I can honestly say meditation changed my life.
I started meditating about 2ish years ago. I’d been reading everywhere about how great it was and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Honestly, I didn’t expect much. The most I expected was a bit of relaxation (which is always welcome). But what I experienced was surprising and so much more! I experienced a deeper sense of calm and clarity. And a new type of energy. This energy made me feel more attune to myself and my world.
I started slowly at first; I set an intention to meditate every morning for 5minutes. I would set a timer, using a free app on my phone called Insight Timer (which I still use) and would sit on the floor of my office or bedroom for 5 or 10minutes. The change I noticed was pretty gradual. At first, I noticed “the calm” and felt my concentration and productivity increase, which was great because I was starting this new business and needed a lot of increased productivity! 😉 I continued to meditate regularly for months and loved it, but then (as happens) I started to skip mornings here and there. Until eventually I found I hadn’t meditated for weeks. I started to notice I was a bit more stressed, less focused, more self-critical, less compassionate and tolerant and a bit more down about “things”. For a while I couldn’t pinpoint what had changed, I thought it was just a valley in my life and mental state, a funk (we all have them).
Then it occurred to me one day that I hadn’t meditated regularly (or at all really) for a while, so I reprioritized myself and my time to start again. I began again with just 5 or 10 minutes of every morning. And wow, that’s when I could really feel it! I think I could feel it before but, I guess I needed to feel the contrast, which gave me clarity and allowed me to see and feel the benefit more fully. I saw then how this process of turning off (down) the mental noise and stimuli, allowed me to connect more deeply with myself. People talk about finding your “essence”, well this didn’t really mean that much to me before this time. I thought you went through life doing and achieving with the purpose of being “better”. Better in the sense of “shoulds”, “have tos”, standards, ideals, and expectations. But once I started this practice of meditation I found out what they meant by finding your essence, for me this is really seeing and feeling “who” I am and being able to embrace it (the who). This allowed me to really “see” and feel my own potential, value and awesomeness. Yep, that’s right, I said my awesomeness! Do you think that sounds conceded or egocentric? Some might think I am not being humble when I say this. But that’s not it. I am not sure when humility went from a loving estimation of self and others to being self-effacing.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but think of yourself less” -C.S. Lewis
Truly seeing, loving and appreciating myself and my own awesomeness isn’t a judgment of anyone else, it a statement entirely about myself and my own light. In fact, we are same! You are awesome too! We are all amazing beings filled with light and potential, the problem is we just can’t see it because our vision of the world and ourselves is clouded with the ideals, shoulds, comparison, and criticism (of ourselves and others). Oh man, I could go on and on about this forever (#passion) but I think I should leave this for another day and another post. But know that until we truly see ourselves, our light, and our awesomeness; we will not feel the peace and fulfillment many of us are searching for. #joy
But for now, back to miraculous meditation…
So like I was saying, Meditation is pretty cool!! It creates an open calm in your world, that is hard to put into words. And with this calm you can create the space and opportunity for a meaningful shift in your life and mindset. (promise, cross my heart 🙂 ) It has definitely changed my life and perception, which doesn’t mean I am walking around in a Zen-like state all the time. I still get frustrated and flustered at times, but I feel like I can regulate my reactions better. I feel like my capacity for intuition and compassion is multiplied, which means I have a more compassionate and rounded view of the world, life situations, people and myself.
Ok, now just in case there is a little bit of eye-rolling out there or if you think this sounds too good to be true or maybe even think it’s a bit too “cosmic weirdo ” for you; just take a look at some of the compelling research out there to support the benefits of meditating. (gettin’ scientific ya’ll). Meditation is definitely becoming more mainstream and is being studied for it’s benefits relating to many of the woes of our world today…meditation is good for your mind, body and spirit!
Mind:
– ↓ Depression – Study here
– ↓ Anxiety – study here and here
– ↓ Stress – Study here
– ↑ Ability to regulate emotions – study here
– ↑ Memory – study here
– ↑ Creativity – study here
– ↑ Focus and attention – study here
Body:
– ↑ Immune function – study here
– ↓ Inflammation- study here
– ↓ Pain – study here
– ↑ Grey Matter in the brain – regions of the brain involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.- Study here
– ↑ Cortical thickness – (increase attention) – Study here
Spirit:
– ↑ Positive emotion – study here
– ↑ Happiness – study here
– ↑ Capacity of Social and Emotional Connection – study here
– ↑ Compassion – study here
– ↓ Loneliness – study here
Convinced? Great! My work here is done! 😉 Ha ha, kidding aside, I would LOVE for you to give it a try! It’s easier than you think! Here are some links and videos to check out to get you started.
Mindful Monday Video: How To Meditate for Beginners – By Kara Lydon, RD, LDN, RYT, Blogger at The Foodie Dietitian (with a link to http://karalydon.com/blog).
Beginning a Meditation Practice – By Emily Hein RDN, LD blogger at Zen & Spice
How to Meditate: A Guide for Beginners – The Conscious Life
I would love for you all to experience this eye opening and heart lifting shift too. Just try it, start with 5 minutes in the morning. It will be time well spent, I promise!
XO,
Sally
Now, I want to hear from you! In the comments below I would love to hear about your experience with meditation. And please share any tips or wisdom nuggets you have! I can’t wait to hear from you!
