Meditation is an activity that may be done to achieve a sense of calmness. It is a practice that can help to regulate stress levels and promote feelings of peacefulness that can help you during everyday life.
What is Meditation?
Meditation has been traced back to times as early as 5,000 BCE. The culture of meditation exists worldwide. The initial point of the practice was to understand the deep meaning of life and its purpose. It has evolved to be a form of relaxation that helps to cope with stress.
It is a practice that affects both the mind and body. It allows your body to reach a state of relaxation and peacefulness. The biggest part is to focus and bring all attention to a single aspect at a time. Forgetting the craziness of your everyday schedule and world struggles is one of the biggest positives of meditation.
There are many different kinds of meditation such as:
- Mantra Meditation
- Guided Meditation
- Mindful Meditation
- Transcendental Meditation
- Yoga
Allow us to break these down and hopefully this helps to narrow down which you may want to try out!
#1 Mantra Meditation
The first step, which should be applied to all forms of meditation are to:
- Find a quiet/calming environment
- Sit in a comfortable position
- Try to keep your eyes closed
After this is accomplished, for Mantra meditation, you must find an object, phrase or thought to focus on. Once doing this the purpose is to repeat the attention to the thing you have chosen to focus on.
For example, a phrase you could utilize during Mantra meditation could be something like “I can’t control things around me, but I can control how I react.” A thought like this could be used to help to remind yourself that things are going to happen as they are supposed to, but the way you move after is really what matters.
You could even focus on a religious symbol; anything that brings you a sense of peace. From there you will repeat the object, phrase or thought. This will help to keep any distracting thoughts away considering you are focusing on one thing.
You could do this for a time period from 5 to 20 minutes; whatever your schedule will allow.
#2 Guided Meditation
Guided meditation is a great option for those who are just starting out. This is meditation where another person’s voice tells you how to go through meditation.
The person will describe in ways for you to visualize images, places or situations. Sometimes it will require you to use all of your senses. The overall goal, like any other meditation, is to give you feelings of peace.
For example, a person may tell you to visualize you are on a beach, the instructor may play ocean wave sounds, anything you may hear when on a beach. Anything that they can do to help you easily visualize.
You do not need to be in any in-person classes, you could look up videos on YouTube or even download apps.
#3 Mindful Meditation
Be present and in the moment. This is the overall idea of mindful meditation. The point is to be mindful and increase awareness and acceptance of living in the moment.
Things like acknowledging your thoughts and emotions, as well as focusing on your breath is a large component of this kind of meditation. Like all other meditation it is important to find a calming environment, set aside some time without distractions and be open minded.
Focus on your breathing, if a negative or distracting thought comes to mind, try deep breathing techniques to bring yourself back. For example, think about something that relaxes you when you breathe. Maybe consider laying in the sun, or watching the stars at night.
Consider setting a timer on your phone as well so any worry about taking too long or being late for something is eliminated.
#4 Transcendental Meditation
This form of meditation is similar to mantra meditation, but more so focusing on words, sounds, and phrases.
You then repeat this word, sound or phrase in your head until you reach a place of peace. The difference of this meditation as well is that by the time you are finished, you will feel a sense of restful alertness. Though you are relaxed and your mind is at peace, you are still fully conscious.
Your mind will settle and then you will finish in total consciousness.
#5 Yoga
Yoga is one of the most popular ways to bring peace to the body. Yoga has also been around for thousands of years. By allowing your body to form in certain ways, you allow your inner distractions to be out to the side while you physically and mentally focus on achieving relaxation through poses.
Rather than sitting in one spot and not moving, yoga requires the contorting and stretching of the body. By controlling your breathing and slowly moving to make poses, you are forced to recognize the present moment.
Some very popular yoga positions for meditation include:
- Seiza (sit with legs folded under the body, with the tops of your feet on the floor and the buttocks resting on the heels)
- Full Lotus (both of your thighs rotate externally in the hip sockets and then flex 90°)
- Burmese position (both feet are on the mat, your left foot is closest to the body and the right leg pulled close against the left)
Start your meditation journey
Many people meditate at the beginning of their day. It is a way to bring yourself a sense of relaxation before the long day begins. Everyone feels stress so finding ways (especially natural ways) to eliminate just a percentage of that stress can really make the difference. Be sure to try out and possibly implement one of these meditation practices to help your sense of calmness today!
To restful and healthy days ahead.
The Relaxium Team
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources:
https://time.com/4246928/meditation-history-buddhism/
https://mindworks.org/blog/what-is-guided-meditation/
https://www.verywellmind.com/mindfulness-meditation-88369
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22292-transcendental-meditation