When you’re stressed, all you want is relief. But that relief can be hard to come by, especially right away. However, there are tools that you can use when life gets difficult, and you want to manage your stress before your stress manages you.
Meditation is one of the ways that you can not only regulate your stress levels but allows you to also look inward and engage in a self-reflection practice.
So, in this post, I’m going to give you 10 benefits of incorporating meditation into your life and having a thriving meditation practice.
Helps Reduce Your Stress
As I stated earlier, meditation is a great stress management tool. That’s because stress causes the body to go into what’s normally called ‘fight or flight.’ When stressed, the body releases cortisol, the stress hormone. Because of this, you may suffer from insomnia, anxiety, changes in appetite or increased blood pressure among other symptoms. As a matter of fact, the American Institute on Stress lists 50 (!) symptoms of stress. Meditation helps reduce the amount of cortisol released in your body and therefore your stress.
Lessens Anxiety in Some
Besides the symptoms listed above, some people find that stress increases their anxiety. And that learning some meditation techniques for stress reduction also can lower their anxiety levels. Which helps one cope better in those anxiety-triggering situations.
Positive Increase Of Your Emotional Health
If you’re consistent with your meditation practice you may find that your positive self-talk increases as you become more comfortable with your inner self. Meditation can increase your positive outlook on things.
Become More Self-Aware
Understanding yourself and how you view the world enables you to make better decisions for yourself and therefore improve your life. The more you know about yourself, the better you are in relating to those around you. That’s one of the things that meditation can do for you. Know yourself and increase your problem-solving skills through meditation.
Increase Your Attention Span
Nowadays, long attention spans are few and far in between. And the Pandemic has made it worse. Holding a thought for longer than 30-60 seconds? Many can’t. However, you have a tool in your toolbox – Meditation. Regular practice can help your attention span last longer than a two-year-old’s for the first time in months.
Improve Your Memory
I can’t say for sure, but meditation may be able to help you fight off age-related memory loss and dementia. As meditation helps improve your focus, memory, and mental clarity so it helps keep your mind sharp.
Sleep Better At Night
Another benefit of meditation is that it can help you fall asleep faster at night. Because meditation helps you to put aside those runaway thoughts and reign them in. So naturally with a regular meditation practice, you can put that same skill to use when its bedtime instead of staying awake all night. You just relax your mind and body for a better night’s sleep.
Increase Your Empathy With Others
As you get the basics of meditation down, you may decide to explore different forms of meditation. One interesting form of meditation is loving kindness. In this type of meditation, you send love out to others and even yourself. By doing this, you may find that your feelings of kindness and empathy for others and yourself grows.
Fight Your Addictions
All addictions whether alcohol, drugs, sugar, or food can negatively affect your life and relationships. There are types of meditation such as mindfulness that can help you learn to redirect your attention, emotions, and impulses. This allows you to have a better understanding about what’s behind your addiction so that you can overcome it.
Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of meditation, let’s look at some tips to help you implement a meditation practice.
Don’t be afraid to try a variety of meditation methods to decide what works best for you and specific needs. This is because different forms of meditation focus on different aspects of life.
Choose one area of your life you want to improve and focus on it all in. Whether it’s being stressed, not sleeping, or are addicted to sugar, don’t try to work on all three at once. Doing so can may cause frustration. Start with one area, use meditation techniques to help you master it, and then move to the next area.
If you find it difficult to maintain your meditation practice on your own, try apps or videos. Technology makes it possible to meditate on your own and there are a ton of apps and videos on the market.
So there you have it! Meditation has so many benefits, it can have such a positive effect on your life if you make space for it and engage in a regular practice. You don’t have to meditate for hours at a time for it to be effective. Start small and build from there in a way to fit your schedule. It’s all about Making Time.
Let’s talk, what are some benefits that you’ve received from your meditation practice? Let me know in the comments section.
Meditation Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash
Cassandra Martin-Himmons is a facilitator, stress management coach and author of “Yes I’m Grateful,” a gratitude journal. She believes in empowering her clients to help them manage their stress and increase self-care. In her spare time, she enjoys papercrafting, volunteering and travel. Connect with her on Instagram or LinkedIn