Meditation for mental health is a key player in your overall well being, from physical fitness to emotional wellness. Because good mental health is crucial to your body’s holistic health, it is important to understand how a meditation practice can impact your mental health.
Key takeaways
- A meditation practice can reduce stress and anxiety.
- Practice consistently for best results.
- Researchers found that a meditation practice resulted in a direct positive impact on stress, anxiety, and depression.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is the practice of bringing non-judgmental awareness to the present. Using vehicles such as breath, sound, and mantras to focus on a specific moment free of external distractions, a meditation practice encourages you to return to the moment in front of you rather than worrying about past or future events. A meditation practice also encourages you to acknowledge any fleeting thoughts, but not to dwell on them. By staying present and observing your thoughts, you are able to reach a clearer mind which will help with decision-making and managing things like stress and anxiety.
When you meditate, you are also triggering your parasympathetic nervous system. Similarly to breathwork, a meditation practice tells your body to “turn off” your sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response) and “turn on” your parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest) which rewires your brain to reach a state of relaxation.
Meditation for Mental Health
As you go about your day-to-day responsibilities, the anxiety and stress that builds up is naturally triggering your sympathetic nervous system. When your mind is in a state of stress or anxiety, the brain is telling the body to prepare in any way necessary to protect yourself from perceived threats (i.e. fight-or-flight). In today’s society, it has become natural for our bodies to rest in a state of chronic stress and anxiety, even without an imminent threat to our safety. This can be due to things like stress and anxiety at work or school.
A meditation practice can be used as a natural way to cope with stress and anxiety. Because your meditation practice will trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, feelings of stress and anxiety can be greatly reduced for a clearer mind. In fact, in 2019, researchers found that out of a group of 200 people, a meditation practice resulted in a direct positive impact on stress, anxiety, and depression.
When beginning your meditation practice, it is important to keep in mind that results will not present themselves overnight. Meditation should be a ritual incorporated into your daily routine rather than a one-time event. Over time, the continued state of mental training through a regular meditation practice will present tangible results.
Meditation for Anxiety and Stress
Loving-Kindness
A guided meditation practice that focuses on generating love and compassion toward yourself and others.
Element: Transcendent Love
Body Scan
A meditation practice that helps bring awareness to your body and the present moment, preventing your mind from wandering.
Element: PM Body Scan
Visualization
A guided meditation practice that focuses on a mental image to anchor your practice and keep your mind from wandering to past or future thoughts.
Element: Visualization for Sleep
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