During my summers in the US visiting my grandparents, I always saw my grandfather meditating every morning. I wondered how he could sit still for so long – it seemed rather boring to be honest. However, I recently decided to give it a try and was blown away by its countless benefits. Now, I try to practice meditation every morning, and I am starting to see just how much it has benefited me and continues to benefit me!
Today I am going to share with you some of the main benefits that come from meditating.
1. Improves emotional well-being:
When you meditate, all your worries and self-doubt simply melt away. All the countless thoughts that are crowding your brain are released, leaving you with a feeling of clear headedness. Meditation can help you free yourself from negative thoughts and instead encourage you to focus on the simpler things in life, such as breathing and noticing the small aspects of your surroundings. As you get into the habit of meditating, you will notice that managing stress will be a lot easier as you will be able to focus on the present instead of worrying about the future or the past. It will also help to increase self-awareness and reduce negative emotions that make you unhappy.
2. Improves focus:
Meditation is actually a really great way to improve your focus and lengthen your attention span. When you practice meditation you will find that you are able to pay more attention and even be more accurate when completing a task. Personally, I have found that as meditation became more of a habit, I was able to go longer without losing my concentration during online school! This was really helpful as it was a lot easier for me to pay attention and stay on top of work.
3. Leads to kindness:
Meditation helps you to open yourself up to different perspectives and treat not only others, but also yourself with kindness. It leads to kind, caring, more compassionate thoughts and behaviour. It also aids you to learn how to love yourself, and treat your mind and body with kindness. Finally, it teaches you to take care of yourself and acknowledge your feelings.
4. Improves sleep:
When you meditate, you clear your mind of thoughts that could prevent you from falling asleep. This means that you can fall asleep quicker and be well rested for the next day. Furthermore, if you get enough sleep, your focus will improve as well. Just like anything, practice makes perfect. Therefore, the more you practice meditation, the more you will be able to settle your mind and control your racing thoughts.
So now that I have gone through the main benefits of meditation, I hope that I have encouraged you to give meditation a go! If I have, here are a few of my favourite free meditation apps to get you started:
- Balance
- Meditate
- Calm
- Headspace
- Tide
- Oak
- Drop
- Breethe
There is also an endless number of meditation guides on YouTube.
The bottom line here is that meditation is something that everyone can do. It is something that doesn’t require much time or effort, just five to ten minutes. It can be done anywhere, at any time, and it doesn’t require any equipment or memberships. There are countless free guided meditations that you can find online. Furthermore, there are many types of meditation that focus on different things, such as improving focus, coping with anxiety or stress, boosting creativity, gratitude, etc. This means meditation can help everyone!