Let’s talk about the many psychological benefits of meditation that might spur you to start a simple meditation practice.
Does the thought of sitting still in meditation have you running for the hills?
Not to worry. Like yoga, meditation is a practice. Some folks gravitate easily towards sitting still, and some do not. Either way, “stuff” will come up as you start to meditate. But that’s the point! The tendency is to want to stop, get up, and run away when negative thoughts arise. Meditation allows us to let all thoughts rise up fully so that we can release them without attachment.
Newer to meditation? First drop into this kundalini flow class, Balancing Rajas, with Sarah Kline. Sarah explains how our yoga and meditation practices can move us to a more balanced state. For those of us who would rather escape than sit still in meditation, moving and breathing through a physical practice first allows us to burn off “stuck” energy in our minds and bodies.
The Power of Thought
As human beings, we all have a natural negativity-bias meaning most people lean slightly toward negative thinking. At its core, this is just an embedded survival mechanism to keep us out of danger. Some experts estimate that the average individual has 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day. Meditation can give us the freedom to choose which thoughts we give our attention to.
However, the psychological benefits of meditation aren’t solely about focusing on the positive. The benefits come with acknowledging and addressing all of our thoughts. It is imperative that we equally embrace negative thought patterns to gain a better understanding of them. Then, and only then, do we have the chance to shift them to become growth-oriented and uplifting. This practice can mean major breakthroughs for both our minds and bodies.
Modern society urges us to suppress the negative, while simultaneously focusing (often too much) on the positive. This has proven to create imbalance with a massive ripple effect toward our family, friends, co-workers and teams. It also creates a self-environment of being too hard on oneself for not meeting and exceeding expectations beckoned by today’s world.
Marketing, advertising, social media, our upbringings, and even our most intimate relationships can create this unconscious drive to be perfect. Endlessly striving to be the most successful, adaptable, supportive and strong person possible only creates severe imbalance. Health and wellness practitioners see these manifestations expressed psychologically and/or physically in clients every day.
These unrealistic expectations keep people from dropping into vulnerability and sharing their truths. Vulnerability drives connection with ourselves and with others. Sitting still in meditation benefits us in that we give ourselves the opportunity to create awareness around our all of our truths. We then learn where our thoughts come from and why. This awareness, with continual attention and practice, eventually allows for massive shift. Our thoughts become more positive. Our beliefs are improved. Then our actions and expressions become much more constructive, creating a positive ripple effect into the world.
Want to meditate but not sure where to start? Check out this complete guide on YogaToday!
The Benefits of Meditation Can Extend to Our Physical Bodies, Too.
Let’s start with a very common issue psychological issue: stress.
We’ve all experienced stress. There is no way of getting around it, physically, mentally or emotionally. Unless we have the luxury of moving to a far-away land, removed from society, meditating with the masters for the rest of our lives.
When we experience stress, the brain interprets the event as positive or negative. If negative, the brain sends a message to the body to respond.
Body responses to a negative message include:
• releasing stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine
• increased heart rate
• increased blood pressure
• muscle tension
• extraction of vital energy out of the organs to prepare for “fight-or-flight”.
Living in a state of chronic stress, our bodies are never given the opportunity to recover. The parasympathetic nervous system is unable to reset itself. This can go on for years, resulting in weight gain, heart disease, adrenal fatigue and so on.
Meditation can begin to break down our stress-inducing thoughts and patterns, allowing our parasympathetic nervous system to reset and our body's stress responses to finally let go.
Ready to medi? Adi Amar guides you through a ten minute meditation to Neutralize Negative Patterns, changing negative thoughts to more positive thoughts.
More Surprising Benefits of Meditation
Meditation truly bolsters our minds, bodies and their incredible connection to one another.
- It offers the opportunity to better understand our thoughts and shift them to the positive.
- We give ourselves the gift of a precious time-out from this fast-paced world to go within and create exactly what we desire.
- We reduce inflammatory stress in a constructive manner. We feel better physcially which always translates to feeling better mentally and emotionally – and vice versa.
- Meditators are regenerating on a cellular level resulting in youth, vitality, and optimal wellness. Studies have shown increasing support of meditation as a way to decrease the chances of heart disease as well as a benefit those living with cancer.
- Research offers that practiced meditators may have an increase in tissue in the areas of the brain that involve impulse control and attention.
- Research also presents that those who meditate may just become a little bit more kind.
These are the precious muscles we are strengthening with meditation. We learn to pay attention to ourselves which in turn cultivates awareness. This new-found self-awareness aids us in the ability to listen, pay attention, step out of our own shoes and into another’s, growing a more conscious awareness of our entire collective.
Beautifully, the result of meditation, is the ability to respond, rather than react, to life’s happenings from an authentic, grounded, heartfelt place. What’s not to love?
Want to meditate but not sure where to start? Check out this complete guide on YogaToday!
