There is currently a lot happening in the world that is hard to deal with. Those events are likely to trigger anxious thoughts or even panic attacks when you’re dealing with anxiety. One way of dealing with the news can be meditation or meditative writing.
Meditation has such a long history as some eastern communities already practiced it centuries ago to destress, focus, and redirect thoughts. It comes with many benefits for your mental and physical health. I want to share eight of them that I experienced myself.
HOW DO I MEDITATE?
The „classic“ way of meditation is to sit down with a straight back and slowly breathe in and out, focusing entirely on your breath. Thoughts will come and pass.
When I suffered from anxiety, I could not practice it that way. As soon as I sat down, I got a panic attack because I felt drifting away or losing control. I also struggled to watch my breath and got into thought spirals instead.
So what I ended up doing daily was meditative writing. I sat down with a pen and a notebook and started writing down every thought that came to my mind. Sometimes I set a timer; sometimes, I set myself a goal to write three full pages in the morning. Later on, I started using different techniques.
➡️➡️ Let me know in the comments or send me an e-mail if you want to learn more about writing meditation.
But no matter which meditation style you’re practicing, you can unlock the following benefits with each technique.
BENEFITS OF MEDITATION AND MEDITATIVE WRITING
- Stress Reduction
Have you ever heard of cortisol? This is the stress hormone in your body. Scientists found that meditation can lower cortisol levels, resulting in feeling less stressed. - Reduces anxiety, depression, and pain
There is moderate scientific evidence that meditation can improve your anxiety, depression, and pain symptoms. It also appears to be effective for PTSD. - Helps understanding yourself
Especially when watching your thoughts or writing them down, you’ll get to a point where some hidden layers of yourself suddenly crack open. You’ll understand better who you are and why you react the way you do to certain things and triggers. - Improves ability to focus
When you’re meditating you only have one „task“: to meditate. Modern multitasking can bring a lot of stress. By practicing meditation regularly, you’ll experience how good focussing feels and how effective it is, so you can bring this feeling into the rest of your life. One study also shows an improved brain efficiency in an attention task. - Lowers blood pressure
High blood pressure can lead to heart issues. Meditation has the power to lower blood pressure and therefore lower the risk of diseases. Also: Lower blood pressure helps to stay calm. - Enhances the „happy hormones“
Serotonin is also called the „happiness hormone“ because of its impact on mood. Meditation can increase serotonin levels in your body. It’s like a natural mood stabilizer. - Improves falling asleep and sleep quality
The benefits of stress reduction and releasing tension result in getting into a peaceful state which helps to fall asleep faster. There is also a study that shows that meditation improves insomnia. - Increases compassion
Meditation seems to be increasing compassion. Other studies showed that it also decreases unconscious biases and prejudice.
You can find even more studies linked here if you want to dig deeper.
And to add one more: Meditation can be done anywhere at any time for as long as you want. You don’t need much for it. Some people even swear you don’t need a quiet surrounding, and you only master meditation if you are also able to practice in a loud metro.
Let me know which ones resonate the most with you in the comments below ⬇️
[…] everyone affected. It can start with racing thoughts or restless nights and lead to panic attacks. Grounding and meditation are powerful tools to reduce anxiety. This is when “Finger Yoga” comes into […]