How do people meditate? How do you turn your brain off and silence the constant noise? Is there some trick to it? Why bother, right?
Wrong.
The benefits of meditating are numerous:
-Reduces stress
-Calms your mind
-Fights depression and anxiety
-Lowers blood pressure
-Increases attention span
-Better sleep
-Reduces memory loss
These are all things that most of us deal with regularly, Meditation can help you on many levels.
I have inattentive type ADHD. I have children with combined type ADHD. It makes for a noisy house. There never seems to be silence, even when the kids aren’t here. So when I feel it’s time to meditate, I often feel a little overwhelmed already.
The main thing that you need for meditation is peace. Sometimes, when everyone is occupied with something quiet I can take myself to a different room and that’s all I need to settle into a meditative state. However, this is rare and usually short lived.
My favorite place is outside. I like to settle into the grass (if I can) or even on our porch and focus on feeling the breeze, the sun, the rain, whatever may be happening.
Sometimes I head to the basement where I can usually just be alone. This is a great time to pop in some earbuds and listen to binaural beats, which are my favorite thing to use when I want to “drop in” fast.
If you don’t know what they are, binaural beats are audio files that you can find online (some free, some for a price) that play two tones at slightly different frequencies which align with your brain waves to create a different frequency. This is safe to do, just not when you are driving or operating machinery. Those things need focus and binaural beats put you into a trance-like state.
How to Meditate
1.Sit comfortably somewhere you will be able to concentrate.
2.Take deep, controlled breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth.
3.Release tension in your body. Roll your shoulders, loosen your jaw, scan your body top to bottom to be sure that you are not tensing up anywhere.
4.Settle your mind by focusing on your breath. As thoughts come up, send them away and go back to focusing on your breath. This is not easy, but it gets easier with practice.
5.Start out with short periods of time, like 1 minute, and increase your time as your feel ready.
Tools to help you in your meditation practice
-Earbuds (Noise canceling earbuds are amazing)
–Candle (gives ambiance and something to focus your attention)
–Binaries beats or relaxing music
-Folded Towel or Blanket, mat, pillow to sit on
Try it out. I was never a person who could sit still without my mind involved in something. I wanted to meditate and practice mindfulness, but I was intimidated by it. Frankly, I thought it would be boring and therefore, unsustainable. Finding the right tools made it enjoyable for me and it became a ritual that I look forward to. The see measurable differences in my mental wellness are now enough for me to continue even when I don’t have my tools to rely on.
Do you meditate? What works for you? Please take a minute to share your experience because you could help someone else with their struggle.