I love this photo......for many reasons...1. I admire a woman who can chill in any situation 2. Regardless of the mess around her created by kids, the woman can breath, relax and meditate and 3. Meditation is possible in chaos.
As you may know, I am working with a naturopath to find my energy. I have had the body scan and the bloods. I will post an update end of the week, it is all very interesting.
One of the areas, we are working on, is meditation and being still. Very hard for a woman who is on the go from the minute she wakes up. I asked my naturopath "How on earth do I go from being "on" all day and then stopping to sit cross legged and meditate, then get back up and be "on" again. Her reply "You need to learn how to "Pause". Women are either on or off, there is no in between, which is the secret to balance and energy". I slouched back in my chair, guilty as charged.
So, after some thought, I put a plan together and it's working! Here are the reasons why I avoided meditation in the past:
I can't sit still for more than 1 minute without feeling I need to be doing something else
My mind would fill with everything I needed to do after the attempt of meditation
The voice on a meditation CD would shit me to tears
A kid would find me and ask me for a drink or something to eat
I could not turn off to just sit and meditate in the middle of the day
So, I went to the library and borrowed 10 meditation CD's. I sat and listened to the first minute of the voice and chose a woman who will not irritate me. I then planned to meditate first thing in the morning by setting my alarm before any patter of the feet. I believed this idea would ease me into the day, give me the energy I need whilst everyone else is asleep (no interruptions) and my mind is not filled with clutter.
The first morning I tried this, I thought I would try the 20 minute meditation and in the back of mind, reminded myself that if I lasted a minimum of 5 minutes, I was doing more than my average score.
However, a magical thing happened! At the end of 20 minutes, I felt like I had been in my position meditating for a few short minutes. The time had flown. I felt lighter, happier and ready to take on the day. I was not sure if it was a mindset or the meditation. So, I tried it again and again.....now I have created a habit that I am excited to be sharing.
I know this might be extreme, but here are 100 reasons to meditate.....it may be worth your while to investigate:
Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).
Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
79- Develops emotional maturity
Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life
