Discover what meditation is and what its benefits are
Meditating was something unusual that in recent years has become completely normal and universal.
Everyone meditates: from hippies and spiritual seekers, to great entrepreneurs and life coaches, to mothers and health and well-being influencers.
All celebrities incorporate it into their morning routine. All psychologists and therapists prescribe it in their prescriptions. Hospitals are beginning to use it as a complementary tool to the proposed treatments.
In schools, children learn to breathe and be silent for longer.
Science reveals new benefits of this wonderful practice every day: it has been shown that meditation can completely transform the functioning of the brain.
Neuroscience knows that this spiritual practice has empirical effects on the body.
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But... what is meditation?
Meditation is a practice that allows you to focus your attention. Through the connection with the breath, the practitioner achieves anchoring. This allows you to relax and concentrate; This prepares you for true meditation.
Through the observation of thoughts, the individual begins to disidentify from his mind and becomes the witness who observes without judging or rejecting everything that appears.
It is as if you were the reader of a book: you contemplate what happens to the main character without attaching yourself to him or giving your opinion about him.
This, applied to our daily lives, means that instead of positioning ourselves as actors and victims, we become observers and creators. Instead of feeling sad, we observe the sadness and with practice and patience, we use this sadness as a teacher. Great meditators are able to transform emotional states such as depression or anxiety into outbreaks of joy, happiness and love for life.
What are the benefits of meditation?
The positive effects of meditation are many:
- allows us to connect with the present moment, giving the mind a great break
- relaxes the central nervous system, activating the relaxation and rest functions of the parasympathetic system
- develops skills such as concentration, focus, creativity, memory, broad vision of things
- provides perspective and allows us to see life from a more accurate and real perspective
- help in making important decisions
- improves personal and work relationships
- develops compassion, empathy, generosity and kindness
- connects us with patience and equanimity
- can reverse apathetic and depressive emotional states
- it is the perfect antidote for outbreaks of excessive anxiety and stress…
As we have mentioned before, neuroscience reveals new discoveries every day about this practice that the great wise men discovered millennia ago. Additionally, you can meditate in many ways. The ultimate goal of meditation is for you to live in all areas of your life from a meditative and contemplative state. This does not mean that you stop doing: this means that you do with your whole being. Your entire presence is focused on the activity; You dedicate all your energy to one specific thing. This guarantees you success in all areas of your life.
Meditation Practice for Beginners
Although there are very deep and advanced meditations that can lead you to perceive other dimensions of reality, meditating is actually very simple and accessible.
Start with short meditations and each day you advance in your discipline. Don't be impatient: each meditation will always bring you something.
Get into a comfortable position.
You can sit on a chair (feet on the floor), a cushion (legs crossed), or a padded support.
Let your hands rest in your lap.
Close your eyes and relax your shoulders.
Try, if you can, to keep your back straight.
Little by little, at your own pace, connect with your own breathing.
Feel the air entering and leaving your nostrils.
Observe how when you inhale your chest expands, your ribs open.
Watch as you exhale, your chest empties of air, your ribs close.
Inhale through your nose.
Exhale through your nose.
At your pace and without rushing.
How do you feel?
What thoughts sail through your mind?
Observe them without judging them. As if they were waves in the sea. That come and go.
If you can't distance yourself from them, nothing happens. Don't criticize yourself. Just breathe.
With time, patience and discipline you will begin to separate yourself from your role as an actor to be the observer, and later the creator. Everything requires a process. Do not be afraid.
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