May 9, 2024 | May is National Meditation Month, a great time to get in touch with your body and mind. Meditation has a history that goes back thousands of years, and many meditative techniques began in Eastern traditions. The term “meditation” refers to a variety of practices that focus on mind and body integration and are used to calm the mind and enhance overall well-being. Some types of meditation involve maintaining mental focus on a particular sensation, such as breathing, a sound or a mantra, which is a repeated word or phrase. Other forms of meditation include the practice of mindfulness, which involves maintaining attention or awareness on the present moment without making judgments. According to a 2017 U.S. survey, the percentage of adults who practiced some form of mantra-based meditation, mindfulness meditation, or spiritual meditation in the previous 12 months tripled between 2012 and 2017, from 4.1 percent to 14.2 percent.

May 9, 2024 | You may think that you don’t have time to meditate, but Dr. Feliciano Yu, director and co-founder of the UAMS Mindfulness program, says you can practice meditation anywhere, at any time. You can meditate when you’re out for a walk, riding the bus, waiting at the doctor’s office or even in the middle of a business meeting. Meditation is a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation can help you relax deeply and calm your mind. During meditation, you focus on one thing. You get rid of the stream of thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process can lead to better physical and emotional well-being. Dr. Yu says meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit your emotional well-being and your overall health. You also can use it to relax and cope with stress by focusing on something that calms you. Meditation can help you learn to stay centered and keep inner peace.

May 9, 2024 | Spending too much time planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can be draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Practicing mindfulness exercises like meditation can help you direct your attention away from this kind of thinking and engage with the world around you. Meditation has been studied in many clinical trials throughout the world. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, including stress, pain, insomnia and high blood pressure. Preliminary research indicates that meditation can also help people with asthma and fibromyalgia. Meditation can help you experience thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance. Meditation also has been shown to improve attention, decrease job burnout, improve sleep patterns and help people with diabetes control.

May 9, 2024 | Meditation is an umbrella term for the many ways to get to a relaxed state. There are many types of meditation and ways to relax that use parts of meditation. All share the same goal of gaining inner peace. With mantra meditation, you repeat a calming word or phrase to keep out unwanted thoughts. Mindfulness meditation is based on being mindful. This means being more aware of the present. In mindfulness meditation, you focus on one thing, such as the flow of your breath. You can notice your thoughts and feelings but let them pass without judging them. In tai chi, a form of martial arts training, you do a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful way. And you do deep breathing with the movements. Yoga is a series of postures with controlled breathing. This helps give you a more flexible body and a calm mind. To do the poses, you need to balance and focus. That helps you to focus less on your busy day and more on the moment.

May 9, 2024 | There are a number of ways you can practice meditation on your own, whenever you choose. For instance, trying breathing deeply. This is good for beginners because breathing is a natural function. Focus all your attention on your breathing. Feel your breath and listen to it as you inhale and exhale through your nostrils. Breathe deeply and slowly. When your mind wanders, gently return your focus to your breathing. Meditating while walking is a healthy way to relax. When you use this method, slow your walking pace so that you can focus on each movement of your legs or feet. Don’t focus on where you’re going. Focus on your legs and feet. Repeat action words in your mind such as “lifting,” “moving” and “placing” as you lift each foot, move your leg forward and place your foot on the ground. Remember, there’s no right way or wrong way to meditate. What matters is that meditation helps you reduce your stress and feel better overall.