The Science of Meditation and Mindfulness – Top 5 facts to Note
Meditation and mindfulness are gradually but steadily receiving the recognition they deserve more than ever before. Bet that even amidst this, the bottom line is that it has a tone of unmatched benefits.
Do negative thoughts slide through your minds at times?
If yes, mindfulness is the best way to evade these negative thoughts and return to the present.
With meditation and mindfulness, you slow down the thoughts racing on your mind and kick out the negativity for a calm body and mind.
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You can even overcome psychotic depression and other types of stress.
It is great to focus on what is present to accept your feelings, sensations, and thoughts without judgment.
The science of meditation and mindfulness has several facts. Read on to know some top 5 facts worth noting.
Impact on Your Attention Span and Ability to Focus
Meditation can significantly improve your attention span; this offers a better explanation of why most 21st century teachers are implementing meditation lessons in their classes.
The benefits of a great attention span for students are immeasurable.
In addition, meditation is beneficial to school-goers and even to work employees.
Focus can help you achieve great results at the workplace.
It’s more likely that you have heard the phrase “practice makes perfect,” right? However, this phrase is also applicable to the science of meditation and mindfulness.
With mindfulness, you may find it a bit hard at first to be present for more than two seconds, but it’s okay because the moments of not being interrupted typically last for not more than 10 seconds.
Keep judgment at bay and try so much to stay in the present every time your mind wanders.
With consistency, you will improve your concentration, and you will notice that your productivity levels will increase with time.
Meditation and mindfulness come at no cost; you only require yourself.
If you make these two practices a habit, you will feel free from the stresses and pressures of everyday life.
New Ideas and Improved memory
Meditation improves your memory, as proven by some top researchers; this is because a large part of your brain anatomy is responsible for learning and memory.
Some of these researchers noted that with regular meditation, the cortical thickness found in the brain increases a great deal. So it’s not just a mere talk, but mindfulness meditation has an impact on your memory.
If you find yourself forgetting too often, you know the perfect solution to turn your condition around.
Stress and anxiety are not new to your internal world but beneath the stress and anxiety is a surfeit of untapped visions and ideas waiting for uncovering.
Mindfulness clears the mental clutter and gives rise to new creativity.
Creativity is more of a state of your mind opposite to the common belief of it being a skill or a trait. Only if you are inspired or feel relaxed can your mind achieve this state.
Using mindfulness, you can achieve this. In addition, you will receive regular inspiration as a result of it because you will see the world around you clearly.
Mindfulness brings you closer to the lessons that are waiting for you.
Frees Up Your Mind and Manages Stress
Has your mind ever been without a single thought? Guess that the answer is no because human minds are continuously boggling with thoughts. This constant boggling is because you are maybe wondering, planning, reflecting, and even thinking of what tomorrow holds for you. Have you ever wondered what the results of giving your mind a break from all this would be?
This is what mindfulness does to you because you will have some time to be in the present moment. The benefit of being present is that your mind will not give room for deprecation of yourself or even worries. With a free mind, you can change the way you see the world, get new thoughts and nurture the perfect version of yourself.
Similarly, meditation minimizes stress. Do you know how stress comes about? It’s simple; the brain releases a hormone called cortisol linked to stress. Cortisol then causes the production of cytokine, wondering what this is? It’s a chemical that catalyzes inflammation.
The good news is that mindful meditation limits the output of these chemicals hence keeping stress at bay. Other than that, mindfulness and meditation also reduce anxiety disorders and depression symptoms.
Improves Your Physical Health
Are you tired of popping the blood pressure drugs daily? The solution lies within your reach, just waiting for you to explore it. The people who have the habit of constantly meditating seem to be always relaxed. The benefits of relaxing, especially if you have a problem with high blood pressure, are incredible. If you are relaxed, you give room for your brain to produce nitric oxide, reducing your blood pressure.
If you continuously manage your blood pressure, your physician can decrease your prescribed meditation. Mindfulness meditation offers a solution for insomnia. If you religiously practice these habits, you will improve your chances of getting adequate sleep. Mindful meditation provides a solution to the things that can cause insomnia, hence solving the problem. You can improve your heart health too through meditation.
Additionally, you will realize that meditation is a much better painkiller than some painkillers like morphine. This is because meditation calms the somatosensory cortex found in the human brain while at the same time inciting activities in the other parts. Research carried out found out that meditation can vastly minimize the intensity of your pain compared to painkillers. In addition, it can make you tolerant of the pain that you are feeling.
It Improves Your Happiness
It’s in your best interest to know that meditation enhances positive emotions and constructive thoughts.
Don’t underestimate the few minutes you spend meditating; that can pull immense magic to your happiness. Meditation improves satisfaction, and it was proven through a study carried out. The findings were that the part responsible for happiness in the brains of those who were meditating was more active compared to those who were not in the habit.
It’s up to you to define the kind of life you want and choose whether it will be full of happiness or sadness. You don’t have an excuse for not being happy even if everything in your life is going south. However, you are now aware of something to do at no cost to be happy. You may have gone somewhere to relax, like in a park, but your mind is not free, and in this state, nothing that amuses you will bring joy or happiness to you.
As much as you want to find happiness in mindfulness and meditation, consider just listening to the birds chirping while in the park or seeing how the seasons change their colors; this is mindfulness too, but learn to get happiness from the daily little things you do because this will result to more satisfyingly and joyously of your being.
What is Travel Meditation?
Do you travel to relax?
If yes, then travel meditation might be perfect for you.
When you travel, your main agenda is to relax.
You don’t go on a transformational trip just cause it’s fun but also because you want to have some time out of the schedule where there are no demands placed on you; that partly explains travel meditation.
Traveling helps people reduce stress by providing them with an opportunity to get away from their busy schedules and offer respite that their body needs.
When traveling, this is what happens in your head: usually, travel means shifting from one location to another hence taking your mind off the past events or things that are draining your energy.
This mental detaching always leave an opening for your mind to get refreshed.
The benefits of travel meditation are numerous.
People travel for leisure or business purposes, travel to research on some matter, or travel just for the sake of travel.
Travel meditation always comes with tremendous health benefits that people who travel a lot don’t consider.
You can do it when you decide that you want to stay alone in a quiet environment and empty your mind from all thoughts, which means no destination is needed.
To meditate while traveling, here are the steps:
- Start by closing your eyes and taking a slow deep breath in through your nose, and exhale slowly through either your mouth or nose again
- Start focusing on this one breath at a time, allowing your mind to push out any unnecessary thoughts
- If you feel a thought coming in, try not to fight it but instead let the thought travel out slowly through your exhaling breath.
- Continue to focus on this until you can no longer recognize any meaning in your thoughts and feel that you are entering a state of zen where there is only blackness or emptiness.
When people travel, they may not need to practice meditation while on the road. But on the other hand, Travel meditation can assist you in relieving tension and tiredness while traveling.
In addition, travel meditation will help you experience pleasure from various activities which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible because of being overwhelmed with work or preoccupied with life issues.
Want to know more about travel? Check these 57 of the Best Travel Accessories for this year.
Final Thoughts
You may have probably chosen to read this article because you want to try meditation and mindfulness.
Well, you have some of the top facts that will be a motivating factor if you do not let go of them.
So, get yourself a perfect guide and start now!
Finally, check out this neuroscience guide to break your creative block.
