Meditation is a special technique that has been practiced for centuries to gain mental clarity and reach a state of deep awareness. The meditation process follows a certain pattern, has certain principles, and produces results that can be verified. If you have made a new decision to meditate, we recommend that you review this guide in detail.
What is meditation?
Meditation is a technical method applied to reach a state of deep awareness.There are many types of meditation, the effects of which are supported by scientific studies if practiced regularly.
Due to the developing technology and the heavy business life in recent years, everyone is very tired both physically and mentally. In fact, people may face serious situations such as lack of self-confidence and asociality.However, meditating regularly can help overcome the challenges posed by these situations.You can meditate to manage stress properly, so you can protect your mental health.
As a result of many scientific studies, it has been proven that meditation positively affects mental health.Important educational institutions such as Yale University and Harvard Medical School have conducted many clinical studies on this subject. According to the results of these studies, meditating even for 10-15 minutes a day relaxes the soul.
What You Need to Know About Meditation
- Meditation has been practiced in cultures around the world for thousands of years.
- Nearly every religion has a tradition of using meditative practices, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
- While meditation was practiced mostly for religious purposes in ancient times, it is now practiced independently of religious and spiritual practice.
Types of Meditation
- Concentrating meditation: In this type of meditation, your attention is focused on a specific object. The goal is to reach a higher state of existence and truly experience whatever you focus on. These can be a word, a mantra, your breath, or any object.
- Mindfulness meditation: It involves focusing attention on a particular object based on awareness.It is mostly practiced by focusing attention on the breath. Breath is preferred for most of us because it is easy to work on, but people who have difficulty working with breath can also practice mindfulness meditation with an external object, for example, by focusing attention on an external sound.
Effects and Benefits of Meditation
Meditation has many benefits. Studies have shown that this activity can have both physiological and psychological effects. Some of the benefits of meditation are:
- It increases self-awareness.
- Improves stress management skills.
- Improves emotional well-being.
- It helps relieve symptoms of conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, sleep disorders, pain problems and high blood pressure.
- Improves cognitive functions.
- It eliminates the attention problem over time.
Beginning Meditation
Meditation is widely recommended because it is a health-enhancing practice. It offers many benefits, from reducing symptoms of stress to relieving physical complaints such as headaches and even strengthening the immune system.Meditation, even for a short time, works wonders on physical and mental health. It's not too late to start meditation, which has become the best complement to traditional medicine!
Basic concepts of meditation
- Focusing the mind: It is a common misconception that meditation makes the mind "quiet". In reality, your mind is always thinking. It is absolutely normal for the mind to be active while meditating.The key is to accept this and keep the focus on your breath as much as possible.Observing the feelings and thoughts that change with the breath, returning to the breath when you realize that the attention is distracted is the heart of the meditation practice.
- Being in the present: All meditative practices involve focusing on the present rather than focusing on the past or the future. It means being in the present, experiencing each moment, leaving one and experiencing the next continuously. It is important to focus on the present during meditation. Because most people live thinking about the future or the past.
- Altered state of consciousness: Focusing the mind and staying in the present changes the level of consciousness rather than putting the mind to sleep. Meditation stimulates an area of the brain associated with positive thoughts and emotions.