October 29, 2018
Start your meditation practice
Meditation is one of the cornerstones of yoga and has become a very popular practice in recent years, to create more calm, energy and relieve stress. And precisely because stress is a growing problem in Denmark, it gives rise to more and more seeking meditation and wanting to start a meditation practice. Up to 10-12% of the population feel stressed, which corresponds to approx. 430,000 Danes.
When you meditate, you calm your nervous system. The condition activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the part of the nervous system you cannot otherwise control. When this happens, your heart rate and blood pressure drop, and your breathing and pulse become calmer. Research shows that brain activity actually changes in people who have meditated regularly for a long time.
With meditation, you create more balance between the signaling substances in the brain, so that it secretes more of the happiness hormone dopamine and at the same time turns down the stress hormones. Therefore, a regular meditation practice will make you happier and more relaxed.
But how do you do it?
Regardless of whether you are guided in a meditation class or whether you meditate yourself, you get the same effect. Find out what works best for you. The key to meditation lies in letting go of the expectations of what it should entail, because it is often misunderstood that meditation is about emptying the brain completely of thoughts.
Sit in a comfortable position in a place where you feel pressure and will not be disturbed, and breathe deeply into your stomach. Relax the face and let the eyelids be heavy. Keep breathing deeply and use approx. 4-5 seconds on each inhalation and exhalation. Continue to follow the inhalation and exhalation through the body. Feel the breath, feel the calm spread. When the thoughts start to appear, you practice noticing them and observing them from a distance, for example by concretizing what they actually are and what they mean to you. Slowly you let the thought pass and let it go, to return to following your breath. So you start all over again, so to speak, every time a new thought appears. You can also lie down, put on some soothing music and put an eye pillow over your eyes. Relax your body and let go of any tension. Focus on your breathing and set a watch so you don't have to worry about the time. Start your meditation practice with 10 min every day. After a week you can maybe go up to 15 min and the week after 20 min. Find out when it fits best into your everyday life. The most important thing, as with any kind of exercise, is that you make time for it.
You can meditate with or without aids, but it is important that you sit well and are supported. It can be beneficial to get some help to relax and create a good feeling about the meditation. For example, use an eye pillow, which helps you abstract from your surroundings and shuts out the light, so you can find strength and calm from within.
Good meditation!
When you meditate, you calm your nervous system. The condition activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the part of the nervous system you cannot otherwise control. When this happens, your heart rate and blood pressure drop, and your breathing and pulse become calmer. Research shows that brain activity actually changes in people who have meditated regularly for a long time.
With meditation, you create more balance between the signaling substances in the brain, so that it secretes more of the happiness hormone dopamine and at the same time turns down the stress hormones. Therefore, a regular meditation practice will make you happier and more relaxed.
But how do you do it?
Regardless of whether you are guided in a meditation class or whether you meditate yourself, you get the same effect. Find out what works best for you. The key to meditation lies in letting go of the expectations of what it should entail, because it is often misunderstood that meditation is about emptying the brain completely of thoughts.
Sit in a comfortable position in a place where you feel pressure and will not be disturbed, and breathe deeply into your stomach. Relax the face and let the eyelids be heavy. Keep breathing deeply and use approx. 4-5 seconds on each inhalation and exhalation. Continue to follow the inhalation and exhalation through the body. Feel the breath, feel the calm spread. When the thoughts start to appear, you practice noticing them and observing them from a distance, for example by concretizing what they actually are and what they mean to you. Slowly you let the thought pass and let it go, to return to following your breath. So you start all over again, so to speak, every time a new thought appears. You can also lie down, put on some soothing music and put an eye pillow over your eyes. Relax your body and let go of any tension. Focus on your breathing and set a watch so you don't have to worry about the time. Start your meditation practice with 10 min every day. After a week you can maybe go up to 15 min and the week after 20 min. Find out when it fits best into your everyday life. The most important thing, as with any kind of exercise, is that you make time for it.
You can meditate with or without aids, but it is important that you sit well and are supported. It can be beneficial to get some help to relax and create a good feeling about the meditation. For example, use an eye pillow, which helps you abstract from your surroundings and shuts out the light, so you can find strength and calm from within.
Good meditation!
