Hi steemians , todays blog is all about meditation , its benefits and effects on your health. I honestly feel meditation has a very crucial part to play in that journey of you reaching your maximum potential . A lot of successful people Steve Jobs, Hugh Jackman and Shane Watson have turned to meditation in order to enhance the rest of their lives.
Shane Watson one of cricket`s greatest all rounders in the modern era has actually said that towards the end of his career, meditation helps him cope with injuries , injury recovery and muscle recovery are just a few of benefits of meditation and if you are kinda person who believes only in scientifically backed studies and article this link is for you: Studies :
-Physically changes your brain: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/
-Helps you manage stress and decrease side effects of stress: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2156587214543143
-Meditation reducing anxiety symptoms: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress-201401086967
-3 months of meditation helps decrease blood pressure in hypertension patients :https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199014/
-2010 Elizabeth blackburn: genetic effects of meditation: helps slow down aging : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057175/
but i am going to tell you benefits in very brief . A recent studies done in UCLA show that people who meditate have a higher level of GYRIFICATION in your brain which means the folds in the cortex of your brain and these enhances amount of folds are actually linked with the faster processing power.
you are essentially becoming smarter and your brain is becoming faster and active through meditation.The best part is that the long term meditation link with more gyrification, the more you meditate the more your processing power.
So essentially you take meditation as a some kind of brain workout where you are enhancing the power of your brain by just meditating for 10-20 minutes a day.There are also studies which shows that meditation changes certain parts of your brain, it increases the size of those parts that are linked with HAPPINESS, FOCUS, MEMORY FORMATION, LEARNING ABILITY & ABILITY TO EMPATHIZE. Meditation also reduces STRESS, ANXIETY, FEAR, DEPRESSION & SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE. Overall you are enhancing you overall state of being through something as simple as meditation.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Personally, i just to come meditation to cope with my anxiety and stress,as i just read an article that shows that how meditation helps you get rid of it but i felt the other effect after long term meditation. All i do is 20 minutes of meditation before i go to bed and just like exercising you have to create a habit to actually see the benefits. You dont get any benefits if you do it just once in a while , the increase level of happiness only happens after you meditate for every single day.
HOW TO DO IT?
The first thing you need to understand is that everyone`s has a different definition of meditation, i just want you to get success with the meditation. So i am going to give you my opinions about how to go with the process, but what i do promise you if you follow the guidelines and meditate everyday it will make a difference to your life.The definition of meditation is get disconnect, people said when you meditate you have to disconnect with the real life, dont think about two many things you just need to concentrate on your own breath which for the average person is kind of hard to do.i just cant sit in one place and meditate and disconnect from everything else.Obviously you are gonna have a lots of other thoughts in your head. But its normal , its human nature, so now tell you step by step guide of how to meditate and minimize these thoughts ..
SIT DOWN in a quiet place ideally in complete darkness and fold your legs , sit cross leg and just keep your arms comfortable however you want.You can even sit on a chair if you find that comfortable and then you can begin your meditation process.
Mindfulness meditation is that you are taking deep breath , inhale completely and exhale and focus on your own breath And you do this for about 20 minutes everyday.Now the trick here is avoid thinking about 20 other things so you consciously try to focus on breathe , even if 20 minutes seems like a lot , you can start it with doing it for 10 minutes a day but the key is to just get yourself to doing this.
Everytime you open your eye after meditation i promise you, that you will be a lot calm and the world will feel different.What i just talk about is mindfulness meditation , where you just focus on one thing and leave all other thoughts and in this case its your breath BUT from my own experience i couldnt go about doing mindfulness meditation specially as a beginner. So the meditation i do is that OM CHANTING MEDITATION ,now this is nothing to do this any religion what you gotta understand is that Om is kind of tangible distraction for your mindness. when you are chanting OM,, its that same distraction that helps you disconnect from your real life thatsall it is.
For the 75% of your breath you chant the AU and for 25% you chant M. Once again dont worry too much about the technique , its not about how you sit or chant it.Its just about consistently doing this for 20 minutes a day is what matters. When you go to gym , you feel great after a workout because for that time you just disconnect with the world and focus on one thing and also feel all good hormones . Meditation is just other way of feeling those all good hormones after a point of time, after habit it comes with disconnect thats where you wanna reach.
But the main thing is consistency and create a habit ,push yourself to meditate and do it for atleast 10-20 minutes and you feel the difference.
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