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Category: Lifestyle
Meditating has many health benefits but how can you be sure you’re doing it right? Here are 7 tips to help you get the most out meditating.
Power of meditation – Women’s Health and Fitness magazine
Practise regularly: “Meditation training is just like physical training; the more regularly you do it, the stronger you’ll get,” says clinical psychologist Dr Paula Watkins.
Create a routine: “Find a spot that fits well with your life and daily routine.” Plan ahead to make it work for you.
Commit: “Discipline is important but remember, discipline does not mean you need to sit for an hour. Discipline means that if you choose to sit for 10 minutes then you do indeed sit for 10 minutes.”
Quell urgency: If you feel a bit uncomfortable, stick with it. “It’s important to accept that meditation won’t always feel good. Our ever-changing physical, emotional and mind states means that our meditation practice will be different every day.” That said, if it’s physically intolerable, you may not have understood the technique correctly.
Do it: Don’t think there’s no point meditating if you can’t spare 20 minutes. “It’s not an endurance test,” says Dr Watkins.
Meditate 24/7: We’re not talking sitting palms upwards at your desk, but infusing simple activities with mindfulness. “The kind of daily momentary things like making your food or doing the dishes and actually feeling the warmth of the water on your hand while you’re doing it…daily mindfulness activities of just noticing and being aware of your five senses,” says Taylor. Next time you get road ragey while driving, focus on the colours and sounds around you. That way, “You’re not getting wound up and generating cortisol and stress hormone and impacting on your immune system. You’re not torturing your own mind.”
Review: Done correctly, meditation will quickly yield tangible results – particularly if you’ve returned from a Vipassana course and are attempting to recreate the technique at home. If there’s no reduction in your feelings of anger or other negative emotions, contact your teacher or the centre for guidance.
