In the first wellbeing hack we looked at the 6 pillars of self esteem and focused on improving our assertive skills. I hope you found it useful, and any comments would be useful !
In this post , I would like to focus on the usefulness of meditation / mindfulness ( the difference is unimportant), how it can help you physical and emotional health and a couple of quick and easy ways to get started. Needless to say , I am not claiming to be a guru or expert, but it is something that has helped me get through some low times and keep things in perspective. It is free , it doesn’t take a lot of time just a bit of training and commitment – you may be surprised at how it can change your life for the better , it certainly worked for me.
Just a little message at the start , I get a lot of my meditation ideas and inspiration from the fantastic book Teach yourself to Meditate by Eric Harrison. This is clear and practical guide to learning meditation techniques from one of the best meditation teachers in Australia. Just googled it on Amazon on sale for around £4 – do yourself a favour and get it , and no I don’t get any commission!
The benefits of Meditation
Generally, regular meditation can help you to fight stress, increase general health, increase your awareness and boost your ability to think clearly and creatively. On Wikipedia the main benefits have been backed up by many studies in a lot of countries and are that it…
1/ lowers heart rate, oxygen consumption, breathing frequency, stress hormones, lactate levels, and sympathetic nervous system activity along with a modest decline in blood pressure
2/ For meditators who have practiced for years, breath rate can drop to three or four breaths per minute and “brain waves slow from the usual beta (seen in waking activity) or alpha (seen in normal relaxation) to much slower delta and theta waves.
3/ Studies demonstrate that meditation has a moderate effect to reduce pain
What is meditation?
On a very simple and elemental level , it is learning to focus the mind on a meditation object – we do this to still our constant mental chatter or what Buddhists call “the monkey mind”. Goleman (1988)says that : “the need for the meditator to retrain his attention, whether through concentration or mindfulness, is the single invariant ingredient in… every meditation system”.
Meditation is more than being relaxed – much more than chilling out. It is an alert, calm state of mind when the body is relaxed and the mind is focused. Our thoughts become still like the calm surface of a pond, and we are aware of our sensations.
How do we do it?
We keep the mind alert as we relax by focusing on something – this keeps distracting thoughts away and helps us stay awake. We give the mind a simple job to keep it out of trouble – for example , we can count our breath , say a mantra or visualise something. The great news is that there are lots of different meditations for you to try ( more wellbeing hacks on the way) but the basic technique for them all is focusing and concentration. The basic instructions for them all are:
1/ Relax 2/ Choose on thing to focus on and explore
3/ If the mind wanders bring it back 4/ Let everything else go.
Try a technique today…
As Eric Harrison says, “ The key to good focusing is to be interested in the object/activity” and breath meditations are an easy and useful place to start. This may seem like a simple technique i.e. counting breaths , but than done with gentle focus and discipline can be very rewarding…
a/ Find a quiet place for a 15 min meditation, tell others you need the time, get in a comfortable position that allows easy breathing.ie in a hard backed chair.
b/ Scan your body inwardly to release inner tensions i.e. belly, face hands
c/ Take a deep breath and sigh. Let the belly loosen and give the breath room to move and explore it. Don’t control it, let it be spontaneous.
d/ To anchor the mind/stay on track count the breaths up to 5 or 10 repeatedly. You can count on the outbreaths ( 1…2…3) , or double count, or on the outbreath and inbreath ( 1,1…2,2) or use the word “and” ( 1…and …2…and…3 etc)
e/ Let your body fall asleep, stay with the count, be aware of the sensations of relaxation- heaviness/lightness, tingling etc
f/ Emerge slowly from the mediation , sit quietly with eyes open for a minute. Notice how differently you feel.