Why You Need to Meditate

Now I am not going to claim to be an expert on meditation, in fact I am just a beginner, but the benefits are too great for me to wait until I am an expert before sharing this with you.

What is meditation? If I am completely honest, with a Christian background I use to hesitate at the word. My now, less ignorant self is aware that meditation is not religion specific. Meditation is about consciousness, its about going deeper and connecting with a different part of you.

Why should you mediate?

• If you have any health issues – which most of us do, then meditation is a must. There so much evidence that supports the health benefits. Meditation reduces stress and you would already be aware of the risks of prolonged stress on your health. Meditation allows you to pause and allow your body to heal.
• Improve your concentration. If you are pregnant or a mother than you can probably appreciate what seems like the deterioration of the brain into something that resembles a scrambled egg. Meditation will assist in achieving a clearer mind and increased focus throughout your day. You can’t afford not to!
• The ability to detach. The focus on the present enables you to learn to detach from the past or future. Less sweating the small stuff, more enjoying each moment. Less worry, less depression. Detaching is the key to dealing with daily challenges with grace.
• Understand more about yourself. Meditation teaches you to listen to your body, your mind and spirit. It helps you understand more about who you are, your purpose and how your being is part of a bigger energy.

How do you meditate? I imagine there are many ways to meditate and I am certainly no guru. I do want to share with you 3 methods I use that I get so much value out of.

1. Gratitude: I usually like to start by giving thanks for my blessings. Personally I do it as a prayer thanking God for all the wonderful gifts he has given me, but you can simply share your gratitude with the universe if this is more your style. I find this helps me focus on the positives and also remind me that these blessing are a gift to me and not a right.
2. Visualisation: This is about attracting your perfect life. Close your eyes and visualise your life as you would like it to be. Don’t spare any details. Think about what you see, how your feel, who you are with, what you look like, what are you doing. I will do more on visualisation in another post because it is so powerful when done correctly.
3. Mindfulness: This is the essence of meditation and I save it for last so that I don’t get distracted by any other thoughts. This is about being aware of  the current moment not the future or the past and is easier said than done! I start by focusing on my breath, how it feels and how it sounds. Then I become aware of all my senses, how my body feels, what I can hear, what I can taste, what I can smell. Then I take my awareness outside my body to the room and then to outside. This is amazing, you will notice so much more in your day because you are teaching yourself to appreciate each moment.