Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is a wonderful practice that can help reduce stress and eliminate negative thoughts. Here are some of the biggest benefits to know about.
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Benefits of Meditation

Our daily lives can introduce a lot of stress, pain and anxiety through various situations. For example, we might feel stressed during our morning commute to work because of how packed public transport is, and we might feel anxious about a large project at work. In fact, many people consider stress to be a global epidemic due to how widespread it is. It’s not uncommon for everyone to experience a stressful or difficult situation during their day at some point in the week. Fortunately, handling these stressful situations can be easy if you have the right relaxation techniques in mind.

Meditation is one of the best ways to help you beat back stress and improve your imagination and clarity. By taking a few deep breaths and using alternate nostril breathing, you could deal with difficult emotions and even improve your blood flow. There are many different forms of meditation that you can use such as mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, or even pursed-lip breathing. But no matter what kind of meditation you practise, the goal is usually the same; to help you achieve inner peace.

In this post, we’ll be talking about the major benefits of meditation.

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The main benefits of meditation

As a unique form of alternative medicine, meditation comes with many unique benefits that are all centred around reducing stress and helping you overcome difficult situations. Below, we’ve listed the main benefits of mindfulness meditation practices.

Strengthening your mental health

Mental health can often be overlooked, but maintaining it can ensure a more positive outlook on life and even improved confidence. Mental health can fluctuate depending on a variety of situations, but it can be improved by using meditation techniques to expunge negative thoughts. Reviews and studies have shown that people receiving meditation therapies can actually show reduced symptoms of depression.

Mental health-related symptoms can be difficult to diagnose, hence why it’s important to improve your understanding and use relaxation techniques such as meditation to not only treat these concerns but also protect your mind from psychological stress.

Helping you manage anxiety

Anxiety is often defined as a feeling of worry or fear and it’s typically linked with a potential outcome that can soon happen. As such, we might feel anxious about the near future, thus causing us to make poor decisions or even back out from new opportunities that could help us advance our careers or relationships. Anxiety is very common no matter who you are, but meditation practice can help you cope with it.

Breathing exercises are a great way to lower your anxiety or manage anxiety disorders. All it takes is a simple breathing technique with shallow breaths, and you’ll feel relaxed in just a few moments. Group duided meditations can be a great introduction to mindfulness based stress reduction techniques as well.

Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation is a great way to reduce anxiety symptoms, especially if you have been diagnosed with a generalised anxiety disorder. Different types of meditation can help you remove negative thoughts which encourages more positive thinking. Some research suggests that people with chronic pain can actually reduce their levels of depression and anxiety in just one year by completing a meditation course.

Lowering your stress levels

Meditation is one of the best ways to help you reduce your stress levels. In fact, plenty of people develop meditation techniques for the sole purpose of reducing their stress levels.

Stress can affect anyone at any time. As long as they’re faced with a difficult or troubling situation, their body will show increased levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. When produced in large amounts, it can lead to harmful effects like the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. This can lead to disrupted sleep, depression, anxiety, and even increased blood pressure. Some people even show signs of fatigue and muddled thinking when under extreme stress.

Thankfully, meditation can help relieve these troubles. Mindfulness meditation has been proven to help reduce stress levels through the use of breathing techniques and mindfulness training. There is also evidence to suggest that breathing exercises can improve symptoms of stress-related conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

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What types of meditation are there?

Now that we have a general understanding of what meditation is and the benefits it offers, let’s take a look at the different types of formal and informal meditation.

Guided meditation

Guided meditation is often what people start with when they have an interest in various types of meditation. It’s often known as guided imagery because it involves having someone lead others with their voice to encourage meditation. This can include signalling when to take a deep breath and when to exhale slowly.

In most cases, a single person will communicate with a group of people who are in a comfortable position. They’ll suggest images to picture, thoughts to focus on, and memories to recall. The benefit of guided meditation is that it doesn’t require experience in order to participate in it. You can also practice guided meditations with audio recordings and videos instead of attending a class or session.

Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation is another common and powerful breathing technique that many people use to lower their stress levels and combat negative emotions. This technique is grounded in the idea of being mindful. It’s about opening your mind and interfacing with the world around you using all of your thoughts. It’s important to expand your conscious awareness with mindfulness meditation.

Spending some time to practice meditation techniques can help improve your whole body. You should be focusing on quieter noises, listening to your breath for a few moments, and also following your thoughts and emotions but letting them run free without scrutinising everything you think about. It can be difficult to get the hang of, but it’s one of the most effective forms of meditation.

Yoga

Yoga is a popular form of physical exercise that is often related to meditation because it’s heavily focused on belly breathing exercises. There’s a heavy emphasis on breath focus together with stretches. With just a yoga mat and instructions for practising meditation, this can be a great introduction to integrative health techniques especially if you find it hard to sit down and focus on your thoughts alone. When you mix physical activity into your meditation, you might find that it’s a lot easier to concentrate on your inner thoughts and feelings.

No matter what meditation programs you decide to follow, it’s important to focus on your breathing pattern and take just a few minutes each day to focus on meditating. It’s a fantastic form of stress relief for the present moment and helps you combat a variety of different health problems.

Conclusion

There are many different meditation practices that you can try. From practising deep breathing to mantra meditation, you’ll learn to feel relaxed with just a few minutes of meditation. Some of them involve paying for services, and others might involve the use of home equipment and materials such as a cold ice bath. Just remember that all forms of meditation have a common goal; to achieve inner peace and combat negative thoughts and emotions.

Ryan Abbott

Ryan Abbott

Founder of Urban Ice Tribe

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Helping men & women release anxieties & limiting beliefs to experience a life of freedom using powerful breathwork, cold water therapy, movement & sound healing.

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