Meditation 101: The Beginners’ Best Guide You Should Check Out

The benefits of meditation are not only limited to physical health but also mental health. Apart from relieving stress and making you feel relaxed, there are various other benefits of meditation that can be obtained if you do it regularly.

Meditation is a relaxation technique training the concentration and mental focus level to feel calm and peaceful. This activity can be done quickly and in a relatively short time. You can meditate at any time, for example, at night before bed or when you feel tired and stressed out at work.

Meditation is of many types and can be practiced in different ways and techniques. But mindfulness is one of the easiest and most common types of meditation. Mindfulness meditation is a meditation technique that focuses on mindfulness and complete self-awareness. 

Meditation 101: A Beginner’s Guide

Various Benefits of Meditation 

There are many benefits of meditation that can be obtained if you do this activity regularly every day. The following are the various benefits you can get from meditation.

Manage stress effectively

Doing meditation can produce endorphins which play an essential role in managing the stress level. This hormone acts as a natural pain reliever which can also make you sleep better and reduce your stress level. 

In addition, mindfulness meditation is also believed to reduce high levels of the hormone cortisol produced in your body when you are feeling depressed and stressed.

Overcoming anxiety and depression

Regular meditation is also believed to be able to overcome mental health problems. This is because meditation techniques can effectively reduce excessive feelings of anxiety and restlessness.

Cytokine compounds released in response to stress can affect our mood. If this keeps happening in the long run, it can gradually increase the risk of developing mental disorders like depression. Regular meditation is believed to reduce cytokine levels, reducing the risk of depression.

Regulate emotions better

Not only relieving anxiety disorders, but doing meditation regularly can also make you feel calmer, happier, and overall more positive. In addition, meditation is also known to improve brain performance which plays a role in learning, remembering, and concentrating.

Maintain heart health

Excessive stress can make blood pressure increase, thus causing the heart to work harder. This condition can cause various problems with the heart and blood vessels. Thus, it could even lead to heart attacks and strokes. Meditation can make reducing stress easier so your blood pressure level will become more stable.

Strengthen the immune system

Several studies have shown an increase in antibodies or immune-forming substances that are higher in people who meditate regularly. But remember, to strengthen the immune system, you can’t rely only on meditation. You also need to live a healthy lifestyle to ensure your immune system is better maintained.

Reduce pain

Many conditions can cause a person to experience pain, for example, when experiencing an injury or suffering from certain diseases such as cancer. Pain in cancer can arise due to the growth of cancer cells or a side effect of chemotherapy. Research shows the mindfulness meditation method can relieve pain in cancer patients.

How Meditation Works

If you want to start trying to meditate, you can follow these easy steps-by-steps below:

• Sit up straight before taking deep breaths slowly and repeatedly
• Focus on your breath and your feelings
• Focus your mind on different parts of the body alternately while continuing to take slow breaths
• Become aware of what you feel in each of the body parts
• You can also intersperse meditation sessions with prayer, gratitude, or positive self-talk
• Try to manage your emotions and thoughts by filtering negative emotions and maintaining positive thoughts. Thus you can feel calmer and more comfortable

Things To Note Before Meditating

To achieve successful meditation activities, you should consider these essential things. 

Focus your mind

A focused and calm mind is the most crucial element of meditation, as it can help clear your mind of the many distractions that trigger stress, anxiety, and worry. Ensure you try your best to clear away any thoughts or worries to get better focus during the meditation.

Breathe slowly

As the name implies, in mindfulness meditation, thus we should be mindful of everything we do during the meditation process. We often forget that breathing -one of the essential parts of our life, should also be done mindfully. Mindful breathing is when you take a slow and deep breath to increase the oxygen inhaled into the lungs. Thus, oxygen in the blood and throughout the body also increases. 

Perform in a comfortable place

If you’re not used to meditating before, you should try to do it in a quiet place. Away from any potential distractions. You should also do it in a clean and tidy environment first. Ensure that your area is free from cluttered or smelly odor. 

To avoid the latter, you should put a reed diffuser around the area as well as cleaning your carpet regularly. These two are the most effective things to do to prevent the emergence of any pungent smell in a room.

When you meditate, you will need the utmost focus. A busy room or foul odor will distract you, especially as you are still a newbie in the meditating field. When you have better training, you can do it anywhere and anytime you think you need it.

Try to make meditation a part of your daily routine for maximum results. However, remember, to maintain a healthy body, you must also lead a healthy lifestyle!