Training Day Gym Educational Article - The benefits of meditation by Bec

The Benefits of Meditation

The world we live in is constantly full of different types of stressors. These can be physical (eg, lack of sleep or physically demanding jobs), chemical (eg air pollution, toxic foods or medications) or emotional (eg, stress from our jobs, relationships or self expectations).

Our body is built to cope with stress via the sympathetic nervous system, and we know this as the ‘fight or flight’ response, or the ‘fight-flight-freeze’ response. What occurs in this state is the body perceives a threat, and prepares the body to be able to fight the threat, take flight (run) from the threat or freeze to avoid being detected by the threat.

The nervous system sends signals to the body to shut down what it doesn’t need in order to respond, for instance the digestive system, and puts its energy towards the muscles, heart and other functions needed for you to respond.

This response was great when we the threats we perceived were things like tigers and other predators, but in the current day, the body cannot distinguish the difference between a tiger and a stressful day at work.

While we can’t avoid all stressors in life is not really possible, there are multiple different tools we can use to combat the sympathetic nervous system, and help bring our bodies back to a parasympathetic state, commonly known as ‘rest and digest’.

One great tool to use, which has been used for thousands of years is meditation. Meditation is a practice of resting and quieting the mind, shifting to a state of awareness and consciousness.

In our day to day life, the mind is usually yammering away, perceiving ‘threats’, igniting our sympathetic fear response. When taking time to quiet the mind, it creates space for the body to settle back into its parasympathetic relaxed state, which enables the systems that were shut down or slowed, to start back up again. When in a meditative state, your body releases chemicals such as oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins which ignite feelings of peace, happiness and calm.

‘By engaging with a particular meditation practice you learn the patterns and habits of your mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.’

 - The Buddist Centre

There are many different types of meditation, but what most of them have in common is slowing of the breath, a quieting of the mind, and an after feeling of unshakable peace.

Listed below are some of the different types of meditations:

Self reflection; asking yourself ‘who am I’,’how do I feel’ and/or ‘how do I want to feel’

Self questioning; questioning your beliefs

Mindfulness; practicing your awareness typically through focus on the breath or an image

Loving-kindness; experiencing loving and positive emotions towards yourself and others

Transcendance; going to a place where there is no thought, just pure awareness

It’s important to know that there is no right way to meditate. What may work for someone may not work for the next person.

Meditation is a skill, and like any other skill, it takes time to find your flow and master. Try not to get discouraged if you struggle at first to find a state of presence and awareness.

Something you may like to try is guided meditation. This is a great tool for beginners or anyone who finds it a little difficult to stay in the present awareness.