5 Ways Meditation Will Improve Your Life

Om! Meditation and mindfulness have been hot topics within wellness recently.  Plenty of people talk about meditation, but what is it really?

What is mediation: 

Meditation is the focus of your thought, attention and intention. In short, meditation is a means to transform the mind.  By changing your brain, meditation changes your response to stress.  Mediation is different than regular thinking; meditation redirects your thoughts by being intentional and centralized. 

What meditation is not:

Meditation is not synonymous with yoga, although it is an integral part of the practice.  Meditation is also not your regular thoughts or simply thinking.

When to meditate:

I suggest that anytime you have the thought to meditate and also have the time to do so, do it!  If you are experiencing any negative emotions such as stress, anger, grief, frustration, anxiety, etc this is a prime opportunity to boost your mood.  Meditation increases positive emotions by increasing coping skills and decreasing stress during stressful situations.

Why you should meditate:

This practice has been found to increase your health holistically and has been found to increase physical, psychological and spiritual wellbeing.

Why I meditate:

Personally, meditation has become an integral part of my daily life.  I find that it helps remain focus on things that are important to me, helps me remain calm in stressful situation.  Now that I practice regularly I find that it is much easier for me to identify when my emotions are off, before having an anxiety attack or becoming overwhelmed.  I have better awareness for self and my body, making it easier to identify how I am feeling.  Being empathic, when I interact with others, I can feel their energy.  I have had numerous encounters with people, where I could literally feel their anxieties and negative emotions within my body.  Sometimes, these feelings manifest as me shaking or becoming physically upset.  In times like this, my first reaction is to meditate; time to cleanse my mind and body of this negative, attacking energy.  If I need to meditate, then the person unconsciously sending me such vibes, definitely needs to meditate…so that is exactly what we do.  I ask the person if they would mind meditating with me.  Most of the time, the person has never meditated before but is open to trying it.  We stop whatever we are doing in that moment, sit on the floor and meditate together.  In that moment, nothing is more important to me than helping that person relax and return to calmer and more peaceful state of being. After we finish, people report feeling cooler, clearer thoughts and focus, less tense physically and mentally, less anxiety or butterflies in their stomachs, breathing easier and of course being extremely relaxed.