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Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Meditation: The Quick Way to De-Stress and Promote a Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit

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By LAUREN SHARKEY

We all experience some form of stress at times. Whether it’s worrying about ourselves or our family, it can be hard to relax.

Meditation is a quick and easy way to de-stress and help yourself cope with any negative things that life throws at you. What’s even better is that it can truly give you a little “me” time, and help you get to know yourself very, very well.

Pasadena’s very own Indigo Yoga teaches not only yoga but also the art of meditation, and wants everyone to understand the benefits.

Beginning thousands of years ago, meditation was first used to help humans understand the sacred powers that rule over us. The practice involves focusing your attention and eliminating any unwanted thoughts from your mind. This video explains a little more about how to start practicing meditation:

There are several benefits. Improving concentration is just one; this is also linked to a greater ability to multitask. It also helps you to become more self-aware and reduce the likelihood of unnecessary anger in certain situations.

People have also reported feeling much happier through regular meditation. Studies have backed this up, finding that meditation increases brain signals in the left side of the brain which is responsible for positive emotions.

If that wasn’t enough to get you started, meditation is also believed to slow down the ageing process. Brain scans have shown that meditators have more gray matter i.e. more brain cells. It can also help alleviate the symptoms of a number of medical conditions including anxiety, chronic pain, sleep problems and high blood pressure.

So how do you get started? First, you need to decide on the type of meditation. (There are literally hundreds.) Guided meditation involves visualizing the sights, sounds and smells of a relaxing location or situation. Mantra meditation, however, involves silently saying a calming word or phrase over and over.

There is also mindfulness meditation; a type that is often used in yoga and focuses on breathing through your nose among other things. Chinese martial arts like Tai Chi are also classed as meditative practices.

You should start off by meditating for a minimum of five minutes, slowly building up over time. Experts recommend doing this at least once a day in order to really see the benefits.

By either attending classes or teaching yourself in the privacy of your own home, you will learn to free your mind of distraction and focus on things such as your breathing.

Once you have been doing it for a while, you will be able to meditate anywhere – even in the middle of your office if you so desire. It’s all about personalizing it for you. So you can choose whether you stand up, sit down or lie flat on the floor and how long you want to meditate for.

Visit Indigo Yoga to learn beginner techniques and work your way up to total relaxation and remember to experiment to find what best works for you. No person is the same. Indigo can help you discover what works best for you, and will show you how to become fully immersed into your meditation and make it a natural part of your daily life.

Indigo Yoga is located at 1968 Lake Ave., Unit 103, in Altadena. For more information, call (626) 223-2045 or visit http://indigoyogahouse.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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