Meditation & Mindfulness Tips for Beginners
We can't ignore the benefits of meditation. The more we learn about them, the more appealing this practice becomes.
Meditation has been show to help decrease depression and anxiety, to decrease stress and support the nervous system, to improve mental performance, have physical cardiovascular benefits and so on. If you are interested in learning more of the benefits and the specifics on them, I'll spare you the details here and refer you to this awesome article, it compiles over 100 scientifically backed discoveries on the benefits of meditation.
Picture reference: http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/
At first, the idea of setting aside at least 20 minutes a day to meditation can seem really hard. If you're anything like I was, the idea of sitting in stillness for that long makes you fidgety just thinking about it. Alas, this is why they call it a practice. You can't dive into 20 minutes and expect to be a pro right away.
The key is to just start small. Even a few minutes will do, just start at a number that seems reasonable to you and work up from there as you get more comfortable. Amazingly enough, you will likely start to notice some benefits even after just a few minutes.
My other suggestion is to try to work mindfulness into more than just those few minutes you set aside for it every day. For example, if this morning’s cup of coffee was the last cup of coffee you’d ever drink, would that first sip have been enjoyed differently than the sip you actually had this morning? Savouring these little moments helps us get present and when we are present, we are more mindful.
Can you think of any other things or experiences that you could be more present in today?
Why not take some time to be more mindful during your morning routine rather than rushing through the regular morning notions? For instance, when you have your morning shower think about how nice it feels to have that shower, think about how the water feels hitting your skin and how lucky you are to have access to these nice fresh water showers. (See how I snuck some gratitude in there too?)
Enjoy the little gifts a new day brings and know that today’s stress can only as powerful as you let it be.
As we've been told, life is short so we need to enjoy the ride. We need to enjoy the moment as much as possible because things are moving fast and unfortunately you’ll never have this morning's cup of coffee again.