In the modern world we are consumed by so many factors that lead us into overdrive, distraction and stress, whether it’s good or bad. Yes, there can be good types of stress! Anyway, day to day we simply have too much to think about and we are ultimately becoming too connected which stops us from taking a pause and allowing ourselves some quiet time alone. Sometimes all you want to do is just sit down and both physically and mentally check out for a while. This can often it feel impossible. I want to explain the importance of bringing a meditation practice into your daily life and how it can improve your mental and physical wellbeing. With regular practice you can learn to calm the mind and bring clarity to your day when seeking a short time alone.

Who can meditate?

Meditation is for everyone and everybody. Even if you follow a particular religion, mediation does not have to be spiritual. It’s all about taking time to pause, that moment to simply check in with yourself. We all deserve that moment, we cannot afford to be full steam ahead all of the time, it’s simply inefficient and unhealthy. If you cannot serve yourself in the best way possible, how do you expect to provide positive energy to others. 

In this post I will be covering what meditation actually is and provide you with 4 suggestions for meditation techniques and explain to you the benefits to implementing this personal time in your daily life.

What actually is meditation?

Meditation is a means of transforming your mind. Its’s a continued practice to develop concentration, clarity and emotional positivity. By engaging in meditative practices you can learn to understand your mind and create new and healthy habits. With regular practice we can deepen our connection to the 4 pillars of wellbeing (explained below), which will profoundly bring us peace and positive energy leading us into transformation. We can learn to live a life where we become the best version of ourselves. It’s impossible to be happy all of the time, it’s simply an emotion that comes and goes but we can learn to become content. When we become content, we can see more clearly and are able achieve wonderful things. 

Becoming Mindful..

Have you heard of the term “you should meditate to become more mindful” or “you can achieve mindfulness through meditation”? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. I’m here to tell you first what mindfulness really is. 

Mindfulness is made up of the 4 pillars of wellbeing:

1. Awareness
2. Connection
3. Insight
4. Purpose

Awareness; I will give you a scenario; you’ve been reading a book, you’ve just got to the end of the page and realised you have no clue what you just read. You were not aware of what you were doing because your mind was elsewhere. When we sit in stillness with our eyes closed and take a moment to listen to our thoughts we can start to learn and perhaps understand what is going on inside us. Ultimately we want to figure out why we are experiencing these feelings, thoughts, emotions and understand how we can better serve ourselves. 

Once we can become aware of when the mind starts to wonder into these strange places, we can learn to better control our actions and the outcome. To be aware, allows us to be at one with our thoughts and our feelings in the present moment. It will ultimately lead us into a better space to help ourselves in understanding. Let’s help us serve and project our energy peacefully on a daily basis.  

Connection: As humans, it is important for us to have quality, healthy and loving relationships with people in our lives to help support, love and nurture us . When we create honest connections with people in our life, we ultimately become more content leading to feelings of compassion and gratitude. We can all give a little more time to others whilst still providing a boundary to protect our own time.

Insight: When we direct our attention inwards we can begin hear our internal dialog, the chatter of the mind. Sometimes it can get in the way of us being proactive but sometimes it can be pretty useful! We don’t want to stop the voice in side of our head completely but we do want to understand it’s narrative. When we can understand it, we can learn what it is we need. It’s not about being better, it’s about developing a healthy relationship with that dialog and ultimately improving that connection.

Purpose: We all have a purpose in life but sometimes it’s just understanding exactly what that purpose is. If we can identify our sense of direction in life and understand our core values we can then give meaning to ourselves. We do not want to go out and look for a new meaning, we want to find the meaning in things that we already do. It’s time to discover, and when you have found it, nurture it, practice it and do it with love.

Through various techniques we can bring focus to each of those pillars and meditate on each one nurturing our awareness, connection, insight and purpose.

How to Meditate: 

As a beginner, it is best to start simple. This will stop you from feeling overwhelmed as we cannot force the experience. Here are 4 mediation techniques for you to try:

Meditating on the breath: Find a comfortable seat on the floor or in a chair where you can remain still and rest your hands in your lap or on your knees. Allow your eyes to close or lower your gaze depending how you feel in the space. Begin to pay attention to your breath, breathing naturally in and out through your nose. Keep your focus here, naturally your mind may start to wonder, and that’s ok. When you notice the mind wondering, bring your focus back to the breath. There are many breathing meditations that can be practiced. Having breath awareness is a great tool for bringing yourself into a calmer state in busy times. During a day when a task gets too much, or you’re feeling stressed after a hectic meeting, take 5, close your eyes and start to focus on the rhythm of your breath and noticed the sensations as you inhale and exhale.  

Meditating on an object: You can choose to mediate on an object or explore a vision such as your favourite place to be. In this instance, an example of an object is a candle and bringing your focus to the light of its flame. By focusing on the light and the colour of the flame, your awareness will become to rest here deepening your connection to what is going on inside of you, allowing the chatter of the mind to quieten and learn to just be in the present moment. 

Meditating on a mantra: A mantra can be a thought or a feeling made up of a few short words that you can repeat to yourself mentally over again to cultivate that thought or feeling. For example, your mantra might be; “I love and honour myself”, or “Great things are coming for me”. It really can be anything you would like to cultivate for yourself. Continue to practice this form of meditation. 

Walking meditation: If you are a person that cannot sit still and doesn’t like the idea of doing so, take yourself for a walk. Go outside and connect with nature. Leave your phone out of sight, no headphones and take a walk surrounding yourself with the beauty of the world around you. Walk slowly so that you can look up and take in what is before you.

The Benefits..

As mentioned at the beginning of my blog, no matter your religion or personal beliefs, science gives us too many reasons not to ignore the benefits of meditation. We have covered the understanding of mindfulness and how to can start to work on each pillar, however I would like to provide you with a few more benefits for your consideration:

• Meditation can enhance our focus and help us with improved decision making.

• It can help to combat feelings of stress, anxiousness and fear.

• It can help to decrease your blood pressure.

• By meditating regularly, we can increase the capacity of our prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is involved with our emotional and social intelligence, empathy, insight and intuition, personality and communication. It has been said that with age it tends to decline, however with regular meditation we can increase the grey matter in the prefrontal cortex in as little as 8 weeks!

• People who meditate have lower levels of cortisol in their bodies, this is a hormone associated with physical and emotional stress.

• We spoke about connection as one of the 4 pillars of wellbeing, therefore to reiterate, by meditating regularly it can improve our relationships in our life. We can learn to communicate better and become more empathetic.  

Tips and Reminders for Meditation

If meditating does not work well for you the first time, do not worry. Be patient with yourself as you start this new journey. Sometimes being able to switch off doesn’t happen right away and we have to allow ourselves time to get used to being sat in complete stillness.  Good things will naturally start to come. Allow yourself to try different types of meditations and find what works well for you. Also finding the right space to do it in. Make sure you feel comfortable in your surroundings and allow yourself to be in the room alone without any other distractions. 

Free meditation resources:

Meditation is a practice that will always be available to you. Remind yourself that being alone for 5-10 minutes a day is not being selfish, it showing yourself respect, honour and understanding how to love yourself. 

Ready to experience your first meditation session? 

Please follow the link below to access my 5 days of meditation! Pop on some headphones and find your comfortable seat. Happy meditating! 

Are you ready to take your journey one step further?

Coming soon.. 7 day course: Healthy mind, healthy body, healthy habits! 

I am bringing you a full rounded mind and body experience leading you into a transformative and sustainable healthy relationship with exercise and self-connection.

What’s included?

7 days of meditation practice and 15 workouts consisting of Vinyasa Yoga, Pilates, Yoga FIT, deep stretch and conscious relaxation.