Feeling stressed or anxious? Want to be more in touch with your thoughts and intentions for the day? This week on How We Rise, we're talking through all the benefits and ways to incorporate meditation into your life.
What is meditation?
Meditation has been around since the 15th and 16th century and has long been a way to connect and center your mind and body throughout your day. Meditation is about focusing and calming your mind and body away from the clutter and thoughts and focus on relaxing and being present with yourself.
Benefits of Meditation
Although there are many benefits of meditation, three main benefits of meditation are :
Reduce Stress: How to reduce stress from work and life is something we all struggle with. By focusing your mind and body and incorporating just a few minutes of meditation studies have shown a decrease in stress.
Increase overall concentration: Using and working your mind through meditation can help you increase your concentration and stay focused on tasks longer. One study even showed four days of meditation can be enough to help improve concentration.
Improve sleep: Meditation can beneficial in calming your mind helping you have a more restful night sleep due to your mind being focused and body relaxed.
Simple Ways to incorporate meditation in your daily life
1. Download an app to help guide your meditation. How to start meditating can be tricky. To start, try following a guided meditation app that will help you go through the different levels and steps to help you meditation. We love headspace, calm and simple habit.
2. Focused Breathing: It sounds silly, but is a great intentional way to start incorporating the act of meditation in your life. Start by taking intentional, deep breaths to help calm your mind and body and help you relax.
3. Go for a walk solo: Going for a walk alone is a great way to connect your body and mind and allow yourself to focus on yourself. The purpose of the walk is not just to burn calories, but intentionally reflect and center your mind and body.
4. Journaling: Some of us are more tactical meditators, and journaling can also be a great way to help us start meditating. One of the more common types of meditation is reflective meditation where you ask yourself questions. To help you focus more try using a journal to train your mind before going to fully thinking through the questions.
5. Unplug & re-focus: A key part of meditation is reflecting on your own thoughts and feelings. In todays world, technology can often be an easy distraction, so start by intentionally unplugging yourself. Whether that be 15 minutes before bed, or right when you wake up, intentionally set time aside.
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2. Focused Breathing: It sounds silly, but is a great intentional way to start incorporating the act of meditation in your life. Start by taking intentional, deep breaths to help calm your mind and body and help you relax.
