All You Need to Know About Meditation

Have you ever found yourself immersed in the sea of stress? Do you feel burdened by daily life challenges and the worries that accompany them? If you feel your physical and mental health is deteriorating day by day, give yourself a break from the everyday struggles of life by indulging in meditation. 

What Is Meditation?

Meditation is the practice in which a person makes use of mindfulness, or focuses the mind on a particular object, activity, or thought. This practice is performed so as to attain attention and awareness. Note  that meditation helps one in achieving a mentally clear as well as emotionally calm and stable state. 

As far as the types of meditation are concerned, the list includes: 

• Mindfulness meditation - You pay attention to thoughts crossing your mind. 
• Focused meditation - You concentrate on any of the five senses. 
• Spiritual meditation - You observe the silence surrounding you. Moreover, seek a deeper connection with the Universe or God.
• Mantra meditation - You use a repetitive sound such as ‘Om’ to clear your mind. 
• Movement meditation - You use movement such as gardening, walking and others to clear your mind.
• Progressive relaxation - You slowly tighten and relax one muscle group at a time throughout the body.
• Loving-kindness meditation - You work on strengthening feelings of kindness, compassion, and acceptance towards self and others.
• Transcendental meditation - You silently repeat a mantra for a few minutes every day.
• Visualization meditation - You visualize positive scenes or images to enhance feelings of peace, relaxation, and calm. 

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Benefits of Meditation

Practicing meditation introduces you to your new self. When you start performing meditation, you start witnessing the change in you. This change transforms you in both, mental and physical manner. It won’t be wrong to state that meditation promotes healing. 

When you practice meditation, your mind becomes fresh and beautiful. Meditation helps you cleanse and nourish yourself from within. Furthermore, it calms you at times when you feel  unstable, overwhelmed or emotionally shut down.

Let us uncover a few key mental benefits that you gain after regular meditation: 

• Relaxed mind 
• Decrease in anxiety
• Increase in creativity
• Enhanced happiness 
• Developed intuition
• Increase in mental agility
• Improved emotional stability 
• Better memory and retention
• Clarity and peace of mind

Mental benefits being discussed, let us focus on a few prime physical benefits of regular meditation: 

• Lowered high blood pressure
• Increased energy levels
• Strengthened immune system
• Increase in serotonin production, which leads to improved mood and behavior
• Lowered levels of blood lactate
• Minimized anxiety attacks
• Decrease in tension-related pain (ulcers, insomnia, headaches, muscle, and joint problems)

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How Is Meditation Performed?

If new to meditation, you can perform it by following the below mentioned steps: 

Step 1: Sit or lie down in a comfortable manner. If interested, you can make use of a meditation chair or cushion.
Step 2: Close your eyes.
Step 3: Start breathing naturally. Do not make any extra effort to control your breathing. 
Step 4: Focus your attention on the breath. Try to emphasise on how your body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Observe your belly, chest, shoulders, and rib cage. Do not try to control the intensity or pace of your breath while putting attention to it. In case your mind diverts anywhere, try to bring your focus back to your breath.
Step 5: Continue this meditation practice for 2 to 3 minutes in the beginning phase. Later, you can try meditating for longer periods of time. 

The Bottom Line 

Meditation practice is advisable if you are looking forward to finding spiritual enlightenment or stillness. Whether you want to flow through movement or minimize your everyday stress, go ahead and start practicing meditation without giving it a second thought. 

If you have been avoiding meditation in the past due to any reason such as lack of time or meditation benefits knowledge, realize that finally it’s time you come out of your comfort zone and try different meditation types. 

Remember, you cannot force practicing meditation. It will come to you naturally and become sustaining, supportive, as well as enjoyable.

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Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.