Meditation Benefits

Meditation Benefits Your Brain

You know how those magazines lure you into buying them when you’re in the grocery line waiting your turn? Well, that just happened to me. But it’s a good thing this time. The magazine that caught my eye recently – when I was standing there looking at everything around me hoping things would move along a little faster – was all about meditation. It was so interesting to find out about meditation benefits and my brain.

I’ve shared with you before, like many people, I struggle with this self-care activity. As I started reading the first article, I realized why. Meditation requires patience. I’m sure you can tell by how I relate to standing in line, patience is not something I have a lot of sometimes. This article talked a lot about people being challenged to quiet their minds. Okay, this is another thing I am not particularly proficient at doing.

The really amazing thing I read about, though, was the effect meditation has on a person’s brain. Many studies have shown a person can actually retrain their brain. It’s possible to change your mental powers and emotional patterns. Now that’s something that would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Simply by practicing meditation on a regular basis, you can change the way you think, your cognitive abilities, and how you deal with life. I suppose it makes perfect sense. Practice always makes us better at something. I just had never thought of it that way in this context.

The article is “Your Brain on Meditation” by Kelly McGonigal. And it says that meditation increases gray matter. And increased gray matter, “which is associated with more efficient or powerful information processing” could imply that those who practice regularly could be “better at controlling their attention, managing their emotions, and making mindful choices.” Well, who doesn’t want that??? 

So, my challenge to you (and myself) is find 10 minutes every day to start your practice of meditating. Not sure how to start? Get an app or download some guided meditations. But seriously, all you need to do is have some very relaxing, gentle music playing, get comfortable, close your eyes, and just try to be still. I was in a yoga session once where the instructor said to imagine a train going by. He said our inclination would be to want to get on the train. But resist. Just keep sitting there imagining the train passing by. This symbolizes all the thoughts that will try to hijack you. Just make them keep sailing by. Don’t let them in. It can be challenging at first, for sure. But remember, the more you do it, the better at it you will become. The rewards will be so worth it.

You know how those magazines lure you in to buying them when you’re in the grocery line waiting you turn? Well, that just happened to me. But it’s a good thing this time. The magazine that caught my eye recently – when I was standing there looking at everything around me hoping things would move along a little faster – was all about meditation.

I’ve shared with you before, like many people, I struggle with this self-care activity. As I started reading the first article, I realized why. Meditation requires patience. I’m sure you can tell by how I relate standing in line, patience is not something I have a lot of sometimes. This article talked a lot about people being challenged to quiet their minds. Okay, this is another thing I am not particularly proficient at doing.

The really amazing thing I read about, though, was the effect meditation has on a person’s brain. Many studies have shown a person can actually retrain their brain. It’s possible to change your mental powers and emotional patterns. Now that’s something that would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Simply by practicing meditation on a regular basis, you can change the way you think, your cognitive abilities, and how you deal with life. I suppose it makes perfect sense. Practice always makes us better at something. I just had never thought of it that way in this context.

The article is “Your Brain on Meditation” by Kelly McGonigal. And it says that meditation increases gray matter. And increased gray matter, “which is associated with more efficient or powerful information processing” could imply that those who practice regularly could be “better at controlling their attention, managing their emotions, and making mindful choices.” Well, who doesn’t want that??? 

My challenge to you (and myself) is find 10 minutes every day to start your practice of meditating. Not sure how to start? Get an app or download some guided meditations. But seriously, all you need to do is have some very relaxing, gentle music playing, get comfortable, close your eyes, and just try to be still. I was in a yoga session once where the instructor said to imagine a train going by. He said our inclination would be to want to get on the train. But resist. Just keep sitting there imagining the train passing by. This symbolizes all the thoughts that will try to hijack you. Just make them keep sailing by. Don’t let them in. It can be challenging at first, for sure.

But remember, the more you do something, the better at it you will become. The rewards will be so worth it.