The holidays can be stressful for many. Meditation, a practice using various techniques to enhance mental calm, emotional awareness and focused attention, can be helpful when we feel overwhelmed and out of sorts. Practiced for thousands of years by many different world religions, meditation has become increasingly popular in secular society. Western medicine has recognized the many benefits of a sustained meditation practice which can be as short as 5 minutes to several hours long. According to UC Davis Medical Center, meditation can:
- Decrease stress and reduce stress symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder and fibromyalgia.
- Improve Sleep
- Increase will power to help undo unhealthy habits.
- Increase attention span to help you to stay focused on a specific task.
- Improve memory that may help fight age related dementia.
- Lower blood pressure.
- Improve mental health by reducing anxiety and depression and by increasing compassion.
There are many ways to meditate and you don’t need to stick to one technique to reap benefits. While you may eventually find one that you like, it is more important to cultivate a daily practice.
Here are the resources I use to maintain a daily practice. I hope you find them helpful!
