There are many health benefits of meditation but it’s one of those topics that can get some pretty good eye rolls from people! I think this is because most people imagine someone sitting cross-legged with their palms up repeating some weird “mantra” over and over.
That’s one way to do it. But it’s not really what I’m talking about when I bring up meditation! There are much more practical and simple versions of meditation that I want to review here. And I think it can really benefit you with your overall health.
My last blog was about how helpful mindfulness is in reaching health goals. I’ve used mindfulness successfully for many years to stay focused on my own health. One of the ways you get better at mindfulness is to practice meditation. The practice that I find most helpful is called “mindfulness meditation”.
It’s very simple. All you need to do is sit down, close your eyes and focus only on your breath going in and out. When you notice your attention start to wander from your breath to some other thought, start over again. Just keep readjusting your focus back to your breath. Simple…but not easy!
The goal behind mindfulness meditation is to train your brain to stay focused on what’s happening in the present moment. According to Mindful.org, meditation trains us to “anchor ourselves in the here and now on purpose, without judgment“. After some practice, it gets easier to be more mindful in your daily life as it’s unfolding.
Let’s start with the science behind meditation so you understand why I think it’s so important.
The science behind meditation
Chronic pain affects over 100 million Americans and costs the US billions every year in medical care and lost productivity. Unfortunately, a common treatment for pain is the use of opioid drugs. This has led to an opioid crisis in our country. The last thing we want to do is treat one problem and cause another.
Zeidan and Vago report that “mindfulness-based meditation has repeatedly been found to significantly reduce chronic pain” symptoms. Stress causes our bodies to produce hormones, like cortisol, which cause inflammation and joint pain.
One of the many benefits of meditation is that it helps our brain produce the “feel-good” hormones called endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals that naturally relieve stress and pain. Psychology Today points out that “Mindfulness meditation has been shown in clinical trials to reduce chronic pain by 57%”.
Studies on people with chronic pain have used brain scans to show that mindfulness calms the neural pathways that sense pain. People dealing with chronic pain become more sensitive to it over time than the average person. It’s a downward spiral that takes getting their minds off their pain in order to disrupt that pathway. This is where meditation comes in.
If you’re interested in the power of meditation and how the mind can physically heal the body then check out this story by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He was hit by a car while bicycling and was told he would probably never walk again. Instead of having the risky surgery the doctors recommended, he decided to use his mind to heal his body.
Meditation can be very powerful although it doesn’t help everyone with their pain. But given all the compelling research, it might be worth trying it before resorting to addictive pills or dangerous surgeries.
Related article: How diet affects mental health.
How to practice mindfulness meditation
Keep in mind that meditation is a journey, not a destination! It’s always something you’ll be working on but will never be finished with. It’s about the process and there is no end. I feel that I have to say this first before I explain how it’s done because it’s easy to get frustrated!
To get started, find a quiet place to sit comfortably. Close your eyes, relax your body and just focus on your breathing. As thoughts pop into your mind just notice them but don’t judge them or continue to dwell on them. Accept them, let them go, and refocus on your breathing. The “practice” is continually returning to your breath.
The idea is that you’re “training” your brain to just focus on one thing at a time. You’ll find out that your mind wanders constantly and it seems impossible to keep it focused! Focusing on your breath is one way to relax, but another proven way is with deep breathing. So try taking long slow breaths with each inhale and exhale.
Body scan meditation
Another mindfulness meditation practice is the body scan. Sit or lie down comfortably and start by focusing on your toes. Notice how they feel and if they’re relaxed. Then start moving up your body, one section at a time. Every time you breathe out, focus on releasing more tension from each body part.
This type of meditation can help you become more aware of what your body is feeling and how you’re unconsciously reacting to it. You may learn that you hold more tension than you thought in one area. This can help you to work on relaxing more throughout the day.
Loving-kindness meditation
Another type of meditation that might help you when you’re too involved in your own thoughts is loving-kindness meditation. Think about someone you know that you want to send positive thoughts to. Repeat phrases like “May you be happy”, “May you have peace”, and “May you have health” while concentrating on that person.
It doesn’t matter what phrases you repeat, as long as it’s what you want for them. You can do this for yourself too if you’re feeling down in the dumps. Another option is to do this for people you dislike. It can have the effect of giving you more compassion for someone that is difficult for you to understand.
Benefits of meditation
Start by practicing any one of these meditations just once a day for 5 minutes. As it gets a little easier for you, work your way up in time. You can also practice it when you’re in your car stuck in traffic and feeling tense. Just don’t close your eyes! You can even practice it while waiting in a long line at the grocery store.
The more you practice meditation, the better you’ll get at focusing your mind and relaxing your body. You’ll also start to be more aware of what your mind is focusing on and if it’s worth that focus. And finally, you’ll train yourself to get to a relaxed state faster.
These are all practical benefits of meditation that can have a huge impact on your health.
Physical health benefits of meditation
Mindfulness meditation can help us to understand why we’re engaging in, or not engaging in, some of our behaviors. Motivation is always a key factor in both exercise and nutrition. But to find our motivation we need to be aware of what’s going on inside our heads.
When we’re aware of what we’re thinking we have the opportunity to stop our automatic behaviors and make better choices. Our lack of awareness puts us in autopilot mode where we act out of habit. I’ve learned that being mindful helps me with both my weight maintenance and healthy eating habits.
Exercise
Mindfulness has helped me be consistent with exercise. Because I’m aware of my feelings, I know that I rarely feel like exercising. But I also know that I always feel good about it after I’m done. Our thoughts lead to our feelings which lead to our actions.
If we can better control our thoughts then healthier actions will follow. But first, you have to know what you’re thinking. I often tell my clients to write down how they feel before each workout (“dread”) and after each workout (“accomplishment”). This will show you if there’s a pattern in your thinking.
I would also suggest reframing your thinking about exercise so your feelings are more positive about it. So when you find yourself thinking “yuk, I don’t feel like exercising”, change that to something positive. For example, “exercise is good for my body and I’ll feel better when I’m done!”.
Related article: How to make exercise a habit.
Healthy eating
Being mindful helps me with my eating habits because I can stop and ask myself why I’m eating. This is a great tool since I often want to eat out of boredom or habit. It also helps me decide what to eat. I just remind myself of my health goals and ask if a poor food choice is worth giving up those goals.
Related article: 10 Motivational tools to maintain weight loss and health.
By being aware of my thoughts I find it easier to reason with myself. My long-term health is more important to me than my day-to-day feelings or moods. So more often than not I make the better choice. It’s no different than choosing to get out of bed every day for work.
You could choose to stay in bed and just skip work. But there would be consequences. You might lose your job and your income! It’s the same with healthy eating. If you choose to eat junk food you’ll pay the price later. Remember, feelings are temporary but health is long-term.
Without Judgment
The last part of the definition of mindfulness meditation is “without judgment”. This means that we accept the thoughts that pop into our heads as a natural fact of life. They’re not “good” or “bad”, they just are.
We need to learn to not be so hard on ourselves. Being mindful isn’t about berating ourselves for “poor” choices. It’s about accepting ourselves as imperfect human beings with plenty more to learn in life. Besides, if we recognize our weaknesses then we can start to work on strengthening them.
My final thoughts
There are many more health benefits of meditation than what I can write about here. But speaking for myself, meditation has helped me become more mindful. And that’s helped me reach and maintain a healthier lifestyle. Now I stop and think rather than acting on impulse most of the time. It’s about being a grown-up!
There are more distractions in our lives now than at any other time in history. We have an information overload in our world today and our minds have a hard time focusing on anything for long. This leads us to live life on autopilot (because that’s easier) and not think about the consequences of our actions.
Practicing meditation, even though I feel like I’ll never be good at it (still judging!), helps me to stop and pay attention to my thoughts and feelings. And this is how I’m able to be my own coach in my wellness journey. I can question myself like I would question someone else.
One of the reasons I decided to become a health coach was to help motivate other people to live healthier lives. But being healthy isn’t just about exercise and eating right. It’s about understanding ourselves and what makes us tick. This helps us to make better choices for ourselves and our overall happiness.
Remember the saying “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything”? Good health leads to more happiness in life. Health is a basic need and most of us have a lot of control over it. So give these meditation practices a try and see what they can do for you.