The Gen XY Lifestyle
14 Benefits That Come With Making Meditation a Part of Your Daily Routine
I had always heard that meditation is good for overall well-being, notably to lessen stress.
However, I never tried it just like many other people who try to escape from reality by adopting bad habits rather than good ones. Like people who carelessly drive dangerously fast on highways, eat loads of junk, and sleep for long hours in their attempt to overcome stress.
It went on until something unfortunate happened that paved my way to the wonderful thing that meditation is.
After being heavily robbed two years back, I was severely affected by fear, anxiety, and stress. All I did those days was gulp down fizzy drinks one after the other. My panicky mode and all the sugary effect of those drinks resulted in a dead appetite, constant bloating, and above all, frequent headaches and insomnia.
I still wasn’t back on track, and one of my friends persuaded me to watch a Brightside video about meditation and its benefits.
After some research on the matter, I decided to give meditation a try. I was astonished to know that, according to The Good Body, there are almost 200-500 million people worldwide who meditate.
I admit that I was pretty inconsistent in the beginning, and whined about not seeing any noticeable changes in me. But when I got determined to meditate daily, I started noticing small changes in my mental and physical health that were snowballing into significant benefits that were about to come in a month.
A Brief Guide for Beginners on How to Meditate:
- Choose a clean, calm area of your home where you would like to meditate every day.
- Dim the lights and place a mildly scented candle or fresh flowers for a pleasant environment.
- Place an old sofa cushion on which you will meditate.
- Choose light, loose, and breathable clothing for meditation. Fabrics like cotton will keep you cool. Wear comfortable undergarments, which will help you stay relaxed, like mens pouch underwear or cotton briefs for women.
- Sit on your cushion, folding your legs, and place your hands in a comfortable position.
- Stay upright and start to breathe in and out. You need to focus on breathing, but don’t begin thinking too hard about how you are breathing.
- If your mind wanders to something else, bring it back to exhaling and inhaling. The goal is to pay attention to each breath until the session lasts.
- A 3-5 minute meditation session is adequate for beginners. What’s important is to do it daily, and increase the time gradually.
Now, here are the amazing changes that come when you make meditation a part of your daily routine.
- Develops Composure
Reacting calmly in a highly stressful situation is a quality that seldom has. For instance, when someone verbally abuses you, it is tough to stop ourselves from giving a piece of mind to that person. Reacting peacefully is something not many can manage unless you are a regular meditator.
Meditation is the best practice to overcome stress and anxiety. Moreover, it helps you to deal with difficult situations in a composed manner. You no longer let anger rule your thought process, and in fact, you learn to control your anger effectively. Emotional outbreaks are thus controlled significantly.
- Your Thought Process Becomes Positive
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you face trouble? From my own experience, it is only the worst-case scenario and additional problems that keep bothering a person even more.
The habit of meditation trains your mind to think of positive aspects in even the most distressing situations. As you dive deep into mindfulness, the negative thoughts that occupied your mind will begin to lose their strength.
- Better Focus
The main principle on which the act of meditation pivots is a constant focus on your breath. Therefore, daily practice will teach you how not to get distracted. Your mind will wander, especially in the beginning, but your habit of focusing on the breath will eventually help you curb distractions.
- Enhanced Awareness
The journey towards mindfulness opens gates to many positive things, including better awareness of the life around us.
Meditation literally acts as unclogging your thought process, which in turn gives way to acceptance and understanding. You will begin to sense the deepness of trivial matters and sayings, and will also remember things better as your memory is improved.
- Better Self-control
I have been part of a Facebook group of meditators, and the top benefit most of them share is enhanced metacognition, that is, the ability to control and regulate your thoughts.
Meditation has been proved to develop less impulsive behavior. This means that you will feel easier to follow your resolutions, and will quickly give up bad habits.
- You Learn to Enjoy Solitude Without Feeling Depressed and Lonely
Acclaimed Psychology scholar from Harvard, Sara Lazar, did a TED talk in 2012 on “How meditation recharges our brains.” She said, “Studies have proven how meditation and yoga can be instrumental in reducing stress and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and pain.”
Depression and anxiety hit the hardest when one is alone. But if you meditate daily, all your symptoms will begin to alleviate. Rather than feeling even more depressed in loneliness, you will start treasuring your solitude, that is your “me time.”
- Self-Acceptance
Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Meditation can significantly help us to embrace our worries, anger, fear, and that is very healing.”
Accepting who we are, and loving the fact is very empowering. It is the quality of people who have the potential to make it big in life. When you stop sulking about your life, your appearance, and your mental capabilities, you can focus on positive and useful things instead.
Researchers Ellen R. Albertson, Karen. E Dill Shackleford and Kristin D. Neff conducted a study in 2015, which focused on body dissatisfaction and self-compassion. They found out that the women who were intervened with meditation had reduced body dissatisfaction and elevated self-compassion.
- Better Performance in Academics and Work
Optimized cognitive skills like memory retention, concentration, and information processing help one to excel at work and also in academics. I have witnessed this personally, as I got showered with praises from my employer for my refined skills just after a month of regular meditation.
I was able to work in less time due to self-control, which helped me ignore distractions. Other than that, my work was error-free and yielded better results as compared to the work which I did before.
- Boosts Immunity
Meditation triggers restorative processes in the body, which in turn develops increased immunity. The current Covid-19 outbreak is a reason enough to start practicing meditation if you want to build a stronger immunity to combat the virus.
- Helps Combat Sleep Problems
Sleep disorders are a menace and a cause of many other diseases that can develop as a result of inadequate sleep.
Martires J, Zeidler M., in their 2007 study, concluded that mindfulness meditation can be successfully used to treat insomnia patients.
The good thing is that you can see the effect of mindful meditation on your sleep quality in just a few days.
- Represses the Onset of Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders
Treatment of many neurological disorders and mental health issues include intervention via meditation. Several studies have proved the benefit that patients got when meditation was included in their routine.
Doing meditation routinely increases the telomerase enzyme by 43%. This enzyme helps prevent many diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
- Meditation Helps Manage Back Pain
Back pain is a widespread problem which restricts the sufferer’s movements. This can cause hindrance in performing even the simplest of physical work.
As reported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, meditation helps people with back pain and improves their ability to perform daily tasks by 30%.
- Prevents Heart Diseases
Meditation promotes heart health and significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. It is, therefore, worth adding to your routine if you want to care for your heart.
According to project-meditation, Meditation can reduce the risk of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87%.
- Corrects Posture
Meditation is though a mind training process, but the physical aspect of it is to sit straight on a cushion while folding your legs. Daily practice of this will gradually correct your posture. Your spine will stay in shape, resulting in a reduction of conditions related to a bad posture.
Final Word
Let’s get some inspiration from one of the most handsome stars. If you too are a Hugh Jackman fan like me, then you must have known that he meditates routinely. According to him, meditation is better than the best sleep you ever had, and it keeps life fresh!
To turn into a more influential person with qualities such as intellect, capability, optimism, and composure, you should try meditation for sure. If you stay consistent and dedicated, you will also reap the same benefits I have mentioned above.
Article contributed by Alycia Gordan.
Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay
