5 Reasons to begin a meditation Practice For Improved Wellbeing

Practicing meditation offers a wide array of benefits for your mental and physical well-being. Here are 5 reasons why you might con

sider incorporating meditation into your daily routine:

1.       Stress Reduction:  One of the most popular reasons to practice meditation is for stress reduction. Stress reduction is achieved by activating the parasympathetic nervous system through working with the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve, also known as the tenth cranial nerve, is one of the most important nerves in the body. It plays a crucial role in regulating numerous bodily functions, including heart rate, digestion, respiration, various aspects of the autonomic nervous system and much more. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the relaxation response, which counteracts the opposite biological system, the sympathetic nervous system, or the “fight / flight / freeze / fawn” response.

Meditation has also been shown to assist with modulating the Hypothalamic-Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis, reducing cortisol levels in the blood and therefore, over time, reducing stress.

Further evidence regarding meditations benefits on the stress response, here.

2.       Improved Focus and Concentration:  By training your mind to stay present in the moment, you can develop better cognitive control and attentional stability.

Meditation interventions show that meditation practices improve prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions like cognition, self-awareness, attention, and memory and reduce psychological symptoms. The PFC's functional connectivity is associated with increased attention, working memory, cognitive control, executive control, emotion regulation, self-perception, and self-compassion. PFC's functional connectivity also decreases anxiety, depression, perceived stress, negative emotion, and hyperarousal symptoms. It is thought that this may be due to meditation increasing connections between different brain regions.

3.       Enhanced Learning and Memory & Emotional Regulation: Through regular practice, meditation enhances emotional regulation skills, allowing individuals to respond to emotions in a more adaptive and constructive manner. By observing emotions without judgment and cultivating a non-reactive stance, practitioners learn to manage difficult emotions more effectively and cultivate a greater sense of emotional balance. In fact, the work of Sara Lazar (here and here) has demonstrated that just 8 weeks of participation in a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (a form of mindfulness practice) leads to changes in grey matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.

4.      Better Sleep Quality: Better sleep quality is achieved through meditation in a variety of ways.  There is a reduction in stress and anxiety (see above), a reduction in rumination and worry due to improved emotional regulation and increased detachment from thought processes through non-judgemental awareness. In addition, the sleep-wake cycle is regulated by the hormone melatonin, which plays a vital role in the physiological regulation of sleep. Nagendra et. al. (2012) found that diurnal melatonin levels were found to be significantly high in Vipassana meditators (approximately 300 pg ml) than non-meditating controls (65 pg ml; unpublished data). By considering the role of melatonin in sleep maintenance, it might be concluded that meditation practices enhance melatonin levels and hence quality of sleep.

5.       Increased self-awareness and cultivation of compassion: The practice of meditation teaches us the cultivation of non-judgemental awareness. This leads to a deeper understanding of yourself, your thought processes, your emotions and feelings and how these all manifest in behaviours and inter-personal relationships. Ideally, this depth of understanding then leads to full embodiment of all experiences, rather than a need to transcend this life.

Meditation is demonstrated to increase feelings of compassion. Compassion is a step beyond empathy because it involves a deeper and more visceral connection to another person’s suffering (Bergland, 2013). A study undertaken by Condon et al (2013) showed that meditation, whether or not it explicitly focuses on compassion, significantly increases compassionate behaviour. Other studies (e.g. Lutz et al, 2008b) have demonstrated structural changes to the brain in areas (such as the anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior insula, the posterior superior temporal sulcus and temporoparietal junction) that are related to empathy towards others’ suffering, emotion sharing and perspective taking.

Why Should you join me for meditation practice?

I started Sacred Stillness Meditation & Mind-Body Medicine because I have a deep love for meditation. I have lived experience with the ways in which meditation can be healing for both the body and mind for conditions as diverse as chronic pain to stress, to executive function, memory, and mental health. I have studied meditation for over 30 years in the ancient wisdom traditions such as Buddhism, Yoga and Classical Tantra, as well as shamanic feminine mystery traditions and new age techniques. I have completed the 330-hour Advanced Diploma in Meditation as Lifestyle Medicine with BIYOME and our classes are Trauma Informed and Rainbow and Neurodivergent friendly. But, most importantly, I care deeply about your wellbeing, listening to your concerns and holding space for your healing and growth.

If you join our 8-week Beginners’ Meditation Course, you will learn a diverse range of topics to suit all meditation temperaments:

• Focussed Attention and Body Scan

• Pranayama and breathing techniques

• Yoga Nidra

• Compassion Meditation

• Sound Meditation and Chanting

• Open monitoring

• An introduction to the body’s energy centres through the nadis and chakras

• Movement and walking meditation

• The scientific evidence base for why meditation works

• And so much more.

If you join our drop-in Meditation for Pain Management Classes, you will learn:

• The latest pain management education in relation to meditation

• The management of safety and danger in relation to pain

• The biopsychosocial model of pain

• Meditation techniques cultivated specifically towards managing pain

• A nurturing space for cultivating growth, whether that is through healing or just coping

• And so much more.

I can’t wait to sit in nurturing silent space with you.