Meditation : connect to your inner soul

 What Is Meditation?

Meditation can be defined as a set of techniques that are intended to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention. Meditation is also a consciousness-changing technique that has been shown to have a wide number of benefits on psychological well-being.

Types

Meditation can take on many different forms, but there are two main types: concentrative meditation and mindfulness meditation.

concentrative meditation

involves focusing all of your attention on a specific object while tuning out everything else around you. The goal is to really experience whatever you are focusing on, whether it's your breath, a specific word, or a mantra in order to reach a higher state of being.

mindful meditation  

Mindfulness can target different issues, such as depression, which means that its focus may be different from practice to practice. Overall, it involves the state of being aware of and involved in the present moment and making yourself open, aware, and accepting. 

How to Practice

While there are many different forms of meditations and ways to practice, learning a basic meditation for beginners is a great place to begin.                

Set a time limit. If you are just getting started, you might want to stick to shorter sessions of about 5 to 10 minutes in length. 

Pay attention to your body and get comfortable. You can sit cross-legged on the floor or in a chair as long as you feel that you can sit comfortably for several minutes at a time. 

Focus on your breathing. Try taking deep breaths that expand your belly and then slowly exhale. Pay attention to how each breath feels.

Notice your thoughts. The purpose of meditation is not to clear your mind—your mind is inevitably going to wander. Instead, focus on gently bringing your attention back to your breath whenever you notice your thoughts drifting. Don't judge your thoughts or try to analyze them; simply direct your mind back to your deep breathing.

 Meditation Changes Structures in the Brain

Some studies suggest practicing mindfulness meditation can actually change the structures of the brain. A study published in the journal psychiatric research that was conducted by a team of researchers at Harvard University used brain scans to determine that eight weeks of a mindfulness training program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) increased the cortical thickness in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls learning and memory and plays an important role in emotion regulation.

The study also found decreases in the volume of the amygdala, the part of the brain involved with experiencing emotions like fear, stress, and anxiety. What’s more, the observed brain changes matched the participants’ self-reporting of their levels of stress, meaning meditation not only altered structures in the brain, but how those practicing it actually felt.