How Meditation Can Help YOU!

It’s the night before a huge test in your hardest class. You have been studying for hours and still do not feel prepared. You cannot focus anymore. You are freaking out and you cannot find anything to help you relax.

This is the perfect situation where meditation could be beneficial. You can’t magically make the work go away, but you can change how you feel about it. Meditation can help to change your mindset when you’re feeling especially anxious  preparing to stay up all night for the insane about of work you’re about to grind out.

Meditation has been proven to help with stress reduction, improving attention, memory, an increase creativity and feelings of compassion. Whether it be a mantra, word, idea or breath, having a focus or goal can help to make meditation easier, as it is a difficult task that requires lots of concentration. Many people are apprehensive about meditating because it is complex and very easy to get distracted. “I love meditating, but I never know if I’m doing it right,” junior, Skylar Ford said. Some things to make meditation easier are: closing your eyes, taking deep consistent breaths, being alone in a quiet place, and having a guide.

The truth is, there is really no wrong way to meditate. Whatever works best for you is the “correct” way to do it, because meditation is about you, and no one else. “In order to succeed in meditation you need to be in the right mindset and be open to the process. If you don’t think it’s going to help you, it won’t,” junior, Heather Grant said.

Still don’t believe that meditation can actually help you? Listen to the scientists! Neuroscientists have observed MRI scans and learned that meditation is able to strengthen the brain by reinforcing connections between brain cells. Meditation can also be linked to cortical thickness which can result in a higher pain tolerance. People who meditate exhibit higher levels of gyrification, which is the “folding” of the cerebral cortex as a result of growth, which is able to help the brain to process information faster. There have also been studies that prove that meditation can be just as effective as medications used for anxiety etc.

“It’s helps a lot with stress and anxiety from the day and helps you to get grounded again,” senior, Jackie Benisch said. Benisch used to practice transcendental meditation frequently, and said it, “helped to clear my mind and make me more relaxed and aware of my surroundings.” Transcendental meditation is a form of meditation that involves focusing on and repeating a mantra in your head.

Other types of mediation are: mindfulness, guided, chakra, zen, and yoga. The list does not end here. There are many ways to meditate, you just need to figure out which works best for you. There are many apps you can download that can help guide you through meditation. Some of them are, Calm, Insight Timer, and Headspace.

Try meditating and see if it helps you focus, and you might even do better in school!

On a similar note, if you want to read a story about yoga, which is another way to reduce stress, check out the link below!

http://neirad.darienps.net/1009yoga.php