Meditation: Whys and How-to

Tense and twitching muscles. Obsessing about the news. Anxiety about the future. Difficulty sleeping. Do any or all of these feel familiar? You’re definitely not alone. There’s no doubt that we are living with a lot of uncertainty right now. How can we cope? 

Doing Nothing to Cope With Everything

The answer might be as simple as doing…. nothing. Simply sitting still and mindfully clearing your thoughts through meditation has an astounding number of benefits that are vital right at this point in history.  In fact, fostering an ongoing meditation practice can change the structure of your brain, providing benefits that continue when you have finished meditating.  In short, meditation may be one of the best things you can do for yourself in troubled times or simply as a daily proactive wellness habit. 

The Benefits of Meditation 

Some of the many positive things that can happen when you meditate include:

Lower Blood Pressure

Meditation can decrease the ‘flight or fight’ adrenal hormones in your body. As a result of this relaxation response, your blood vessels open up, which in turn, improves your blood pressure.

Less Stress-Induced Inflammation

 Excess cortisol, one of the central stress hormones, can lead to inflammation in many parts of the body – a common example of this is the gut, with digestive issues being common during times of high stress. Because meditation can lower the amount of cortisol you produce, inflammation is reduced.

Embracing Uncertainty

Despite all of the health benefits, the ultimate goal of meditation isn’t necessarily focused on physical results. It’s more a process of learning to embrace uncertainty, fostering a peaceful state of being.

 A More Positive Outlook

Who doesn’t need a more positive outlook right now? Meditation has been found to actually alter (in a good way) the parts of your brain responsible for positive thoughts. As well, by becoming more aware of your thoughts, you can fend off negativity.

Reduced Anxiety and Fewer Obsessive Thoughts

It’s perfectly normal to be experiencing anxiety and obsessive thoughts when faced with a pandemic or any other hardship that’s out of our control.  However, those thoughts can spiral out of control and negatively affect family members as well as your health. High cortisol levels even lower your immune response, and we all want an effective immune system right now.

How Does Meditation Help With Negative Thoughts?

It can be difficult to imagine gaining control over the thought-train when world events, and the changes to our daily lives, seem so overwhelming.

However, meditation teaches us how to experience and sit with those thoughts – without panicking or feeling like we need to repress them. With a little practice, you should be able to just sit with your thoughts and feelings, without judgement or analysis, and start to process them without spiraling out of control. You can be present in the moment without projecting into the future or ruminating on the past.  And right now, faced with so many unknowns, that’s particularly important. 

Why Start Now?

You might feel that now is not a good time to start meditation. After all, you feel there’s not enough time, or that you’re too distracted to focus or just have a hard time sitting still.  However, mediation has proven to be an effective mental health tool and right now we need to be focusing not just on our healthy body but also on a healthy mind.  Meditation can be so much more, but I feel it’s important to try, and to just start.

How to Start Meditating

Many people find the thought of taking up meditation a bit intimidating. After all, it has deep esoteric origins. It’s important to know that you don’t have to ‘master’ meditation. It’s OK to be imperfect. Your mind will probably wander, and you may feel uncomfortable at first. That’s perfectly normal.

Setting up Your Mediation Practice

The good news is that it’s surprisingly simple to get started. In basic terms, you just need to:

1.    Find a comfortable place (ideally, it will be quiet/calm) and sit in a natural position.

2.    Focus on something…your breath for example, and simply breathe normally.  Try not to over think this: just focus on each exhalation and inhalation.  It’s not necessary to force anything.  Alternatively, you can focus on your chest/abdomen as it moves with your breath. Or, focus on the top of your head, ‘sending’ your breath in that direction.  There are many variations of what to focus on, but breath is great starting point.

If your mind wanders, which is normal, try to refocus your mind back onto your breath.  Alternatively, simply ‘observe’ your thoughts as if they were clouds and see them move onward as if your mind was a sky. Avoid analyzing your thoughts, and avoid scolding yourself for losing focus – it’s all part of the process, they are just passing through your mind.

How Long Should You Meditate?

You may have heard of people going on week-long meditation retreats. That’s great but it’s really not necessary. Just a few minutes a day is a good start. In fact, studies have found that just five minutes can have significant benefits.  I feel even if you did one or two minutes every few hours you may be surprised how your day moves along with more ease… 

How Often Should You Meditate?

Consistency is a key component of a successful meditation practice. Try to carve out a few minutes each day. Some people find that it helps to make it the same time every day. When you have more time on a particular day, then try increasing your meditation time and feel how that goes. 

Alone or in a Group?

It’s really up to you.  Some feel more focused alone, others feel more focused and dedicated among other fellow meditators.  I do highly recommend including and teaching meditation to your children/grand-children at least once a week, as learning this wellness tool early can be a real benefit over the course of a lifetime. 

Tips for Meditation with Children

Meditation can be creative since it involves your mind…and aren’t children the most creative?  You can make it engaging if you have them focus on something in their mind, like a butterfly that rises and falls with the child’s breathing, or a leaf or feather blowing in the wind with every breath they exhale.  They may be fine simply doing what you’re doing with paying attention to their breath and how their body moves with their breath.  If they are fidgety or tend to be in motion all the time, they can quietly and gently rotate their upper body from their waist like a balloon tied to the ground or in a figure-8 pattern…the options are endless and children will come up with their own meditation styles.

Other Resources

There are quite a few wonderful resources available to help you get started with meditation should you need a little help – here are a few: Headspace; Calm, Wherever you Go, There you Are; Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics.

There are many reasons to start meditation. Why not start now? Let us know how you get on – and remember that we are here to support your health and wellness.  Want to join a meditation workshop?  Contact us to join an online or in-person workshop.

My clinic is physically open but also via tele-health – phone or video consult. Simply call us at 905-597-7201 or book online.