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For many people, the spread of COVID-19 is causing a lot of anxiety and stress.
In response to the global coronavirus pandemic, governments around the world have taken drastic measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19, with social distancing measures. The gears of the food and drink industry have ground to a halt and the daily routine of thousands has been upended with work from home scenarios.
Add an overarching sense of instability brought on by the daily implementation of world-shifting policies to all of the stresses imposed by actually adjusting to a complete reorganisation of day-to-day life for pretty much everyone in the country, and it’s not hard to feel the anxiety creep in.
In these worrying times, it seems that more than ever, people need a way to relax.
If you’ve thought about practising meditation, but you’re a bit sceptical about the benefits, we’ve pulled together just 5 of the most common benefits.
Meditation establishes a secure connection between our internal and external worlds. It awakens the body and benefits all aspects of the conscious and subconscious layers of the mind. Out of the numerous perks that meditation gives, a few are listed below.
1. Meditation enhances empathy
Loving-kindness or compassion meditation fires neural connections to brain sites that regulate positive emotions like empathy and kindness. The deep state of flow that meditation induces builds social connectedness and make us more affectionate and amicable as a person.
2. Meditation improves cognition
Researchers agree that an excellent way for professionals to increase the likelihood of success is to keep meditation practice as a part of their daily routine. Studies have revealed that both transcendent and mindful meditation practices improve the brain’s problem-solving and decision-making strategies, which can bring a desirable shift in our professional life.
3. Meditation is a natural stress stabiliser
Stress is the body’s response to unforeseen adversities. Encountering immediate threats increase the level of cortisol, or stress hormone in the body, and activates the Autonomic Nervous system, which is responsible for fight-or-flight responses. Brain studies of regular meditators revealed that they have lower cortisol level in their brains, which explains their resilience and insightful nature.
4. Meditation promotes emotional health and well-being
Studies have shown that meditation improves self-image and self-worth. When we meditate, we get a clear picture of our mind and become aware of the thoughts that drive our emotions and actions at the moment.
Regular meditation decreases the likelihood of developing depression and mood-related disorders and some forms of meditative practices which also promote positive thinking, could improve the overall emotional health of an individual.
5. Meditation increases attention by inducing a state of flow
Mindful awareness comes naturally to us when we meditate, and we reach ‘flow’ state where our mind is in complete harmony with itself. A study on the effects of an eight-week mindful meditation course found that people who are regular meditation practitioners had heightened attention and concentration span. Even people who meditated for short durations showed more focus than individuals who did not meditate at all (Jha, Krompinger, Baine, 2007).
There are many online resources for meditation, such as https://app.www.calm.com/meditate