Meditation: many people swear by it; it’s an intrinsic part of their daily routine like showering or cleaning their teeth but what does it mean? how does it work? and what is the affect of mindfulness & meditation on our brain and how we feel in general?
I am one of the many people who practices meditation and from my own personal experience I can tell you that it helps me to keep grounded, focused and calm. If I skip a meditation for any reason I notice that my fuse is shorter, I get more stressed easily, my attention span is shorter and I find I am more likely to feel anxious. In short, it’s a game changer but it isn’t something that you can just ‘do’, it’s a skill and like any other skill, you have to learn how to do it and you have to PRACTICE, you do need to commit to doing it regularly and you need to show up for yourself every day and make the time for yourself - allow yourself the opportunity to benefit from this amazing tool.
There is the misconception that meditation means ‘emptying your mind of all thoughts’ and if you do happen have a thought whilst trying to meditate (everyone does) then you have failed and you can’t do it. BUT this simply is not true. There are many different ways to meditate and many different approaches but I find the simplest and most accessible is to just sit quietly focus on your breath ; otherwise known as mindful meditation.
In - Out
In - Out
In - Out
Focus on the rhythm and the sensation of each breath in your body, where do you feel it most? You are going to still have random thoughts, everybody does; all of a sudden you will realise you have written your weekly shop in your head & you’ve lost the focus. When this happens, the key is to not give yourself a hard time about this lapse in attention but gently observe it has happened and bring your attention back to the breath.
This is in fact ‘exercising’ your mind and increases your ability to have control over your thoughts! An invaluable tool in : to be able to recognise unhelpful or intrusive thoughts, to stop them in their tracks and without judgement to focus your attention on something else. Your mind is like a muscle, as with the rest of your body, if you exercise you will become fitter and stronger… your mind is no different.
Practicing this skill daily for 10-20mins will mean that when you find yourself spiralling in a negative thought pattern you will be much more able to recognise it and stop it before it becomes too intense.
Studies have shown that a regular meditation practice will actually physically change the size of your amygdala… I will just let that sink in for a minute… You can change the size of a part of your brain through meditation and mindfulness!
"MRI scans show that after an eight-week course of mindfulness practice, the brain’s “fight or flight” centre, the amygdala, appears to shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress.
As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex – associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker.
The “functional connectivity” between these regions – i.e. how often they are activated together – also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger.” (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain/)
For anyone interested in learning more about meditation and how to build a practice into your daily routine there are many resources available out there ranging from courses, to books to podcasts. I found Gelong Thubten’s book ‘A monk’s Guide to Happiness’ really useful and accessible. He talks about his own journey and also sets exercises to try at the end of each chapter. His method for meditation is to do so with his eyes open, now I actually struggle with this as I automatically close my eyes, I think due to my hypnotherapy training, however I do not see this as an issue as everyone has to find the way that suits them best and that feels right for them.
An interesting blog post written by Belle Beth Cooper, goes into more detail about the science behind how meditation affects our brains you can find it here:
https://buffer.com/resources/how-meditation-affects-your-brain
If you would like to chat to me further about meditation and how to incorporate it into your routine pls drop me an email or a phone call, I’m here to help.
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