As we move into October and head towards midterms, every one is a little bit stressed about their workload. Some people enjoy the pressure and do better under stress, but others, like me, get easily overwhelmed with the thought of coming assignments and essays. Whether you’re one or the other, meditation is a super helpful activity to regroup your thoughts and increase productivity. Anybody who has been to a yoga class knows how well the last few minutes of class feel while resting during Shavasana . You don’t need an hour of yoga to balance your thoughts. You only need ten minutes and a comfy chair!
The act of meditation is so simple, that it might seem improbable that it could seriously affect your mental health, but the problem isn’t as complicated as it may seem. That stress and worry you’re feeling about that paper goes way back to our ancestors in a time when we were a lot more vulnerable to our environment. The stress we feel comes from a response in our nervous system called “fight-or-flight” which occurs when we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, helping us to think fast to save our skins – literally. Our bodies then stop all bodily functions that take up energy to pump adrenaline into our blood. Too much stress means that our bodies are frequently stopping important functions like our immune system, digestive system and reproductive system. Too much of this reaction to stress can be dangerous to our physical health.
Likewise, worrying goes back to our ancestors who were always alert for threats. By always being on the lookout for anything that could be potentially dangerous, they were more likely to survive than if they were to ignore their surroundings. Simply, our ancestors were always looking for the negative and not the positive. In the twenty-first century we still carry on this trait although our worries have gone from being eaten to missing a deadline. Instead of saving our lives, worrying is now detrimental to our mental health. Meditation’s affect on the mind is the simple reassurance that no, you really aren’t in a life-or-death situation even if it may seem like it, and the body and mind return to their normal functions.
Besides keeping our mind and body healthy, meditation can improve focus! Since meditation requires you to concentrate on your breathing and different physical feelings, the practice of meditation over a period of six-to-eight weeks can improve your ability to focus on one thing for longer. Even better, improved focus helps us to retain information for longer periods of time and remember things under stress.
I would recommend starting with watching this minute-long video that does a great job explaining how meditation works for your mind. If it means anything to you, the narrator is British.
Now that you have a visual understanding you can get started!
- Find a comfy chair or couch – you don’t want to be shifting around and thinking about how much your butt hurts.
- Start the first few minutes by counting your breaths. Take longer inhales and exhales than you normally would and count inhales and exhales up to ten then start again. Do this a few times.
- Return your breathing back to normal and shift your attention to your body. Where are the areas of discomfort? Where are you tense? Scan from your head to your toes, and through your fingers.
- If you have any thoughts, negative or positive, try to just acknowledge them and let them pass.
- Just before finishing, take a minute to let your mind run free and go where it wants to go.
- That’s it! You’re done! Ten minutes each day is a very small amount of time, but the benefits of meditating for that time are HUGE. If you have anxiety, depression, or a mood disorder, meditation should be a very serious consideration. Treat yourself well! Everyone deserves to be mentally healthy so be kind to your body and do yourself a favour.
If you want more information this simple list by Todd Goldfarb will explain what to do and what not to do to make the practice easier and more enjoyable for first-timers. Give it a look!
The most important thing to remember is to not expect change right away. Practice makes perfect and the results are worth those ten minutes a day. If you find that you have trouble remembering to meditate set an alarm on your phone. Don’t allow yourself to make the excuse that you don’t have time. Take advantage of breaks in between classes. Put your headphones on and look up some relaxing music without lyrics.
Good luck!
Photo credits:
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