Skip to main content

The Benefits Of Meditation

Hi everyone, Happy Sunday. Happy Day Of Rest.

Photo by Tatiana Syrikova from Pexels

Are you sitting in a comfy chair? Cool, we’ll begin.

As it’s the Day Of Rest, I thought I’d talk a bit about mindfulness and meditation. You’ve probably come across it before, maybe you even practice these techniques on a daily basis. Or maybe only occasionally.

However, if you’ve never tried it before, I’ll explain the basics:

Meditation itself is the act of sitting still, in a quiet room, and focusing on stillness. It’s most effective with your eyes closed (but not compulsory), as this will encourage and allow you to access that deeper, relaxed state of meditation. The idea is to clear your mind of all thoughts, stresses, anxieties and anything else you might be feeling, and just relax. Get in touch with the spiritual world. 

Photo by Valeria Ushakova from Pexels

There are a few different types of meditation, including mindfulness meditation, which is all about focusing on the present moment. Being aware of your breathing, slowing it down, relaxing. You can be aware of any sounds around you, focus on what you can hear, the sound of your breath. Acknowledge any thoughts that pass through your mind and let them go.

Meditation in general is a great way to reduce stress and anxiety, and even 10 minutes per day can significantly improve your mental health and wellbeing. You learn ways to calm yourself down, wind down after a long day, or get yourself into a desired state to start your day. 

Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

If you’re like me and have a bit of an overactive mind, don’t stress over ensuring that it’s completely blank the whole time. You can use this as an opportunity to visualize. Perhaps you can visualize forthcoming events going well or going exactly how you want them to. This is where other elements such as manifesting come into it. 

What is manifesting? It is essentially using your mind, and thoughts, to attract positive energy in order to make things happen.

Manifesting can take a while to get your head around if you’re new to it, but the mind is a very powerful tool. Visualizing how you want an event to go, will create that scenario in your brain and an expectation for it to happen that way, meaning a more positive outlook towards the event and therefore a more positive approach when the time comes. 

Photo by George Milton from Pexels

Manifesting is a lot more powerful than you might think.

If I were to pretend that I’m your university lecturer, or your boss, for a split second, then I’ve got some recommended reading for you:

As mentioned in the previous piece, "You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero is an awesome read. This is a self-help book about self-love, manifestation and mindfulness. 

Also "Good Vibes, Good Life" by Vex King. 

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

But back to meditation, just to finish off. Meditation can really improve your focus and concentration; it can help to reduce anxiety and depression. And it can really help you with living in the moment and worrying less about the past.

There are clubs or groups out there who run all sorts of classes based around meditation, mindfulness and being in the moment. And as this is 2021, you can find all of this stuff on YouTube or google as well if you just want to do it on your own.

Happy Sunday!

Matt

Follow Matt: @Matt_jl_24

 

Follow us on Twitter @Stridi

Facebook @StridiApp

Instagram @Stridi_health

 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simple Tips For A Happier, Healthier Life

  Breathe in….. breathe out. Prolong the exhale.    Your breath is powerful. It has the power to improve your mood, your mental health and the way that your body functions. That sounds so easy and simple, doesn’t it? There are loads of other simple ways to improve your life. Not just from the comfort of your own home, but from the comfort of your own mind, your own body. Let’s start with your morning routine:   Try and go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day. A few minutes either way doesn’t really matter, so if you’re keen on the snooze button then don’t panic just yet. When you wake up, have a glass of warm water with a squeeze of lemon – you can use up to half a lemon if desired, but just a few drops are great too. (Warm water is beneficial by itself too, if you’re not good with the bitter taste of lemons.) Lemon water has a whole host of benefits. From helping to detox the body, to being a natural mood enhancer. Who needs that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Perception: The Map Is Not The Territory

  Hi everyone, It’s Matt here, and I’m back to share some more tips with you. Today I’d like to discuss perception.  As mentioned last time, my specialist area is NLP – Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which is similar to CBT. A classic NLP phrase is: The map is not the territory.   This phrase means that everyone’s perception is different. Two people can look at the same thing and see something different. For example, you might look out of your kitchen window and immediately spot your neighbours bright red car, followed by a tree which is swaying in the wind. Whereas a friend or family member might look at seemingly the exact same view, but not even notice the car until you point it out to them. Another example, you could make someone a cup of tea, and while one person might rejoice at getting their caffeine fix, another might complain that it's not in their favourite cup and the tea is too milky.  It’s all about perception. Your mind can “delete” things th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stop Putting it off - How to Create Habits For Success

  We all have some poor habits, whether it's: Eating junk. Having one too many lemonades on a school night. Playing that game on our phone at times when we shouldn't. It can become an unpleasant cycle of Cue, Craving, Response and Reward.   But.... did you know that we can use these stages to our advantage?  Habits aren’t just a part of your life – an annoying tendency that you can’t seem to shake. Or a surprising trait that you developed out of nowhere. Habits are developed – often accidentally, but we can also create habits. Creating a habit is very much like learning a new skill. We keep practicing until it becomes natural, or until we reach our desired level of competence. With a new skill, perhaps you just want to be able to perform the activity successfully in one take? Or maybe you want to be able to do it naturally, with barely any awareness that it’s happening.   Developing a habit is similar. The activity in question may be a skill or activity t...
Post a Comment
Read more