5 Incredible Benefits of Meditation
And my favorite tools
By now you’ve probably heard about the importance of meditation because “it has so many benefits!” But you might have also wondered, what exactly are those benefits besides just feeling better and improving my mental health?
I’ve shared my own story with meditation, and how it can truly be life-changing, and I’ve written about how to start a meditation practice so that it’s sustainable, but I haven’t actually touched in-depth on some of the remarkable benefits of meditation.
5 Incredible Benefits of Meditation
1. Reconnection to the Self
In an age where we are extremely connected, we actually lack connection to the most important place of all - within. Too much of our world exists outside of us and virtually on screens. Meditation is a means to reconnect with yourself, as a sort of self check-in to make sure you’re feeling alright, and to dissect the why behind what you’re feeling. It’s also a mindful place to go when you want to be truly alone, but not necessarily lonely, and you want to act and think with more intention. This connection to yourself plays a vital role in feeling fulfilled, discovering your purpose, and finding peace. Because the truth is that you don’t need anyone but yourself, and you must be able to bring yourself joy before you can expect anyone else to. In this reconnected state, there is major power that you can tap into - the power of the mind. Whether you need to mentally prepare for a tough event, calm down, or just reset before continuing about your day. Meditation is like giving yourself an internal hug.
2. Stress Reduction & Improved Mood
Studies have proven that adding meditation into your routine (ideally daily) can help you manage stress through stress reduction and improving your mood. Breathing is a very important component of the meditation practice, and usually requires you to take in more air than you normally might. Humans tend to breathe fairly shallowly if we aren’t paying attention, but the deep breaths that come with a meditation practice calms your nerves and reduces stress.
3. Reconnection to Reality & Present (Grounding)
Have you ever felt super...aloof? Like there’s so much going on around you and all you can think about is everything that you need to get done or what someone said in the last conversation that you’re never really here? When you meditate, you’re paying attention to your body in this exact moment, and focusing on your breath as it goes in and out. In other words, you have to be present when you’re meditating, and while this can be difficult (such as for yours truly sometimes), it’s an extremely grounding experience and for however long you’re meditating, nothing exists in that moment except you in that moment. Which is actually pretty cool if you think about it!
4. Improved Brain Power & Focus
If it isn’t clear by now that you have to focus during your meditation practice, then I’ll go ahead and say point blank, meditation is a great way to improve your ability to focus and your brain power. Because the goal of meditation is usually to have some kind of grounding or enlightening experience, focus is required to get to that point. This well-practiced focus muscle can be then used in other areas of your life such as your work and relationships. Meditation also helps with connecting different regions of your brain.
5. Improved Stillness
Life is WILD in this day and age. Everything is go go go, which makes it really difficult to find time to simply BE. Taking the time to meditate daily helps with your ability to simply exist and to find stillness for however long you can during the day. And this stillness allows your brain to slow down for a moment, breathe, take in more oxygen, and thus improve your productivity and mood. It’s also great because many people nowadays don’t even know how to be still, and when you meditate, you have no choice but to find stillness to calm and clear your mind.
Do these benefits resonate with you? I’ve been meditating daily for over a year now and I fully believe my life and perspectives have shifted for the better. But it wasn’t always easy to get into a meditative state. While I meditate every day, I don’t necessarily get into that state every day, and that’s okay.
But here are some tools that I do absolutely love to use in my practice that I’ve found helpful:
Malas
These are my go-to. Malas are meditation guidance necklaces made of 108 beads, whose 108 meaning is open for interpretation (anything from the number of stages in our soul’s journey to the 108 energy lines connecting to our hearts, and more). I like to hold the mala in my head and repeat an affirmation or mantra on each bead - it helps me stay focused in my meditation.
Meditation Cushion
I’m very inflexible, and sometimes sitting cross-legged on the floor is so uncomfortable I spend more time thinking about my discomfort than being able to actually meditate. So I have a gorgeous white meditation cushion from The Mala Collective on which I sit. It keeps my hips raised and my body comfortable during my meditation.
Crystals
Before sitting down for my meditation, I like to select a few crystals related to what I want to focus on during my meditation. If I’m struggling with or wanting to focus on self love, I’ll grab my rose quartz pieces (and my rose quartz mala of course!) and place it near me where I’m meditating, or hold it in one hand with my mala on the other.
Guided Meditations
Sometimes, I know I’m not in the right headspace to get to where I want to be for my meditations. When this happens, I rely on the guided meditations found on YouTube, Spotify, and Guided Meditations that accompany the stones/malas I’m using from The Mala Collective.
If you’re curious about these beautiful tools from The Mala Collective, click below to check them out. And shameless plug here, if you use code Cassandra20 you’ll save 20% as well. I’m not really one to push affiliate links, but I have so many pieces from the Mala Collective because they have been pivotal in my meditation and spiritual journey ❤️
