The Benefits of Meditation and How to Start Today

Dealing with the stress and uncertainty in today’s world can leave you feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Meditation is an excellent way to redirect your focus and relieve tension.

With your well-being in mind, explore the following tips and insights brought to you by Wisdom Magazine.

The Advantages of Meditation

There are many benefits to practicing meditation, especially when faced with the daily stressors of life. Learning to slow down and quiet your mind can help you in many ways.

Improve Your Immune System

Stress can be physically damaging to your body. The hormone corticosteroid releases when you are anxious, lowering the number of white blood cells in your body. White blood cells attack foreign elements such as bacteria, cancer cells and viruses. Harvard Medical School cites studies that show how the immune system is less capable of fighting off antigens when experiencing anxiety and stress, making you more susceptible to illnesses and infections.

Practicing regular meditation can boost your immune system, helping to keep your body healthy. By allowing your mind and body to take a break from stressors, you let your immune system rest and restore. Creating a daily meditation habit helps train your brain to be mentally and physically resistant to stress's adverse effects.

Reduce Your Blood Pressure

Penn Medicine points out that creating a regular meditation relaxation response can keep your blood pressure under control. Your blood pressure falls when you have trained your body and mind to relax, reducing blood vessel constriction and inflammation.

Other Benefits

There are some other advantages to meditation and how you handle your emotions, such as:

? Preventing you from feeling overwhelmed by situations

? Enabling you to manage your reactions to stressful events

? Teaching you how to focus on the things you can control

Amplify Benefits

Chances are you’ve heard yoga and meditation go hand-in-hand, and this isn’t simply because of tradition. When put together, the benefits you can enjoy are amplified. You can not only cut concerns like depression, stress and anxiety, you can reduce pain and inflammation, grow physically stronger and more flexible, and enhance your focus. Plus, you can do all this from the comfort of your home and using no equipment, although many people like to add apps for guidance, especially at first. There are plenty of free ones available, such as Headspace and Calm.

Steps to Begin Practicing Meditation

Developing your own method for meditating can seem like an intimidating task, especially if the concept is new to you. Fortunately, an effective practice begins with a few simple steps and tends to grow with time.

Create a Meditation Space

Whether you’re at home with kids who are completing school work remotely or a work-from-home professional, you are no doubt spending more time in your home and dealing with many changes. Take steps to transform an area of your house into a healing space. Clean and declutter to minimize physical stressors and add plants or artwork to create a visually appealing and fresh atmosphere.

Make your meditation area vibrant by using natural or full-spectrum lighting. Open windows when possible to let fresh air flow through, helping melt away your tensions. Air circulation makes you less sleepy, allows you to think clearly and decreases your illness risk.

Begin a Mindfulness Routine

Tune out distracting noise with music or nature sounds so you can focus on the moment. Use calming aromatherapy or fragrances that remind you of happy times, sit comfortably with an upright spine and close your eyes.

Take a deep breath, then roll your shoulders back. Focus on your breath, your movement and the present moment. Rest your hands in your lap and notice how your body is feeling right now. Begin with the top of your head and slowly work your way down to your toes. You want to think only of this moment and your breathing, enabling you to take a break from the fears and concerns of today's news and events.

Your mind may wander, especially if you are new to meditation. Do not beat yourself up about this. Acknowledge the thought and then release it so you can go back to focusing on your breathing. You are training your mind to redirect your thoughts and stay present.

Practicing mindfulness meditation helps you create a mind-body connection allowing thoughts to come and go without overwhelming you. This method is especially vital now as the world seems to be changing at lightning speed. It helps you respond to situations positively, rather than reacting emotionally and getting stuck in negative thought patterns.

Catherine Workman always wanted to see the world. As soon as she was old enough to travel on her own, she began taking trips to new destinations, far and wide. She created Wellness Voyager with some of her travel mates as a place to chronicle her adventures and inspire others to leave their comfort zones and embrace all the world has to offer.