Meditation

College of DuPage Nursing Student Jessica Davalos shared with Healthy Lombard that sometimes life can seem unbearable, whether it be from dealing with high levels of stress, anxiety, repetitive negative thoughts, or just plain feeling blue. We all experience times like these and may feel like we are out of control of our own bodies.

It is very popular in today’s world to take preventative measures in order to maintain the physical well-being of our bodies. Whether that be from washing our hands, taking dietary supplements, exercising, and even more recently, wearing face masks. But why don’t we do the same when it comes to taking care of the well-being of our minds?

What do we do when things take a toll on our mental health? Do we choose to address it as well? Or do we just simply choose to ignore it and go on with our lives? What if there were a simple technique that we could all do basically anywhere and almost at any time in order to restore some of that balance in our minds and find some relief? Meditation may be just that tool.

According to the US National Library of Medicine, “Meditation, is described in the ancient Vedic texts as an exercise of consciousness that results in the expansion of consciousness beyond the day-to-day experience of duality. Meditation is an experience of unity, which reduces stress and brings increased creativity and efficiency to the functioning of the inner faculty”. Meditation has been around for a pretty long time and has gained popularity over the past couple of years. The benefits to this simple technique are incredible. The MayoClinic website states, “If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending even a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace. Anyone can practice meditation. It’s simple and inexpensive, and it doesn’t require any special equipment”.

Meditation is something that we can all do every day in order to maintain our overall mental and emotional health. I know many of you may be asking yourself what is involved in the practice of meditating. First of all, as everything else, meditation takes practice. But don’t be intimidated by that! Simply trying it out even without getting in the “zone” can leave you feeling better than before.

There are plenty of resources out there to help you get started. Some apps that you can look into include, Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer etc. There are also plenty of guided meditation videos on YouTube that are a great way to help you get familiar with the gist of meditation as well.

Our minds are an important piece of our bodies and we must prioritize the need to care for it when things get off balance. We need to stop viewing health as merely physical well-being and acknowledge that it is indeed a mental and emotional state of well- being as well.

References:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895748/