You’ve heard there are many benefits to meditation, but do you believe it? I have to admit, I used to hate meditating….even after going through yoga teacher training. I knew there were benefits, I just didn’t want to sit still and waste valuable time meditating when I could be moving, or reading or a book, or doing just about anything else.
Good news is you don’t have to sit in one place to meditate, you can do a walking meditation. You don’t have to meditate every day to gain the benefits of meditation either. There are a lot of options, from moving meditations, to musical meditations, silent meditations and guided meditations.
This Healthline article includes 12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation. The benefits that have been personally most beneficial to me are: reduced stress and anxiety, more consistent sleep, and being less reactionary.
Recommended resources:
- Insight Timer – there are lots of free meditation apps out there, but this is my favorite and as of this writing, I’m on a 91 day streak of using the app. One of the things I like most is the music. When I need to concentrate and get work done I have a few specific tracks saved that always put me in the right mindset.
- The book Buddha’s Brain – the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom by Rick Hanson is a great introduction to the science behind meditating and how we can change our thought patterns
- My recorded meditations: I created a 14 day series of meditations you can sign up to access here. You’ll get an email with a link to the 14 recordings, as well as a few follow up emails. These meditations are free and range from 5 and a half to 13 minutes long, proving you don’t need to commit a lot of time to gain benefits