Meditation Techniques: How To Get Started On Mind Relaxation
The Huffington Post Canada | By
Terri Coles
Posted: 04/29/2014 | Updated: 04/29/2014
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Meditation is one way to get more 'calm' in our lives — time just for you every day, to give yourself a chance to reflect and recharge.
Meditation 101, your quick-start outline for mindfulness.
Resources to teach you how to get started with meditation, why you should do it in the first place, and where you can find things like classes and apps to help you get going.
Types Of Meditation
There are several different kinds of meditation, and you may find that more than one of them is helpful for you. This
guide from the Institute for Applied Meditation outlines eight of the main methods — including mindfulness (vipassana), which comes from the Buddhist tradition; transcendental, a meditative tradition of Hinduism; and qi gong, a Taoist form that works with breath and movement.
Why Meditation?
Regular meditation practice can reduce stress, which
has a host of potential health benefits including easing headaches, high blood pressure, and anxiety, notes WebMD.
It could also help you fall asleep and get better rest, which is very important; people with poor sleep have been shown to be at
a higher risk for accidents, weight gain, and diabetes, according to Harvard.
And time set aside to meditate means time just for you....
The Science
Studies have shown the benefits of meditation:
-Research published in 2011 showed that
meditation could increase grey-matter density in areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, and emotion regulation, reported the Globe and Mail.
-Another study published in 2012 found that meditation classes, over the course of several years, were
associated with reduced cardiovascular risk for people with coronary heart disease.
-And a five-year Harvard study is looking at
how meditation may lead to changes in the brain activity, and even genes, of people who are chronically stressed.
How To Do It
There are many ways to meditate, which means there’s one out there for you. Some people sit while meditating, while others lie down; you can go with the method you prefer, or mix it up based on where you’re practicing. Either way, good posture helps you relax and breathe properly. You can close your eyes or keep them open, but if you prefer them open, try to keep your gaze down and unfocused.
Try to find a time when you won’t be interrupted — even if that means meditating for just five minutes. Put away your phone, get off the laptop, and focus.
Mindful, a publication dedicated to bringing mindfulness to everyday life,
has more tips for getting started with meditation.
Where
You can meditate anywhere. The key is actually doing it, not making sure you only meditate in the best possible environment.
Is It Working?
How do you know that all this mindfulness is doing its job? Sometimes it can be hard to tell, because it’s not as obvious as other health practices: you don’t have a cut that you can watch heal or a headache that goes away. But there are still ways to check in.
Wildmind advises that you can tell that meditation is helping you if
you begin to develop more concentration or start noticing things like your breathing or how particular parts of your body feel while you’re meditating. You may also feel calmer overall and have improved posture. If you don’t feel that meditation is working for you, don’t be afraid to mix it up, as different approaches to practice work for different people.
Gear
The only things you truly need to meditate are time and yourself. But there are some items that can help you get zen. Try meditating lying on
an acupressure mat like a Sponk, which can help with relaxation and loosening your muscles. A
http://www.yogaaccessories.com/100-Cotton-Zabuton-Meditation-Cushion_p_121435.html?gclid=CJyW3c_Vhb4CFecWMgodFk8Arw" target="_hplink">zabuton is a padded mat that makes it more comfortable and supportive to sit on the floor while meditating, and
a zafu can help you sit cross-legged.
Apps
There are several apps that can help you establish a meditation practice.
Buddhify 2 (iOS) gives you several meditations of varying lengths for a variety of situations, including “Eating” and “Can’t Sleep.”
Omvana (iOS) lets you mix and match meditations with background sounds and music, and you can purchase new files from the app’s built-in store. And
Buddhist Meditation Trainer (Android) lets you work through ten levels of enlightenment with daily meditation.
Online
Many meditation resources can be found online as well — even for free. Elisha Goldstein, the mental health blogger for Mindful, has a
10-minute body-scan video on YouTube that is a great short meditation. If you have a bit more time, try this
20-minute video that focuses on breathing. The Guardian
ran a series of five podcasts about mindfulness that looked at bringing the practice into your everyday life. And
UCLA posts a new guided meditation podcast every week.
Classes
You can also get some help in person by attending a meditation class or workshop. Many yoga studios offer classes, some of them combining meditation and yoga. Buddhist temples may also offer sessions that are open to the general public, often for a small donation. You can also
look for a local Shambhala group — the organization often runs introductory meditation programs.
Reasons To Love Meditation
It Lowers Stress -- Literally
Research published just last month in the journal Health Psychology shows that mindfulness is not only associated with feeling less stressed, it's also linked with
decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
It Lets Us Get To Know Our True Selves
It lets us get to know our true selves. Mindfulness can help us when we need to really
objectively analyze ourselves. A study in the journal Psychological Science shows that mindfulness can help us conquer common "blind spots," which can amplify or diminish our own flaws.
It Can Make Your Grades Better
Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that college students
who were trained in mindfulness performed better on the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and also experienced improvements in their working memory.
"Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide reaching consequences," the researchers wrote in the Psychological Science study.
It Could Help People With Arthritis
A 2011 study in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Disease shows that even though mindfulness training may not help to lessen pain for people with rheumatoid arthritis, it
could help to
lower their stress and fatigue.
It Changes The Brain In A Protective Way
University of Oregon researchers found that integrative body-mind training -- which is a meditation technique -- can actually result in brain changes that may be protective against mental illness. The meditation practice was linked with
increased signaling connections in the brain, something called axonal density, as well as increased protective tissue (myelin) around the axons in the anterior cingulate brain region.
It Works As The Brain's "Volume Knob"
Mindfulness meditation can make you feel more focused because it helps the brain to have
better control over processing pain and emotions, specifically through the control of cortical alpha rhythms (which play a role in what senses our minds are attentive to), according to a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
It Makes Music Sound Better
Mindfulness meditation improves our
focused engagement in music, helping us to truly enjoy and experience what we're listening to, according to a study in the journal Psychology of Music.
It Helps Us Even When We're Not Actively Practicing It
You don't have to actually be meditating for it to still
benefit your brain's emotional processing. That's the finding of a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which shows that the amygdala brain region's response to emotional stimuli is changed by meditation, and this effect remains even when a person is not in the process of meditating.
It Has Four Elements That Help Us In Different Ways
The health benefits of mindfulness can be boiled
down to four elements, according to a Perspectives on Psychological Science study:
i - body awareness,
ii - self-awareness,
iii- regulation of emotion and
iv - regulation of attention.
Doctor: Mindfulness meditation could help you
better care for your patients.
Research from the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that doctors who are trained in mindfulness meditation are less judgmental, more self-aware and better listeners when it comes to interacting with patients
It Makes You A Better Person
Sure, we love all the things meditation does for us. But it could also benefit people we interact with, by
making us more compassionate, according to a study in the journal Psychological Science.
Researchers from Northeastern and Harvard universities found that meditation is linked with more virtuous, "do-good" behavior.
It Could Make Going Through Cancer Just A Little Less Stressful
Research from the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine shows that
mindfulness coupled with art therapy can successfully decrease stress symptoms among women with breast cancer. And not only that, but imaging tests show that it is actually linked with brain changes related to stress, emotions and reward.
It Could Help The Elderly Feel Less Lonely
Loneliness among seniors can be dangerous, in that it's known to raise risks for a number of health conditions. But researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that mindfulness meditation helped to
decrease these feelings of loneliness among the elderly,
and boost their health by reducing the expression of genes linked with inflammation.
It Could Make Your Health Care Bill A Little Lower
Not only will your health benefit from mindfulness meditation training, but your wallet might, too. Research in the American Journal of Health Promotion shows that
practicing Transcendental Meditation is linked with lower yearly doctor costs, compared with people who don't practice the meditation technique.
It Comes In Handy During Cold Season
Aside from
practicing good hygiene, mindfulness meditation and exercise could l
essen the nasty effects of colds. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Health found that people who engage in the practices miss fewer days of work from acute respiratory infections, and also experience a shortened duration and severity of symptoms.
It Lowers Depression Risk Among Pregnant Women
As many as one in five pregnant women will experience depression, but those who are at
especially high risk for depression may benefit from some mindfulness yoga. "Research on the impact of mindfulness yoga on pregnant women is limited but encouraging," study researcher Dr. Maria Muzik, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "This study builds the foundation for further research on how yoga may lead to an empowered and positive feeling toward pregnancy."
It Also Lowers Depression Risk Among Teens
Teaching teens how to
practice mindfulness through school programs could help them experience less stress, anxiety and depression, according to a study from the University of Leuven.
It Supports Your Weight-Loss Goals
Mindfulness could be helpful in losing weight, according to a survey of psychologists conducted by Consumer Reports and the American Psychological Association.
Mindfulness training was considered an "excellent" or "good"
strategy for weight loss by seven out of 10 psychologists in the survey.
It Helps You Sleep Better
Researchers at the University of Utah found that mindfulness training can not only help us better control our emotions and moods, but it can
also help us sleep better at night.
“People who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviors during the day. In addition, higher mindfulness was
associated with lower activation at bedtime, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress," study researcher Holly Rau stated.
Types Of Meditation: There are several different kinds of meditation, and you may find that more than one of them is helpful for you. This
guide from the Institute for Applied Meditation outlines eight of the main methods — including mindfulness (vipassana), which comes from the Buddhist tradition; transcendental, a meditative tradition of Hinduism; and qi gong, a Taoist form that works with breath and movement.
Why Meditation?: There are many reasons why meditation should be a part of your daily routine. A regular meditation practice can reduce stress, which
has a host of potential health benefits including easing headaches, high blood pressure, and anxiety, notes WebMD. It could also help you fall asleep and get better rest, which is very important; people with poor sleep have been shown to be at
a higher risk for accidents, weight gain, and diabetes, according to Harvard. And time set aside to meditate means time just for you — something we could all use more of!
The Science: If you’re not convinced yet, studies have shown the benefits of meditation. Research published in 2011 showed that
meditation could increase grey-matter density in areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, and emotion regulation, reported the Globe and Mail. Another study published in 2012 found that meditation classes, over the course of several years, were
associated with reduced cardiovascular risk for people with coronary heart disease. And a five-year Harvard study is looking at
how meditation may lead to changes in the brain activity, and even genes, of people who are chronically stressed.
How To Do It: There are many ways to meditate, which means there’s one out there for you. Some people sit while meditating, while others lie down; you can go with the method you prefer, or mix it up based on where you’re practicing. Either way, good posture helps you relax and breathe properly. You can close your eyes or keep them open, but if you prefer them open, try to keep your gaze down and unfocused. Most of all, try to find a time when you won’t be interrupted — even if that means meditating for just five minutes. Put away your phone, get off the laptop, and focus!
Mindful, a publication dedicated to bringing mindfulness to everyday life,
has more tips for getting started with meditation.
Where: The beauty of meditation is that you can do it anywhere. Obviously, it’d be great if you can do it sitting on a beach listening to the waves crash in, or in a quiet temple with an expert to guide you. But the key is actually doing it, not making sure you only meditate in the best possible environment. In your home, try to find a room where you can relax, be comfortable, and not be interrupted. However, you can also try it on the go — download an app or podcast (see some suggestions below) and make the most of your commute!
Is It Working?: How do you know that all this mindfulness is doing its job? Sometimes it can be hard to tell, because it’s not as obvious as other health practices: you don’t have a cut that you can watch heal or a headache that goes away. But there are still ways to check in. Wildmild advises that you can tell that meditation is helping you if
you begin to develop more concentration or start noticing things like your breathing or how particular parts of your body feel while you’re meditating. You may also feel calmer overall and have improved posture. If you don’t feel that meditation is working for you, don’t be afraid to mix it up, as different approaches to practice work for different people.
Gear: The only things you truly need to meditate are time and yourself. But there are some items that can help you get zen. Try meditating lying on
an acupressure mat like a Sponk, which can help with relaxation and loosening your muscles. A
zabuton is a padded mat that makes it more comfortable and supportive to sit on the floor while meditating, and
a zafu can help you sit cross-legged.
Apps: There are several apps that can help you establish a meditation practice.
Buddhify 2 (iOS) gives you several meditations of varying lengths for a variety of situations, including “Eating” and “Can’t Sleep.”
Omvana (iOS) lets you mix and match meditations with background sounds and music, and you can purchase new files from the app’s built-in store. And
Buddhist Meditation Trainer (Android) lets you work through ten levels of enlightenment with daily meditation.
Online: Many meditation resources can be found online as well — even for free.
Elisha Goldstein, the mental health blogger for Mindful, has a
10-minute body-scan video on YouTube that is a great short meditation.
If you have a bit more time, try this
20-minute video that focuses on breathing.
The Guardian
ran a series of five podcasts about mindfulness that looked at bringing the practice into your everyday life.
And
UCLA posts a new guided meditation podcast every week.
Classes:
You can also get some help in person by attending a meditation class or workshop.
Many yoga studios offer classes, some of them combining meditation and yoga.
Buddhist temples may also offer sessions that are open to the general public, often for a small donation.
Look for a local Shambhala group — the organization often runs introductory meditation programs.
