Thoughtful Thursday: Meditation - Repairing Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

 Do you ever get tired of living a stressed out life? Does it ever make you feel like you aren’t even in touch with your body? I know that I often feel like my body is working against me. This can be tough, feeling like we aren’t really connected with ourselves, we’re just lugging our bodies around to get things done. Then we go to bed and get up and do it all over again.

Believe it or not, simply taking time out of your day to calm your mind and center yourself can have a big impact on your well-being. We take for granted how much our emotional health plays into how we feel physically. There are several things that you can accomplish physically, emotionally, and spiritually through meditation that have the ability to make you feel like a new person. The following tips can help you start living a healthier and more spiritual life through meditation. 

Get Up and Do It
Start your day off right and meditate in the morning. Give your mind and body something to look forward to when you drag yourself out of bed. This will give a kick start to your day and prepare your mind for the day’s activities. 

Say Goodbye to Stress
Integrating meditation into your daily lifestyle will relax your body while calming your mind. This will not only help you to control your emotions, but it will give you mental stability and clarity of thought. Why carry over all the stress that’s still built up from yesterday? Get it out of your system. Your body will thank you. The health effects of stress are connected to many major health issues including cancers, heart and lung disease. 

Don’t Hurt Yourself
If you find the meditation positions you see in magazines and on TV scary, have no fear. The idea is to be comfortable, allowing your entire body to relax. You can meditate while lying down, sitting cross-legged, or even in a chair. Whatever position you choose, just make sure your back is straight. No slouching is allowed. Other than that, get comfortable. After time, you might want to try some of the more common meditation positions. 

Set the Stage
The key is to focus. You can’t have the TV playing in the background or your iPod blaring in your ears. Find a quiet spot away from the hum of the air conditioner or the sounds of your kids. Try to incorporate some aromatherapy. Don’t use anything too strong. A nice soft pleasant scent will do the trick. 

Start With the Basics
You can always kick it up later and incorporate more advanced techniques. For starters though, try something like this. Go to your quiet spot in the house. Remember, no interruptions. Get into your chosen position. Relax your body and straighten your spine, not tense just straight. Breathe in and out, deeply and regularly and focus on your breathing. While you’re breathing, choose a sound to hum on your exhales, like "Ohm." Use your breathing to redirect your thoughts when they wander, because they will. During your meditation, make yourself aware of your body. Focus on every sensation in your body, the aches and pains. As they dissolve, remain focused and clear your mind. Do this for 10 to 20 minutes.

Try this for a week, and if you don’t feel better, you’re not doing it right. Meditation can make all the difference in the world, if taken seriously. You will find yourself feeling lighter, happier, and less stressed. Your health will most likely improve and those aches and pains will lessen over time. It’s amazing what we can do with our minds if we will only just give them a chance.

What's the hardest part about meditating for you?

Finding my Zen in Granolaville,

~ David  

David Hock tries to adhere to a healthy and productive lifestyle; he is a contributing author at lifeinsurancequotes.org.

Thoughtful Thursday: Meditative Breathing, it's NOT Just For Monks

Breathing. It's a simple, yet imperative process we perform every moment, of everyday. We inhale and exhale automatically to keep oxygen flowing to our brain and air permeating our lungs. In yoga, the breath is known as prana or a universal energy that can be used to find a balance between the body-mind, the conscious-unconscious, and the sympathetic-parasympathetic nervous system. Breathing is not just a necessary tool for physical survival; it is an untapped resource with the ability to slow the mind in a hectic world.

It's easy to see why, for some of us, "turning off" our brains can be challenging. Even while driving, shooting off emails, checking our Facebook page, eating dinner, or watching our kid's baseball game we are often preoccupied; thinking of the things we need to get done, or places we need to be. Being able to just stop...breathe, and return to the present moment, would promote a myriad of physical and spiritual benefits.

Meditation along with deep breathing, has been used for thousands of years; most commonly to get a deeper understanding into the sacred and mystical forces of life. But today, it is an inexpensive and simple way to release stress and find a moment of peace.

Best selling author and integrative physician, Dr. Weil, states:

"Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders."
Andrew Weil, M.D

By controlling the rate and speed of your breath you can clear your thoughts of distractions and find tranquility where ever you may be.

For a simple guide to relaxing your breath try mantra mediation, taught by Dr. Deepak Chopra in his book "The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire":

A common way to begin meditation is to gently focus on one thing so that it becomes more difficult for stray thoughts to enter your mind. I like to start with a breathing meditation.

To begin meditation, find a comfortable position. Sit in a comfortable chair, with your feet flat on the ground. Place your hands in your lap with the palms facing upward. Close your eyes and begin witnessing your breath.

Once a person becomes comfortable with simply sitting quietly and focusing on breathing, I recommend adding a mantra, which creates a mental environment that will allow you to expand your consciousness.

The mantra I use, and that I recommend for achieving synchrodestiny, is the simple mantra "so-hum." This is the mantra of the breath; if you observe your breathing you'll hear "so-hum" as air moves in and out of your lungs. As you inhale, the sound of that vibration is "so." And as you exhale, the sound becomes "hum." If you want, you can experiment with this. Inhale deeply, close your eyes and your mouth, and exhale forcefully through your nose. If you concentrate, you'll hear the "hum" sound quite clearly.

One of the techniques of meditation is, in fact, simply focusing on where your breath comes from. With your eyes closed, inhale and think the word "so"; on the exhale, think the word "hum." Gradually both the breath and the sound will become quieter and quieter and quieter, and the breath becomes so quiet that it almost seems to stop. By quieting your breath, you quiet your mind. 

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/2003/10/MantraMeditation.aspx#ixzz1dejvBIhj

If you find yourself in a place, like your car, that won't permit you to close you eyes, try deep belly breathing. When we get agitated or stressed our breathing tends to get short and shallow. The goal is to lengthen each inhale and exhale by focusing on your breath--letting go of all thoughts and worries.

Sit in a comfortable position and inhale slowly for about 5 seconds through your nose, allowing your belly to fill with air. Then exhale through your mouth for 3 seconds, pushing out all the air from your lungs until your belly is flat again. Repeat this until you feel a sense of calm wash over your body, and the only thing you are paying attention to is your breath. This can be done quietly at you desk, or while sitting in traffic.

Whatever technique you use, remember that focusing on your breath and the present moment can be a useful tool when the world around you becomes too chaotic.

What do you do calm yourself when things get crazy? Let me know in the comments section below.


Deeply Breathing in Granolaville,