When you are feeling stressed or just need a break from your daily routine, you should consider meditating.

Meditation helps you relax and unwind from a long day. It can also reduce tension from your body and help you calm your mind.

There are so many benefits of meditation on your physical and mental health and we will consider 10 of those benefits in this article.

Let’s begin.

                    What is the Meaning of Meditation?

In recent years, meditation has become a major practice highly recommended by a lot of health professionals and organizations.

It is the practice of focusing on your thoughts and feelings in the present moment. Healthline defines it as the habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.

Meditation involves focusing your mind on a single action, thought, object or sound.

Despite the many benefits of meditation, it is a cost-free activity. Meditation can be done anywhere. You can do it indoors or outdoors. You can also do it anytime either in the day or before going to bed.

Meditation can also be done alone or as a group. What matters is that you do it in a quiet environment.

                        Types of Meditation

There are several types of meditation but the most popular meditation techniques are:

  1. Guided Meditation/Visualization: Here, you focus on a mental image or thing. This process can also be led by a teacher.
  2. Mantra Meditation: In this type of meditation, your mind is focused on a particular word or phrase.
  3. Mindfulness Meditation: This is one of the most common types of meditation. This type of meditation is when you focus on the present i.e you become more aware of the present. It is a mindful from of meditating.

                         How Meditation Works

As mentioned earlier, during meditation, you focus on one thing alone and rid your mind of all distracting thoughts.

There are a lot of meditation techniques but it is best that you consider simpler techniques at the beginning.

Here are the steps for a simple meditation session:

Step 1

Set a time limit for your meditation session. If you’re just starting out, consider meditating between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

Step 2

Sit or stand in a quiet environment. It is best to keep your eyes closed.

Step 3

Focus your attention on your breathing or body sensations. Try to empty and calm your mind

Step 4

Do this continuously. Whenever you get distracted or start thinking about something, try to draw your attention back.

Note: Your mind might wander at the beginning but as you try to meditate daily, you will get better and be less distracted.

 

ALSO READ : Mental Health Groups/Communities: How Can They Guide Through Life’s Journey

 

10 Amazing Benefits that Meditation has on Your Mental and Physical Health

  1. Meditation helps you control your emotions: When meditating, you focus all your attention on the present moment and let go of negative emotions, worries etc.

According to a study, you feel less anger and stress when you meditate.

  1. Meditation helps you manage and reduce mental health issues like anxiety. When you meditate, you let go of your anxieties and worry less.
  2. Meditation improves your memory: Meditating regularly can increase your memory capacity and help you focus more. Furthermore, it helps to combat age-related memory loss.
  3. It helps you sleep better: Meditation can be very useful in enjoying a quality sleep. Meditating before bedtime helps you release tension from your body and reduce your stress levels. This reduces insomnia and helps you sleep quickly and much better.
  4. Meditation reduces stress: Stress is one of the major reasons why people meditate. It can help you to unburden the stress from your daily work and regain balance.

Through meditation, you get to focus on what truly matters and let go of stressful thoughts and worries either from your work, school etc.

  1. It increases your self-awareness: Meditation involves trying to focus on your thoughts and feelings in the present moment. It is a self-practice just like journaling that can help you understand yourself better, and gain more knowledge about your habits and thoughts.

When you meditate, you notice your thoughts about yourself and become more mindful of how you think of yourself.

  1. Meditation increases your attention span.: Currently, we are in a time of information overload and our attention span are very low. But with meditation, you would be able to keep your attention on certain things for a longer period of time. A study showed that meditating for 13mins daily can increase your attention span and memory capacity.
  2. Meditation increases your self-compassion: When you meditate daily, you are able to reflect on yourself, habits and your actions. This helps you to be more accepting of yourself and people around you.

Studies have shown that meditation can increase people’s compassion towards themselves and others.

  1. Meditation reduces heart problems: Heart issues like high blood pressure can be decreased through meditation. Meditation reduces stress and relaxes your nerve signals, your blood pressure and heart rate is also lowered
  2. Meditation helps you to reduce negative emotions. As you meditate, your attention is set on a particular thought or action and this helps you empty your mind. With meditation, you can let go of negative emotions and embrace positive ones.

                Come Meditate with Us

Mycarebuddy in collaboration with the Happiness center will be hosting a meditation and yoga session along with other self-care activities on 5th October 2024. It will hold between the hours of 4pm-6pm at the Happiness Center, 320 Akin Ogunlewe street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Register here and Join us for an evening of Meditation and Relaxation.

 

                Conclusion

Meditation can be the self-care practice your mental and physical health requires. To release tension from your daily activities and reduce stress, consider practicing meditation.