Look at how practicing mindfulness meditation can improve your life.

 

Introduction:

                                 I wasn’t familiar with the term “Mindfulness meditation” before reading “Think like a monk” by Jay Shetty. I highly recommend this book because for me this book brings a lot of positivity in me and knowledge of a great thing “Meditation”. Meditation has really huge advantages for us. According to different research on meditation, it is proved that it has a very beneficial impact on our brain and our physical health. And not only this, with mindfulness meditation you can actually overcome your fears which helped me a lot in overcoming my fear. So, I thought to share this valuable knowledge with you about mindfulness meditation. In this article, you will get to know what mindfulness meditation is and how it impacts our brains. What are its physical and emotional benefits? And how to overcome your fears with mindfulness meditation?

What exactly Is mindful meditation?

                            We exercise to maintain a healthy and fit body. Similarly, we practice mindfulness meditation as a form of mental exercise. Breathwork is part of the mental activity of mindfulness meditation. We absolutely let go of any negativity and fears while doing our breathwork in this. It allows us to be consciously aware of both our body and mind.

                           Being mindful allows you to stay in the present. While being linked to your inner thoughts and feelings, you are aware of what is happening around you. In stressful circumstances, mindfulness prevents you from reacting inappropriately or feeling overburdened.

                          You can examine the inner workings of your mind through meditation. Exploring various feelings brought on by actions like breathing or smelling things is another aspect of the practice.

What impact does mindful meditation have on our brain?

                               Studies conducted by neuroscientists have demonstrated that mindfulness training has an impact on the parts of the brain responsible for perception, bodily awareness, pain tolerance, emotion management, introspection, complex thought, and sense of self.

                               In a 2012 study, some people practiced mindfulness meditation for eight weeks for about four hours every day. After eight weeks researchers scanned their brains through MRI and they found a decrease in the size of their amygdala as compared to non-meditators. And the amazing thing is that the reduced size is also observed in participants' brains even when they are not meditating.

                                Our brains' threat-detection center is the amygdala. It analyses the environment for threats and activates our fight-flight-freeze response, which releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, among other things. It makes it difficult for us to focus on anything else since it keeps our attention glued to the threat. So, from this research, we get to know that meditation helps us to get better control of our fears and other threatening emotions.

                                Numerous studies show that regular meditation strengthens the cerebral cortex of the brain. The cortex is responsible for mental processes including memory and concentration. Regular meditation will improve blood flow to the brain, boosting the cerebral cortex's blood vessel network and memory function.

How meditation will help you overcome health problems?

                                  Whenever we have stressed our nervous system releases stress hormones, say adrenaline and cortisol into our bloodstream which further causes the chances of heart attack, strokes, high blood pressure, high heart rates, and cholesterol levels and also disrupts energy levels, sleep, and immunity.

                               However, when the body and mind are at ease — through meditation or other practices — the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, which causes the body to stop producing stress chemicals. Regular meditators have cultivated the ability to train their bodies to unwind at will and, as a result, can manage stress more skillfully. Meditation has several other health benefits like:

• Gaining fresh insight into difficult circumstances

• Developing stress management techniques and self-awareness

• Keeping an eye on the present Moment management

• Increasing creativity and imagination

• Increasing tolerance and patience

• lowering the heart rate at rest

• lowering the blood pressure at rest

• Enhancing the quality of sleep

Meditation will help you in dealing with emotional problems:

                              In a study that was published in the journal Psychiatry Research, it was discovered that participants in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program had lower levels of stress-related biomarkers than a control group.

                                 As you practice meditation you will have a clear view of your thoughts, you get to know yourself better, and your anxiety and other fears will also be reduced through meditation. Meditation can help you overcome various mental problems like stress, depression, anxiety, fear of failure and other fears, etc.

                                 Another tiny study indicated that meditation helped people control their negative emotions. It was published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. In the study, one group of participants engaged in guided meditation, while the other group served as the control and listened to a presentation on language development. Participants were then shown pictures of horrific scenes, including a dead body covered in blood, after these sessions. The study's recording of brain activity revealed that those who participated in the meditation session recovered from the emotional response to the photographs more quickly, indicating that meditation assisted them in controlling their negative feelings.      

Does meditation really help you overcome your fears?

                                     Here, I'm sharing my own story of using mindfulness meditation to conquer my fear. I've had a terrible fear of birds ever since I was a young child. If I ever see them flying close by, I immediately leave the area. I am aware that this fear is weird, but it exists. You know why I have been afraid of birds since I was young because I was constantly escaping my fear. Everyone is afraid to face their fear since it is so terrifying, including me. And happily, when I learned about mindfulness meditation last year, I was able to get over my fear of birds.

                                   In mindfulness meditation, you sit directly in front of your fear by imagining all the thoughts that make you afraid and experiencing all the emotions that make you afraid. This prevents you from avoiding your fear, which will only make you more afraid of it. You delve deep to discover the root of your fear, then meet it head-on to truly conquer it. Although challenging, you eventually succeed in overcoming your fear with time.