The Power of Meditation

As a kid, I grew up in a pretty conservative, middle-class neighbourhood that wasn’t that culturally diverse. When I heard about meditation for the first time I thought it was quite a strange concept, and something I couldn't really see myself doing much of. Sitting around with your eyes closed, focusing on your breathing seemed a bit silly and pointless, and I saw it being reserved for “new-age” people, hippies or yogis from Byron Bay (right near where I’m actually living this year!), or people that had way too much time on their hands.

Well, how wrong I was!

Whilst the science behind meditation was a bit sketchy when I was a kid, the verdict is now well and truly in, and it’s good news for those who meditate on a regular basis. Improvements in focus, concentration, memory, attention, sleep, stress and anxiety levels are just a few of the benefits that meditation brings. It also amazingly changes the structure of the brain thanks to neuroplasticity, by rewiring neural circuits and pruning the connections we use least, whilst strengthening the ones we use most. It reduces the physical size of the fear centers in our brain, and even alters our DNA, which could help us live longer. How cool is that!? 🧠🤯

But I think the greatest benefit of meditation is that it establishes a lower baseline level of presence and relaxation to center the rest of your life around.

There are so many people these days that are living in a constant state of elevated stress and anxiety, and this becomes the “normal” that everything is based upon. I see this a fair bit, especially in students at high school and university when workloads and pressure increase, along with higher expectations to perform well. These anxiety-provoking situations can easily tip students over the edge, and be devastating to performance quality and overall well-being.

We now live in a society where being busy and hectic is the new pace of life. But if we don’t take the time to recalibrate the body and mind regularly, then our view of the world can become very clouded indeed – I’ve been there, and I’m sure many of you have too!

Taking the time to meditate helps clear the mind to become much more self-aware, so that you can recognize and respond to your thoughts and emotions with greater control, understanding, and self-compassion. Then you are able to notice when your anxiety levels are increasing, and take the time to do something about it; whether that be doing some deep breathing exercises, going for a walk, talking to your friends, or meditating some more.

When I first starting out meditating I really had no idea what I was doing – was I supposed to just sit there and try not to think about anything!? What I found really useful was to start with guided meditations to give me some form of structure whilst learning this new skill. Then once you've got this down, you can start to do more of your own thing, or stick with the guided methods if you prefer.

There are plenty of great meditation apps and YouTube videos out there, but here are a few Mindfulness meditations apps that have been recommended to me that you could try out.*

Headspace
Smiling Mind
Insight Timer

Are you an experienced meditator? Do you have any particular meditation method that you use? Please share your experiences or suggestions below! 🧘‍♀️🧘‍♂️

*Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any of these app companies. My views are completely impartial, and are from personal experience and recommendations from professional psychologists and counsellors only. 😊