Day 74- Meditation

One thing that I haven't done in awhile is meditation. For those who don't know what meditation is according to Wikipedia it's a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or as an end in itself. But there are hundreds of different kinds of forms of meditation.There is the common one that most people know as concentrating on something in the present moment, and then letting the mind go and wonder where it wants. This is called mindful meditation. For me, I don't particularity like this form of meditation. I do think its important to be mindful and in tune to what our bodies are telling us, but I think letting the mind wander can be dangerous because it can make anxious and depressed thoughts worse.

Meditation offers great benefits like reducing stress and anxiety, helping you sleep better, changing bad habits, speed healing, and reducing pain. I really enjoy the type of meditation called guided imagery. This type of meditation makes you focus on different breathing patterns and is really great in reducing stress and anxiety. Part of the reason why breathing is so good is because breathing can actually change your brain chemistry. When we are anxious or depressed different chemicals swim around in our brain. By doing a simple breathing in for 4 seconds, holding your breath for 7 seconds, and breathing out 5 seconds can create a calming effect. You can also breath in for 4 seconds and out for 4 seconds, then in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds, and so one.

I was first told about meditation from my first therapist. Even though I didn't feel too much of a connection with her, I still tried it and ended up really liking it. When I told my general doctor about it, she thought it was great. She explained that even though Western medicine can offer great benefits, Eastern medicine has been around and worked for over a thousand years. So there has to be something to it.

The Kaiser Permanente website offers free information and recordings of different meditations. Try it out, it's free. It took me a few tries to figure out which ones I liked and worked. I liked starting my day out with it, but you can try it morning, noon, and night.

Namaste.

Day 74- Photo a Day Challenge- Throw Back Thursday

A Throw Back Thursday photo is a photo from the past. The one I chose was about 2 years ago. It's when Tyson was a puppy, I had blonde hair, and I was using my new laptop.