How To Meditate Properly: Rules To Achieve Peace In Your Life

By Lilyanne Rice - On Jan 01, 2019

You can hear about meditation on every corner and in every yoga hall. It turns out that many successful people meditate: Hugh Jackman, Paul McCartney, Cameron Diaz, Keanu Reeves, Tony Robbins, Clint Eastwood, etc. The list is endless. It’s unlikely that after five minutes of this practice, money starts raining down on the stars, just like sports betting bonuses start raining down on those who begin placing bets. But there’s a reason they made this choice. Is this one of the secrets to their success? Let’s find out what meditation is and whether it’s actually useful or a tribute to fashion.

What Meditation Is

People have been practicing meditation since ancient times. It’s a mental exercise that trains relaxation, concentration skills, and mindfulness. It’s deep reflection and focusing on something.

This exercise is usually done with eyes closed, sitting, standing, or lying down. Often, in the not-so-famous lotus pose. By concentrating on some thought, mantra, image, or emptiness, you drive away all other thoughts.

Benefits of Meditation

What are the benefits of this activity? If you train your patience in this way, you can suffer wonderfully while standing on the plank. At least your abs will be pumped at the same time. Your legs get stiff, your back stiffens, and it’s hard to concentrate. You remember that you forgot to write an important letter at work or reply to a comment on social media… There must be a reason to do it, except for the sweet illusion of your own spiritualization! So what is this practice for?

You Will Become Smarter and More Aware

Practicing meditation develops intelligence as greatly as reading expert articles at https://blog.tonybet.com/ca/. And that’s not just idle talk. Research at Harvard has shown that the gray matter in the brain, which is associated with learning, memory, and emotion, becomes more dense when a person meditates. An experiment was conducted in which people practiced meditation for 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks. And already during this time, the described positive changes occurred! And researchers from the University of California noted this. Those who had been meditating for several years had a larger total gray matter volume than those who had not. The results of both studies were recorded on MRI scans.

And you’ll also re-educate your mind to positive thinking and learn to control the flow of thoughts. Isn’t that a superpower?

You Will Become Calmer and More Harmonious

Meditation develops both emotional intelligence and calms you down. Many people don’t know how to control our emotional swings.

In the same experiments at Harvard, it was noticed that during 8 weeks of meditation, the parts of the brain responsible for emotions and perception also thickened in the participants. This led to a reduction in anxiety and stress in the subjects.

The University of Wisconsin study proves that meditation reduces gray matter density in areas that are responsible for anxiety and stress. Once again, it’s a win-win! It has also been noted that meditation is as effective as a course of antidepressants!

By the way, by practicing meditation, you can become an active observer of your life. You will be less likely to blame politics, the country, and authors who write the wrong articles for all the troubles. Having calmed your emotions, you will be able to look soberly at the situations that have caused such a storm and not fall for external provocations.

You Will Become Familiar With Your Intuition and Empathy

By practicing meditation, you’ll be able to finally get to know yourself (many will actually do it for the first time). You’ll be closer to discovering your individuality and letting go of the imposed husks. And by getting to know yourself a little, you will be able to understand those around you, and this will clearly improve your relationships.

You Will Significantly Improve Your Health

Half of the problems are solved by balancing emotions. Meditation reduces the production of stress hormones, which means that most psychosomatic diseases are simply deprived of the ground for development. But that’s not all!

An experiment was conducted. Robert Schneider and other scientists invited 201 people with coronary heart disease and divided them into two groups. The study lasted for 5 years. After that time, the group in which everyone meditated had a 48% lower risk of a heart attack.

Meditation minimizes the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, slows down the aging process, reduces inflammation and lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients, and strengthens the immune system. And thanks to improved breathing, the body is more actively saturated with oxygen.

You Will Become More Successful and Disciplined

By pumping meditation willpower, you can learn to bring other things to an end. This is often enough to get the results you want.

If you have a high workload at work, meditation will help you not go crazy. Five minutes is enough to reboot your simmering “operating system.” In one interview, Katy Perry admits that meditation lengthens her day so that she can live it most effectively and that it gives her two days in one.

By controlling your emotions, you will stop in time and not send your boss away. By improving your self-discipline, you will be able to get up earlier and have more time. You’ll also be able to perform your tasks better because you won’t be fussy, which will improve your concentration.

How to Meditate Correctly

Learning how to meditate properly will help you with a conscious approach consisting of several steps:

Make a firm decision.
Choose a time and place.
Adopt a comfortable posture.
Learn one of the simple but effective techniques.

Making a conscious decision always helps a person take action. It doesn’t even matter what feelings and doubts will visit you at first. The main thing is to remember that the more often you meditate, the more chances you have to master certain techniques and get rid of physical and mental problems.

The choice of time depends on the conditions in which you live. For a city dweller, the optimal time is early in the morning, when the city noise is minimal. The evening after the end of the working day is also suitable. In the morning and evening, it’s easiest to concentrate and get away from the daily hustle and bustle.

How to Learn to Meditate Properly

You are free to choose at your discretion. If you can, meditate a little every day, for example, 5-10 minutes a day. Then, when you get into the process, increase the practice time to 20 minutes twice a day. Later, you will be able to learn more complex techniques and enter the meditative state quickly. There is no need to follow strict rules in this case, everyone develops individual biorhythms suitable for meditation over time.

Meditating Indian yogis are often depicted in pictures in the lotus pose. Not everyone can take it, so you can learn easier poses, for example:

Sitting on your knees, tuck your feet under you and lower yourself onto your heels.
Sit on a chair with your back straight.
Stand up straight and straighten your shoulders.

The main thing is that during practice, the back should be straight and the position stable.

For beginners, it is recommended to learn one of the simplest meditative techniques:

Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
As you exhale, visualize all negative thoughts and formations smoothly leaving your head.
Breathe slowly and evenly, controlling your breath.
Focus on the idea of cleansing the mind.
If any extraneous thoughts arise, try to get rid of them.
Watch the sensations.
Concentrate on the movements of the abdomen and ribs.

You can set a timer to control the time, and when it rings, take a few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes.

How to Understand You’re Meditating the Right Way

A few skills will help you realize that you are on the right path and doing it right:

Your breathing becomes rhythmic, calm, and deep.
The pauses between inhalation and exhalation are longer than in the normal state.
Thoughts don’t “jump,” but rather “float” in the head, creating a sense of inner calm and comfort.
Anxiety and confusion leave you during meditation, and, after leaving the state, you become more determined and collected.
The body learns to relax. Soon you will be able to meditate in any posture, but even if the lotus posture cannot be mastered, you will acquire the skill of spiritual practice from any place and position.
The body becomes light; it becomes “weightless,” and you can hardly feel it. At the beginning, people notice the opposite effect: they have a feeling of heaviness in the body, which gradually passes, and the whole body is filled with a feeling of happiness and peace.

Using simple techniques, you can get closer to the true essence of meditation and understand it in practice. Of course, any beginner faces difficulties, but don’t be disappointed: if you practice regularly, you will definitely succeed.