You can learn to love yourself unconditionally with meditation. The world around us is highly demanding. And our inner worlds are equally and frequently more challenging. But sometimes, you yearn for a quiet, calm space to breathe and unwind. Meditation gives you that space.
What are the benefits of meditation?
There are several good health reasons to start meditation as a hobby. Let’s name a few.
- It lowers harmful stress
- Improves focus
- Reduces negative emotions
- Enhances sleep quality
- Decreases brain chatter
- Provides new perspectives
- Increases self-awareness
We run on autopilot through most days. It takes much less brainpower to fall back on existing neural pathways than to think about every single action. We live mindless and mostly unaware of our environment. How often do you walk into a room and suddenly cannot remember why you are there? But automatic behaviors or habits are valuable because they help us cope in our crazy world. Unfortunately, we often lose touch with our environments and our inner worlds.
Learn to love yourself unconditionally with meditation
There are various ways to meditate, and you can find a way that works for you. Some include body movement, a variety of postures, and a focus on breathing. Others use a set posture, breathing, and focus. Let’s start with the first group.
- Yoga is known to all. While you perform specific postures, you control your breathing. The instructor encourages you to focus on your body and breathing, which helps you stay in the moment.
- Qi gong (CHEE-gung) originates from custom Chinese medicine. It uses physical movement and breathing for balance. Relaxation and meditation are essential parts of the process.
- A gentle form of Chinese martial arts, Tai chi (TIE-CHEE) consists of slow, graceful movement and deep breathing.
You must sit, stand, or lie comfortably for the second group.
- With mantra meditation, you repeat a word or a sound that you find calming. It helps to prevent distracting thoughts.
- Transcendental meditation is an easy technique. After making yourself comfortable, you softly repeat a calming word or sentence. It helps your body and mind to relax effortlessly.
- When you do guided imagery or visualization, you form images about situations and places where you feel safe and relaxed. Your guide helps you to focus on sounds, smells, textures, and sights.
- Mindfulness meditation means you have an increased awareness of what is happening at the moment. Your focus is on what you experience during the meditation. You are aware of your body, thoughts, and feelings in a non-judgemental way. The secret is just to let it go.
- Other meditation methods include journaling, praying, reading reflectively, and walking.
The basics elements of meditation
It is easy to start a hobby of meditating, and you can do it on your own at home. All you need are the following:
- Find a comfortable, quiet place where you will not be disturbed.
- Get yourself comfortable. You can sit, stand, or lie down.
- Become aware and breathe comfortably.
- Focus your attention on your breath, an object, or an image. Your eyes can be opened or closed.
- Have an open mind to allow thoughts to drift through your mind.
- Let go of all criticism or judgment.
How to start with meditation
The best way is to start small. Your mind may be like an unruly toddler that never sits still. You must train it to behave in the way you want it to. You will not expect a toddler to sit motionless for an hour. She first learns to sit for short periods. If she gets up, you calmly bring her back to her seat. Similarly, you cannot immediately expect your mind to be calm and quiet. Train in short periods. And when your thoughts wander, calmly bring your focus back to your breathing, object, or image. Be patient. Meditation is a skill that you learn over time.
Make time to meditate regularly. Repetition makes it easier en more effective. Ten to fifteen minutes are long enough. According to neuroscientist Amishi Jha, only 12 minutes of meditation for five days every week strengthens your ability to focus and pay attention.
You can love yourself unconditionally with meditation. Do you like to spoil your loved ones? Show self-love by pampering yourself with fifteen minutes of quiet per day. Silence your inner critic and judge to accept and love yourself unconditionally. Then enjoy the serenity of your own tranquil space. Think of these profound words :
When you’re quiet, everything settles on the floor of your mind like sediment in undisturbed, still water.
-Megan Morgan
Must you learn to love yourself unconditionally? Do you know someone that needs the skill? Please share this article with all who can benefit from the meditation hobby.
Also, read about self-compassion in “How to make Self- Compassion your Superpower.”