Meditation for Well-being

Meditation is a practice that uses breathing techniques, mindfulness or sustained focus on an object, sound, thought or image to achieve a mentally clear, emotionally calm and stable state. It effectively improves psychological balance, enhances overall health and well-being, coping with illness, and enable you to handle stress in a healthier way. Recent studies also suggest that meditation has proved to be effective in managing depression and anxiety, controlling the brain’s response to pain, increasing the brain’s ability to process information and improving sleep.

When the mind is frequently ‘over-activated by threats existing in your mind such as stress, it can cause wear and tear on your body over time. This can lead to an increased risk of heart attacks, diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. Through meditation, you can be able to reverse these effects, eliminate anxiety and decrease stress by promoting relaxation.

Choose a method that works best for you.

Amid our busy schedules and demanding lives, there is a greater need to reduce stress, and meditation has proved effective among most people. There are different types of practices, with each requiring a different skill and mindset.  It is essential to find one that meets your needs and feel comfortable with. They include:

Mindfulness meditation

This type of meditation encourages you to focus on negative thoughts as they pass through your mind. You have to observe and take note of the patterns without getting involved in your thoughts. This allows you to achieve a state of calm.

Transcendental meditation

Otherwise called mantra meditation, transcendental meditation uses a repetitive sound, phrase, or word that is repeatedly chanted to clear the mind. This helps quiet your thoughts and achieve greater awareness.

Concentration or Focused meditation

This type of meditation involves concentration using any five senses to teach you how to focus on your mind. For instance, you can stare at a candle flame or listen to a gong to help you focus on your attention.

Movement meditation

Movement meditation involves any gentle form of motion. It can be walking through the woods, yoga, gardening, gigong or Tai chi. They combine physical exercise with breathing and focus. On the other hand, walking turns your focus to both mind and body as you breathe in correspondence with your footsteps.

Heart-centred meditation

This type of meditation focuses on the energy at the centre of the chest- the heart. It involves quieting the mind and bringing the awareness to heart.

Although you cannot eradicate the roots of stress, you can minimize its effects through meditation. Find the right type of meditation that works for you to help improve your well-being and your overall health.