Ways To Meditate And The Benefits Of Meditation
I first started looking into meditation when I was 12 yrs old. On one of the many trips to the library with my mother and sister I found a book on meditation, took it home, and started to try to meditate. Unfortunately I was too preoccupied and interested in my friends, school, sports, and girls at that time so meditation fell by the way side. In my early 20s I rediscovered meditation as a way to deal with ADHD and to calm my mind and body during stressful times at work, school, or at home. This article lays out some of the different methods you can use to meditate and the endless benefits of meditation.
If you're wondering How to Meditate and the benefits it has, you're not alone. Millions of adults experience difficulty concentrating, and meditation helps people improve their attention span and memory. A recent study found that meditation training can improve verbal reasoning scores on the GRE by as much as 16 percentile points. That increase is more than enough to change the way millions of people view meditation. Listed below are just a few of the many ways meditation can benefit you.
Focused-attention meditation
The benefits of focused-attention meditation can be felt across the board. For example, the ability to focus on the present moment helps people with ADHD to exercise the attention centers of their brain. Focusing on the breath and returning to it when you become distracted is an effective way to exercise the attention centers of the brain. The more you practice, the more effective your focused attention will become. You will be surprised by the difference it can make to your wellbeing.
A recent study in Richard Davidson's lab found that people who practice focused-attention meditation developed enhanced convergent thinking. This study found that participants experienced lower error rates than their control group, and the meditation induced fewer emotional errors. It also increased the connections between attentional networks of the brain. The results suggest that focused attention meditation improves our ability to resolve conflict and make decisions based on our experience of the world.
There are several types of focused-attention meditation. One popular form of this practice is called Samatha meditation. In Samatha meditation, participants focus on their breathing, paying attention to their inhalations and exhalations. This open monitoring meditation encourages practitioners to be in the moment and avoid judgment of their thoughts. It’s kinda like laying on the grass and watching clouds go by in the sky. The clouds are representative of your thoughts and you viewing them is representative of how you can view your thoughts that occur during your meditation. If you want to experience more of its benefits, try combining this practice with mindfulness. It can change your life.
Other studies have shown that meditation affects the structure of the brain. This is the neurobiological substrate of distributed regulatory processes that govern attention and emotion. It helps promote a sense of well-being and other behavioral aspects. While the benefits of focused-attention meditation may be felt immediately, it takes time for the brain to become accustomed to this practice. It may take several sessions to reach your desired state, but you will notice an improvement over time.
Open monitoring meditation, which involves scanning a person's brain with electrodes, may also benefit creativity. Researchers found that people who practice Open Monitoring Meditation were able to develop more creative ideas compared to those who practice Focused-attention meditation. Moreover, Open Monitoring Meditation also enhances convergent and divergent thinking. It is therefore superior to Focused-attention meditation for creativity. So, which one is better for your brain?
The effects of meditation on the brain have not been fully studied, but studies show that it has a positive effect on the functioning of the nervous system. The neural activity recorded during intensive Vipassana meditation improves attentional scope, while those who practice OMM meditate better on sustained attention tasks. Interestingly, OMM meditators show increased amplitudes for tones in their electroencephalograms, suggesting better engagement during the task.
Paying attention to something requires our brain to ignore other stimuli. If we don't pay attention, we end up becoming confused, so it's essential to practice focused attention. For example, when looking for a friend, we concentrate on their voice instead of our surroundings. When we are distracted by multiple things, our attention is not fully focused on the person, and instead is spread across many tasks. Practicing focused attention can help us improve our overall well-being and improve our performance in other areas of life.
Mantras
Using mantras for meditation helps you focus on the positive aspects of life. The repetitive chanting of the same phrase or word creates a mental void, helping you focus on your own growth thoughts. To get the most out of mantra meditation, you must first choose a mantra. Before selecting one, however, you must understand its meaning. Mantras represent your ideas about life and your understanding of the universe. These thoughts help you achieve a calm state of mind and enhance your ability to deal with stressful situations.
A common mantra for meditation is Om. It focuses the mind and helps it to meditate more deeply. It reminds you that there is a holiness within you. This mantra is easy to chant and has a powerful effect on achieving transcendence. The sky mantra can be chanted several times throughout the day. This is a great mantra for deep meditation as it reminds the mind and body that all feelings will eventually pass.
Mantras are sounds and vibrations that create the desired effects. When chanted repeatedly, mantras can bring healing, transformation, and self-awareness. The reason mantras are so effective is because everything in the universe has vibrations and sounds. Every tree, flower, and part of the body has its own unique vibration. The quality expressed in each object is a vibration. By focusing on your breath, you can achieve a calmer mind and a better relationship with the universe.
Counting breaths
Many Buddhist practices recommend counting breaths when meditation, although this practice is not universally adopted. Buddhist teachings on breathing vary among different schools of Buddhism and teaching centers, although it is common in many Zen, Theravada, and Vipassana traditions. Insight meditation teachers rarely recommend counting breaths during meditation. In addition, some practitioners do not advocate counting breaths at all. If you practice meditation regularly, consider how counting breaths can improve your meditation experience.
Counting breaths during meditation is an effective way to calm the mind and develop concentration. Whether you choose to use counting breaths for the entire meditation session, or simply the first few minutes, this technique will enhance your practice of concentration. You can begin counting breaths with the number one, and count your breaths throughout the entire inhalation and exhalation cycle. If you can do this, you will find counting to be much easier. Once you have mastered counting to 10, you can try increasing your count to 20 or 30. Some Buddhist masters claim that anyone who can count to 100 consistently will achieve anything they set their minds.
As with all forms of meditation, it's essential to practice slow and mindful breathing. The aim of meditation is to use our mental energy wisely, which means using less mental energy on worrying. Counting breaths while meditation helps us achieve this, and a slow and steady pace will help you develop an optimal practice. While doing this, you'll find that you become more alert and aware, and will notice a dramatic change in your overall state of mind.
Counting breaths during meditation has many benefits, but it also has its limitations. Counting breaths requires a sustained and uninterrupted awareness of the experience, and counting requires a significant amount of mental effort. Therefore, it may be difficult to measure how well you are doing without a steady stream of breathing. However, when you practice mindfulness, you can easily improve the counting accuracy. You might even be surprised at how fast you can improve your meditation skills.
Try it out and let us know how it works.
Written by:Coach Clint
