Meditation is cognitive exercise whereby an individual’s awareness zeroes in on a subject, idea, or task to improve concentration in the process of practicing. It is normally applied in order to gain a mentally aware, emotionally relaxed, and steadiness. Technique of meditation can be traced back to prehistoric religion but is currently applied for dealing with stress, relaxation and other self development.
How to Start Meditation
Find a Quiet Space : Find a quiet place you don’t expect to be interrupted.
Sit Comfortably : Located in a chair or on the floor cross-legged and try to have your back straight.
Focus on Your Breath : Try to start with concentrating on your breath. Breathe in and out and try to be fully aware of the air passing through your body.
Clear Your Mind : In order to achieve this, it is good to close your mind to any other unnecessary thoughts. If you find that thoughts appear, immediately guide it back to your breath.
Start small : Begin by meditating for 5-10 minutes and follow this schedule to make the practice more comfortable.
Be Patient : Meditation takes practice. And eventually there comes a time when you can shut your mind and concentrate well.
Benefits of Meditation
1. Reduces Stress: Meditation is one of the methodologies that work on the parasympathetic activity whereby cortisol level and stress are reduced in your body.
2. Enhances Focus and Concentration: Meditation helps by acting as a drill, a familiar remind to the brain to stay on track, thus enhances concentration and memory.
3. Boosts Emotional Health: Meditation assists to control feelings, overcomes signs of anxiety, depression, and negative feelings.
4. Promotes Better Sleep: Mindfulness meditation reduces stress which in returns aids in falling asleep faster and increasing the quality of sleep.
5. Increases Self-Awareness: It means meditation assists one to know his or her mind and even enables one to make certain changes on what is being thought, felt or reacted on.
6. Improves Physical Health: Meditation has also been found to lead to lowered blood pressure, that is better heart health as well as a steady strengthened immunity.
Psychological mechanisms of the functioning of meditation, and how it makes the mind more powerful
1. Develops Mental Discipline: Meditation works out the prefrontal cortex which is the part of the brain that is involved in higher order brain functions mainly which the ability to decide, solve problems and control oneself.
2. Improves Emotional Resilience: Meditation assists you in controlling negative motives in your feelings and makes you remain composed during upsetting circumstances.
3. Enhances Creativity and Problem-Solving: By removing noise, he or she is able to think better and come up with new ideas – meditation encourages innovation.
4. Increases Mindfulness: Meditation makes one to be attentive, to focus and unfortunately makes one to be fully awake, and thus some decisions are made cautiously due to awareness
Ways Through Which Meditation Helps in Boosting Mental Health
1. Reduces Anxiety and Depression: Meditation eliminates extra ruminating, negative mind activities, making impact on signs of anxiousness and depression.
2. Increases Positive Emotions: Meditation practice creates general happiness or joy, satisfaction, and may increase the capacity for compassion.
3. Enhances Coping Mechanisms: Meditation essentially, takes care of the problem-solving aspect by giving the mind a break to handle it in a better way.
4. Strengthens Mental Clarity: Meditation retrains the mind to block out other stimuli’s which enables the brain to think and judge better.
5. Balances the Nervous System: Meditation has the effect of a release of certain hormones such as serotonin and dopamine which effectively heals the mind.
Integrating a period of information processing relaxation in your daily schedule can have a positive impact on your state of mind, and your physical body, and take control of your life with a healthy perspective and presence.
