Benefits of meditation
Meditating in the morning is a good opportunity to become fully aware, fully awake and fully alive before ‘doing’ anything. You can think of meditation as a morning stretch for your brain. Add five to fifteen minutes to your morning ritual for your meditation as you do for having breakfast, taking a shower or brushing your teeth. The process of meditation is straightforward and easy: simply sit and practice. But consistency is key – it has to become a part of your daily life.
Meditation is both a skill and an experience that can have many health benefits, from physical to mental and emotional:
Better focus, concentration and memory
Improved self-awareness and self-esteem
Reduction of stress
Reduction of depression and negative thoughts
Controls triggers for unwanted impulses like addictions
Improved sleep
Increased empathy and compassion towards others
Diminished perception of pain in the brain
But how?
Meditation can affect your emotions deeply. When you train to be less in our head and more aware of the present moment, you are better able to distance yourself from negative thoughts and emotions.
Through meditation practice, the body and mind relax which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system causing the body to stop releasing stress hormones that cause increase in blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels, disrupt immunity, energy levels and sleep.
The most amazing part: meditation can physically alter our brains, rewiring them toward more positive thoughts and emotions.
It can decrease negative neurological connections to the medial prefrontal cortex (the ‘me center’ of the brain) dampening traits such as fear, stress and anxiety.
The amygdala (which regulates how we feel stress, fear, and anxiety) responds to meditation by shrinking.
It builds new positive neurological connections to the parts of the brain responsible for promoting traits like focus and decision-making.
Gray matter (the area of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and problem solving) as well as the cortical thickness (responsible for learning and memory) both increase with regular meditation practice.
