Hello everyone… How you doing?? 

I hope you all are getting back to your routine life after enjoying the Diwali functions and doing great in your life professionally and mentally. Yes, wishing for your good mental health as well, because sometimes being great at professional and personal lives might sometimes disturb your mental wellbeing.

Some of you reading this blog might be going through some difficult phases in your life. But that’s what life is right, with some ups and downs. What keeps you going is your family, your close ones, and especially YOU! 

Yes, YOU! 

There are many things in this life that you have no control over and most of the time you can’t do anything about it. And during this time, I am sure you will be getting lots of “do this….it will help..” But You are the one who definitely has some control over your mind and your body. And that control is very easy to attain. You can win that control with a few minutes of SIMPLE MEDITATION PRACTICE. 

A lot of your close ones might have told you to take a few deep breaths when you are getting all worked up. Am I right?? So without wasting the time, let us see how you can meditate your stress away…

What is Meditation?

Meditation isn’t about sitting up straight in a cross-leg position and concentrating just on your breaths. It is more than that. Meditation practice is about cultivating awareness and compassion as well as getting a healthy perspective about yourself and your surrounding.

While practicing meditation you don’t have to switch off your thoughts or the way you are feeling. You just have to observe them and let all the random thoughts in this world flow through your mind while you take deep slow inhalation and exhalation. And eventually, you may start to better understand your own thoughts as well.

I used to be very conscious about what I was thinking while meditating. Whenever my mind used to jump all over the places, I used to command my mind to focus on breathing. But eventually, I started giving up. After continuous meditation practices, I now let my mind show its various thoughts. And sometimes out of those thoughts, I end up finding something new to write.

Initially, you will feel that the meditation practice is being monotonous and you are not feeling anything great like you heard of. But as the saying goes, “Practice makes the men/women perfect!”, so keep your meditation practice on for a few more days. The mind will become more comfortable with the idea of sitting still and will be able to integrate the qualities experienced during the meditation practice.

What’s most important here is… To Meditate consistently.

It’s one of those things where your journey is more important than your destination.

Benefits of Meditation Practice:

Ahh… the part you all might be more interested in… Let me just write it down in bullet point format… Quick and Easy to read and understand…

• Increases the Awareness, Clarity, and a sense of Calm. 
• Meditation practice also improves your Power to Focus.
• When your body and mind are relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system is stimulated which stops the body from releasing stress hormones. Thus, helping in Reducing Stress and Anxiety.
• Meditation Lowers Blood Pressure and Heart Rate, resulting in higher energy levels, Better Immunity and Sound Sleep. 
• Stress, reduced by continuous meditation practice, diminishes the physical symptoms of many cardiovascular problems.
• Able to cope up with the negative emotions and rewire them toward more positive thoughts.
• Meditation also helps you to carefully analyze the situation and Make Better Decisions accordingly.

Begin the Meditation Practice:

Perhaps you are now ready to begin your meditation practice and experience the many benefits it offers…

1. Start with finding a quiet place with minimum distractions. 

If you are not able to, then the best option is to go to your Youtube app and search for any soothing meditating background music. Plugin your earphones and let them play while you start your mediating practice.

2. Sit comfortably in a chair or on a mat with your hands on your knees. 

If you plan to do a 10 minutes meditation before sleeping, you can lie down in a relaxed way on your bed and close your eyes, hands on the side of your body palms facing upwards.

3. Now it’s time to check in with your body. 

While breathing slowly, check-in how your body feels, observe the smell or the soft music around you, observe the birds chirping. Notice everything you can.

4. Bring your attention to your breath. 

Do not force it by taking long breaths. Breathe like you normally do. Do not get worried if your mind starts wondering. Let the mind do its work of thinking. Keep breathing and focus on how deep or shallow your breaths are.

5. Begin silently counting in numbers. 1- Inhale 2- Exhale 3- Inhale…

Count the numbers 1-10 while you inhale and exhale. Once you reach 10, again start from the beginning. Instead of stopping the meditation when your thoughts start to bundle up. Slowly guide your attention back to your breath. If you remember the number, resume counting. Start counting the numbers from the beginning if you don’t remember.

6. Do it for 10-15 minutes or set a goal of the number of breath cycles. 

7. Bring awareness back to your body.

When you have completed your breath cycles, allow your mind to be free for 20-30 seconds. Notice how your body is now feeling. Is it feeling relaxed and calm?? Move your fingers and toes. Notice how everything feels.

8. When you are done enjoying the moment, slowly open your eyes.

Keep Continuing!!

Now, I have shared a very basic and effective style of meditating. While reading this blog, you will be all pumped up to start meditating and that’s great!!! But the key to beating the stress, anxiety overthinking is being consistent.

Frequency is more important than duration.

Fix a schedule for meditation practice on a daily basis. You can either do it after getting freshen up in the morning or do it before sleeping. Doing a 10 minutes meditation before sleeping will also help you sleep peacefully throughout the night. If you are not able to fix a time, do it whenever you feel stressed or worked up. Just take in deep breaths and start counting.

Start now. Set a time for meditation and say goodbye to your stress, anxiety or overthinking.

The More You Meditate, the More you will be able to Achieve!!

This article is contributed by 5PM Ardor!

Author bio: 5PM Ardor: The place where you enjoy a short read on skincare, food, and books while relishing your favorite cup of tea or coffee…

Ardor means a feeling of warmth and enthusiasm. While ‘5 pm’ signifies the time when usually we have a coffee/tea break. 5 pm is also the time when some of us complete our work and leave for our respective homes. The reason behind this name is that along with the warmth of coffee and tea, people should also feel that warmth (affection) while reading blogs on 5pmardor. They should feel enthusiastic and inspired after reading freshly designed articles.

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