29 Mar How to Improve Your Life with Meditation
As the world turns and life continues at its frantic pace, it can be hard to find those moments that can help focus our perception of daily life and what is important, and it is necessary for people to learn how to be more mindful of their surroundings and find peace and silence within.
Meditation can be a very useful tool to help develop awareness of the world around us and find a stronger focus on the here and now, tuning out everything else and tuning in by drawing attention to our breath and body. It’s a healthy and efficient way to reduce the stress of daily life and busy schedules, as well as calming anxiety and improving mental health. It can even improve physical health and overall well-being, such as lowering blood pressure, boosting overall mood, enhancing sleep, increasing pain tolerance, and reducing substance abuse.
The benefits of meditation are extensive, and one of its biggest advantages is the fact that it can be done by ourselves, with only our body and lungs being used along with the silence of the place of meditation. Practicing various meditation techniques can soon become a useful habit to manage demanding lives and understanding what these techniques do and how they focus the mind is critical to successfully meditate and lead a better life. There are many techniques to meditate and draw attention to ourselves, but each technique focuses on a different part of the body and requires different skills and mindsets.
Some of the more well-known techniques and what each one does are the following:
Mindfulness meditation
This technique is focused on observing thoughts in your mind and letting them pass while drawing attention to the body, taking mental notes of patterns and sensations without trying to change them or criticize them. Imagine your thoughts and sensations are just bubbles or clouds that you notice and let pass without holding on to them.
Spiritual meditation
Seek spiritual growth by finding deeper connections to the spiritual, religious, and/or higher powers. Can be done at home or a place of worship by engaging in community rituals or by reflecting individually about a spiritual teaching and how invites you to personally relate to it.
Focused meditation
Sharpen the senses through this technique, which involves using the senses to focus on either internal or external influences, like our breath noticing the entire flow of your breathing and/or counting while your inhale and exhale. Anchoring your attention to an object in the sky, the flame of a candle, a body of water, etc.
Movement meditation
This is done by performing an activity that helps bring calm to the body, such as yoga , tai chi, Qi Gong, or even walking and gardening. The key is that you are completely present in the activity you chose to do.
Mantra meditation
Helps experience deeper levels of awareness by using a repetitive sound to clear the mind, which can be a word, phrase, or a sound. An example are prayers or songs that are repeated with an intention.
Transcendental meditation
Usually taught by a certified practitioner, this technique is about inducing a state of calm and peace by avoiding distractions, often by combining it with mantra to quiet the mind.
Progressive relaxation
This involves reducing tension in the body by tightening and relaxing one group of muscles at a time and is usually done before going to bed. However, it can be helpful at any time of the day to bring the awareness of the body and the caring attention to each part you tense and release.
Loving-kindness meditation
Used to strengthen feelings of compassion, love, kindness, and acceptance towards oneself and others, which is done by opening the mind and sending love to all living beings, including yourself.
Visualization meditation
This technique involves visualizing specific scenes, figures, or images to help enhance positivity, relaxation, and peace. This also includes visualizing people or specific goals. Any scene your mind imagines has the power to create sensations as if what is imagined is happening. This is the foundation of how powerful and life transforming is to always make room for positive images, positive memories, and thoughts.
Meditating just 20 minutes a day is enough to start feeling the benefits of meditation and doing it consistently even in small increments of time can help your life immensely. It can be practiced anywhere, especially in the comfort of your home, but if you ever need help or want to learn other ways to improve your well-being, The Power Inside You is here to assist you to turn your everyday thoughts and struggles into personal growth. Every little bit count, and if you want to know more about us, you can visit our website and you can also contact us at (407) 270-5931 to know how meditation can make your life better.