Hello Beautiful People,
Following on from my last blog post Why Meditate, I want to share with you some of the benefits that I have gained from having a regular meditation practice.
I have listed 10 benefits of meditating that come immediately to mind and which I have found occurring in my life as a result of dedicating time to me and spending time in deep inner reflection through my meditation practice.
Clarity
If you have ever had a big life decision to make or a major challenge that you needed to work through then you will know that clarity is often the last thing that we experience. As our minds wrestle through all the options and try to figure out a solution you can feel as if you are being pulled in multiple different directions and you just don’t know what to do.
When I meditate, I am able to let go of the decision or the challenge. It is a little like you are offering it up to a higher awareness so that it can look at the situation from a new perspective. To look at it with fresh eyes. Then it appears as if from nowhere and nothing – a solution. The solution is so clear and there is no doubt that this is what you should do. I love having this level of clarity in my life and am thankful that mediation has brought it to me.
Focus
In a busy and fast paced life, we have so many things needing and calling for our attention. We can get into this pattern of jumping from one task to the next, barely taking a breath between each one. While we may get everything done we often lack a deep, centered level of focus that brings with it so much wisdom.
The other area that we can lose focus is within our own minds. Where we allow thoughts to live a life of their own – running from one thing to the next and sometimes even taking us down paths that are neither helpful nor healthy for us.
Through meditation I have learned to focus my attention – instead of letting it wonder off and do whatever it wants. This laser pointed focus allows me to bring more clarity into my life. It brings a greater awareness and a deeper connection to things around me.
Connection
Meditation especially in nature where you can hear the sound of the waves, or you can make out the calling of a bird song, brings about an awareness, a feeling of connection. The connection you have to the world around you and everything within it. It allows you to recognise that you are not alone in this world. You begin to feel into the energy of all things around you and start to recognise how we are all connected and ultimately that we are all one. This feeling of connection is the reason why we come to a place where we are ready to serve, as we recognise that by serving others we are ultimately serving ourselves.
Re-centering
To be centred is a blessing. When you are aware of who you are and what place you have in this world you begin to feel aligned. You can feel into your own personal power and live from a place of heart centred strength. From this place, there is very little that you cannot do, and you are definitely able to contribute on a deep and meaningful way to the world.
As I meditate I become aware of my own inner flame. I see and feel who I am and what I have to offer in this world. I build up my awareness and connection to my centre. From here, I am able to step into the world aligned, strong and ready to share and to give.
Grounding
In so many traditions the focus in on leaving our physical bodies to attain a higher spiritual awakening. I feel that because we are on the earth realm that it is very important that we connect and ground ourselves into the planet on which we live. By grounding into the planet, we feel rooted into this world and we are able to attune ourselves to the gentle and cosmic rhythm of the planet. As we do this we feel peace and contentment wash over us. It is from this place that we can step into our personal power.
As I meditate, I always feel deep into the earth and honour my connection to the planet. I imagine myself being grounded into the earth, able to feel and absorb her energy. Equally any energy that does not serve me, I allow to flow down into the earth, so that she can transmute it. This practice brings with it a sense of stability and safety. There is a calm strength about using this practice in meditation that assist in aligning you and allowing clear guidance to flow through.
Expansion
The more we wrestle with the issues and challenges of our daily lives the more I find that my focus narrows in. Not in a good way though. It begins to narrow in a way that locks me into certain things and totally blocks me from others.
When meditating the reverse happens. My awareness and knowingness seems to expand. I feel as if I am part of something much larger than myself and much larger than my day to day issues and challenges. The feeling of expansion brings hope into my life. It brings a level of trust and faith too. I begin to absorb some of the expansion that I experience within my and this brings through strength and confidence not only in myself but in how there is a divine plan for me and that I am on track.
Openness
What this word means to me in relation to my meditation practice is that when I drop into a meditative state it is as if neural pathways that have been well travelled and therefore fairly fixed develop a quality of lightness to them. A quality of openness that did not seem possible before shines its light forth. Instead of having my thinking mind follow logically from one step to the next as it does, over and over again – leading to the same predictable and safe outcome, there is this new level of openness. A willingness emerges that encourages a new pathway to open. There is this opportunity here for new possibilities to flow in. It is because of this openness that aha moments tend to arise from within the mediation.
Peacefulness
Outside of meditation my life seems to gain momentum. A momentum similar to a pebble that begins gently rolling down and hill. As the pebble rolls, further and further down the hill, so it begins to gain more and more speed. In a similar way, my life tends to gain this speeding up quality. And as it begins to speed up, with more and more happening around me and within me, I begin to feel more stressed, anxious and disconnected.
In contrast, when I take the time to sit and be still and to bring awareness to not only my physical body but to all that is around me, so a blanket of peacefulness seems to settle over me. From this place of peacefulness, I find connection, clarity and guidance flowing into my life.
Heart Connection
I spent many years in the world of intellectual study and pursuit. No one around me told me that I needed to spend just as much time developing my connection to my heart as I did on training my intellectual mind. Over the years, the disconnection from my heart led me further and further away from my true path. As we veer off our heart aligned path so we start to notice struggles and adversity at every turn. This can send us off into a really dark place and keep us in a negative loop.
Once I found meditation it helped me to reconnect to my heart. When I make time for meditation I am working on connecting to my heart wisdom more. I become more open and willing to hear the messages that my heart wants to share with me. In return for listening and connecting to my heart, I am guided on a path that is more in alignment with me and which ultimately brings me great joy and fulfillment.
Alignment
This leads on from being connected to my heart. As I meditate and connect to my heart so I become aware of what feels truly and deeply aligned with me. I can work through challenges and make decisions in my life not only from an intellectual heads space, but from a deeply connected heart that is in alignment with what is best for me and which will lead me to where I need to go. As you begin to experience this alignment in your life you begin to wonder how you could have lived any other way before. You see once you are in alignment there is this flow, this quality of ease that enters into your life and it is so, so enjoyable.
As I continue to engage in a meditation practice, so I dive deeper into knowing who I am. I discover aspects of me I did not recognise before. I find more synchronicity appearing in my life and my general feeling about myself and the world around me takes on an uplifting quality. I have found meditation to be deeply valuable to me and look forward to discovering what other benefits and gifts it has to offer me.
Sending you love and light
Connecting you to your Heart & Soul.