In this fast-paced world, it's not surprising that so many of us feel stressed all the time. We always feel the need to manage everything all at once. Couple that with the pressures of living in a world with social media and that stress doubles. It gives us so many things to think and worry about. What do you do to handle the stresses of your everyday life? For me, one thing turned things around: meditation. This practice has been around for centuries and for good reason. Stick around while I share how meditation has helped me manage my mental health.
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| Photo by Tobias Bjørkli |
There used to be a lot of misconceptions about meditation. For a time I did not even consider trying it because of them. Here are some examples:
Common Meditation Misconceptions
Meditation is a religious/spiritual practice
People tend to think that meditation is about religion. To meditate, you need to be a member or believer of a certain religion.
Meditation may have roots in many spiritual beliefs, but it can be a secular practice. You can meditate and focus on mental health and stress management. There is no need to convert to any religion.
Meditation is about doing yoga positions
While it is often practiced by those doing yoga, it is not required to practice both at the same time. You can meditate without doing any specific pose.
Meditation takes too much time
There is a general idea that you need to take a lot of time to meditate. I used to think that way. I used to think you needed to meditate for hours at a time for it to work. Since I started practicing meditation, I realized you can meditate at any time. It's about getting into that frame of mind and not the length of that practice.
Meditation is boring.
I used to think that meditation was boring. That you are taking too much time doing nothing. I thought this was only for people who have a natural calm or zen vibe about themselves. It was only when I practiced it that I realized that they achieved calmness through the practice.
It was difficult for me to get past my misconceptions of meditation. It took me a long time before I even considered it. I had gotten to the point where I had tried almost everything before I decided to take a closer look. Lucky for me, I tried it and I liked it and I have been doing it ever since.
Meditation is New-Age/Hippie Stuff for the Rich
This was something I used to think about a lot in the past. I thought this was a weird practice for people who wanted to seem hip. It was something rich people talked about because they wanted to seem classy.
I used to turn down people inviting me to do yoga and meditation because I felt it was not my kind of crowd. That was a mistake and I realized that I was also being judgmental of others by thinking that way.
Meditation is a good practice. It is something anyone from any social/economic status can try. I was wrong to think that it was only for certain types of people.
I have experienced several benefits of practicing meditation. I hope that by sharing this I can help encourage other people to give it a try.
Benefits of Meditation
Clearing the Mind and Managing Emotions
One of the things I love about meditation is how it helps to clear my mind. Like everyone else, I almost always have way too much going on mentally.
I'm sure everyone can relate to this. There are so many things to think about, so many things to do, and so many things affecting how you feel. Meditation helps me chip away at everything in my head (and heart). It helps me to take a look at the things in my inner world from a different perspective so I can manage them better.
The brain is a powerful organ. Anything that affects it can have consequences on other parts of our body that cause us to get sick. By helping our mental health, we are sending a good signal to our brains to heal. This then helps the rest of our body to heal. I can't even begin to count the various chronic physical issues I've had during times of great stress. These things seem to get better when I'm in a better place mentally, so I credit that to meditation too.
Relaxation
We all know that meditation helps you to relax. This is one of the things that I love about it. It is the reason I tried it in the first place. I felt that I was going through so much and I needed to clear my head. It did that and more. Meditation has helped me feel more at peace with myself and more relaxed, which is why I continue to do this.
Being able to meditate and clean house mentally helps me to relax and ease the stress and anxieties of the day.
Physical and Mental Health
Meditation has helped me with my mental health, easing my anxiety and stress when I need it the most. Aside from that, many people are not aware that meditation can affect our physical health as well.
The brain is a powerful organ. Anything that affects it can have consequences on other parts of our body that cause us to get sick. By helping our mental health, we are sending a good signal to the brain to heal. This then helps the rest of our body to heal. I can't even begin to count the various chronic physical issues I've had during times of great stress. These things seem to get better when I'm in a better place mentally, so I credit that to meditation too.
Another thing that I enjoy about meditation is that there are many ways to practice it. People have the wrong idea about it being a one-method concept. Here are some of the ways that I have practiced meditation:
Meditation Techniques
Chanting Mantras
People think that meditation is about chanting mantras and positive affirmations. While that is one way to practice, that is not the only way. This is one of the things that I do often, usually affirmations in the mornings and before I go to sleep. I find that focusing my mind on positive things helps to give a good start and end to my day.
Breathing Exercises with Yoga
Some meditations go with yoga classes that I have tried online. These usually focus on being aware of your breath and using breathing exercises. They also focus on paying attention to different parts of the body to release tension.
Guided Meditation
I have also tried guided meditations that I often find on YouTube or Spotify that help you clear your mind. I love it when there are also visuals that can help you focus during these guided meditations. They can help you get into that state of relaxation faster.
Sound Meditation
Another method I've tried is using sound. Again, I find them on YouTube or Spotify. Usually, they make use of different calming sounds to help you to meditate on your own.
Walking Meditation
I have recently learned that taking a walk can be a form of meditation too. Being mindful of your thoughts and actions while walking can help you relax. It can help you manage your thoughts and emotions to clear your head.
Prayer
Most people do not realize it but prayer is a form of meditation. Praying as you focus on your conversation with God (or a higher power, whatever applies) is a lot like it. It gives the same benefits as other meditation techniques. It helps your spiritual health as well.
Meditation has done wonders for me and my mental health. I hope that more people can discover it and that it can help them too. We all need to find a way to slow down and pay more attention to how we take care of our inner world. None of the outer world matters if we can't take care of ourselves from the inside as well.
One thing we have to remember is that mediation may be helpful, but it is not a quick-fix solution for our issues. The reason why a lot of people call it a practice is because you need to do it more than once. It's something that helps you over some time. Whatever mental and emotional clutter we have, it got there over some time, so it will take time to unload it all. Meditation can help, but we need to give it time to do so. Plus, some issues may need a medical professional, so need to consider that too.
If you need a way to take care of your mental health, meditation may be the self-care practice that can help you. I hope that debunking misconceptions will encourage you to take a closer look. My sharing its benefits and some techniques can help you to give this a try.
Has anyone else reading this tried meditation? What kind of techniques have you tried and what worked best for you? Share your meditation stories with me in the comments section! Let's try to encourage more people to try this!
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