affirming words to yourself.
- Increase your time as you get better at staying focused.
As you have read above, there are numerous benefits of meditation. Any of these are reasons to include meditation in your self-care treatment.
