When You Don't Feel Like Doing Your Meditation

Sometimes I don’t feel like going to yoga and doing my meditation - I need to remind my ego why this time is so vital for my well being.

Several studies have provided evidence that meditation can improve a range of physical health markers, from heart health to immune response, from stress reduction to pain relief, physical healing and emotional well being… it could just be the most powerful preventative maintenance habit of your life!

…but I had to learn these truths through intentional study because I didn’t have a roll model who practiced meditation.

The Power of Meditation and Intentional Growth

As I unroll my yoga mat, the whispers of my inner struggles hum like a familiar tune. I have come to yoga to meditate and find relief. It is my quest to calm the turmoil from my past and reshape new emotional habits.

Since childhood, my emotional habits lay tangled in anxiety, resentment and self-doubt. It didn’t need to be that way yet there was no-one who could guide me in practicing a better feeling way to live.

Guided Healing To Self Healing

For the most part, I was unable to calm my own mind by thought alone. When I first began my journey to heal, I need a guided yoga class, and I need a guided meditation.

And I also need to schedule the yoga class to commit myself in order to overcome my anxious thinking and actually GO to a yoga class.

If I try to follow an yoga app at home, I get distracted never complete the session. I need to attend a yoga studio where I will do the full class and actually shift my brainwave state.

Why Do Yoga Before Meditation?

Knowing that I'm going to Yoga to achieve a brain wave state and practice new emotional rehearsals, makes a big difference in my results.

I could attend class for stress relief, and while I'm getting physically stronger and more flexible... if I leave the yoga class with the same arguments going on in my head, if I leave the meditation with the same emotional feelings as when I started, then I have not progressed in that class.

1. I am going to yoga to practice 'seeing the light within me'.

2. Yoga helps me detox old emotional habits and clear the screen

3. I am practicing the feelings of my future...

4. I am practicing feeling joy as much as practicing my poses.

5. Yoga is a form of moving meditation

And if I leave the resting pose at the end of yoga class without practicing and rehearsing that emotional feeling and brainwave state... It's much the same as leaving the gym without lifting weights!

I'm gaining skill upon the path to change - and I am more fortunate than I can express, to have finally come to an understanding of the work I must do in order to make the changes within my subconscious mind.

Scientific studies on the effects of meditation were an important part of my own paradigm shift toward relaxing into allowing myself the time to sit still.

I believe in you.

The reason you are reading these studies on the benefits of meditating is because you also believe in your ability to learn. You CAN make the moment to moment choices to embrace change, come to peace with the past, and open your heart to the unknown future.

Meditation and Heart Health

Meditation, specifically mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and transcendental meditation, have been found to reduce heart rate and blood pressure. These forms of meditation encourage deep relaxation, which in turn slows the heart rate and improves blood circulation.

A study in the American Journal of Hypertension found that participants who practiced transcendental meditation had lower blood pressure compared to those who did not meditate¹ .

Meditation Reduces Stress Levels

Cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress. Chronically elevated cortisol levels can lead to numerous health problems, including sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, and even physical conditions like heart disease.

Research indicates that regular meditation can reduce cortisol levels. A study in Health Psychology showed that mindfulness meditation decreases the levels of cortisol in the body² .

Meditation Boosts Immune Response

Meditation may also influence our immune system. A study published in Psychosomatic Medicine reported that people who practiced mindfulness meditation for an 8-week period showed an increase in antibody titers to the flu vaccine compared with participants on the wait-list control³ .

Meditation Helps Your Body Heal

Another study showed that meditation could accelerate physical healing.

A research published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that a meditation practice could speed up the healing of psoriasis⁴ .

In conclusion, the impacts of meditation extend beyond mental well-being and can significantly benefit physical health.

From managing stress hormones to enhancing the immune response, meditation can help maintain and restore health in a variety of ways.

Footnotes

1. Effects of Transcendental Meditation on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. ↩

2. Mindfulness meditation and reduction in cortisol. ↩

3. Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. ↩

4. Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA). ↩