That’s me all over, which is why it’s so important, even when you are super busy, to take time out to stop, reflect and take 5- or 15- and allocate some time to just being.I decided to write this post, to encourage more people to meditate. Meditation is free, it’s powerful, can be practiced by anyone, everywhere, is extremely beneficial and can help us to feel happier almost instantly.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is an ancient practice which helps us to control our own mind and consequently our own life and discover ourselves.
For me, it’s a way to recharge my batteries and to calm my mind down. I’m a big worrier and can often find myself taking on too much, so it’s a very quick way to wind down.My mind often takes over and I find myself running on nervous energy not able to wind down after a particularly stressful day, I even get too tired to sleep.
Meditation helps me to control my thoughts turn off my mind when I really just need to sit there and stop.
Meditation is essential to my routine now and I feel so much better taking even 5 minutes and sitting still after a long day. I found it tough at first to throw myself in, but now i actually look forward to some down time each day, or as often as I can.
Meditation can helps to eliminate negative thoughts, worries, anxiety, all factors that can prevent us feeling happy.
It has been proved that the practice of meditation, carried out on a regular basis, can even mitigate the symptoms of stress and anxiety. If you incorporate daily meditation into your daily routine, you will feel mentally fresh and more able to deal with difficult situations that life often throws our direction.
I’m not a religious person, I’m don’t practice any religion, in fact meditation has absolutely nothing to do with religion. You don’t need to rush off to book a holiday to Thailand to reap the benefits of being more mindful, by sitting for three days in the lotus position- I can’t even sit like that for 5 minutes!
Irish people tend to view any form of anxiety or sadness as negative, when it’s just another emotion and is completely normal. We are used to a quick fix, like pills, tablets, gels for a lot of things with the promise that in a short time we will be ok, without having to do anything long term. So, if you can’t concentrate, there’s a pill, if you can’t sleep there’s a pill, if you can’t find yourself lusting after someone or something, there’s a pill, if your head is sore, there’s a pill. The sadder thing here is, sometimes, all we need to give ourselves is time out, time away or time on reflection, time enough to calm down, de-stress and just ‘be’.
For me, it’s getting out of Dublin every so often. I’m originally from Sligo, but grew up in Galway and spent the majority of my childhood playing outside and near greener areas, so I really need some out of city time to feel completely relaxed. In the mean time though, I find meditation does help clear away the cobwebs, but it all takes practice. Don’t get me wrong, we need medicine but a lot of these issues can be sorted out with meditation.
The Benefits of Meditation:
– Decreases physical and mental tension
– Delete psychosomatic disorders caused by tension
– It calms stress and brings clarity
– Lowers blood pressure, calms, soothes and comforts
– Strengthens the immune system
– It slows the aging process
– It can help control our anger
– It helps with personal growth
– Lowers the likelihood of distraction
– It is easier to exercise control of ourselves and the situation under pressure
Simple tips to start Meditating
– Try to meditate every day at the same time to be able to create a new habit.
– Do not drink coffee before you meditate.
– Do not meditate after meals and choose a time of day when you are not too full of energy.
– Prepare the place where you want to meditate, open a window to change the air flow
– Choose a place that is not too bright, and wear comfortable, loose clothes.
– It is very important that you are not disturbed during your meditation so disconnect your phone and close the door
If this is the first time you try meditation, you can begin with a very easy breathing exercise!
Deep breathing slows your heartbeat, relaxes your muscles, focuses your mind and is a great way to start meditation as a beginner.
1) Take a deep breath
2) Hold that breath for a few seconds
3) Take a deep exhalation, very slowly
During the breathing, pay attention to how you are feeling, imagine when you breathe in, the air flow that enters into your nose, then when you hold your breath, imagine the air is distributed throughout your body and when you exhale, imagine the air coming out of your mouth slowly.
Try to relax and at the same time, focus on controlling your thoughts– meditation is an active process. The art of focusing your attention on a single point is hard work, and you must be remain committed.
If you find it difficult to visualise, you can count instead: one, two, three when you breathe in, four, five , six, seven, eight, when you breathe out and so on.
It is normal that when you meditate, suddenly thoughts of any kind come into your mind but do not get nervous or annoyed, just acknowledge your thoughts and focus on your meditation.
If you’d prefer some music, why not put on a track from youtube- there are so many options for free, so no need to worry about cost for this. You can meditate at any time, in any place you feel comfortable and relaxed. Why not give it a go today?
