Meditation is something a lot of people feel like they should be doing, but often don’t know where to start or how to meditate ‘properly’. Meditation is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice, which is simply about being aware. It means putting effort into noticing details - things you can see, hear, feel, smell, taste. Your thoughts and feelings in the moment, and how they shift and change. Most importantly, it is about noticing these things in context.
You do not just have shoulder pain, your shoulder hurts when you lie on it in bed, and when you lift things to the side, but not when you are at rest or lift things out in front of your body.
You are not just anxious, but feel agitated in new social situations, and comfortable and relaxed with your own company and the company of familiar friends.
There is a contrast between living mindlessly and applying mindfulness to your life. It is about being aware of novelty from moment to moment, and retaining awareness of circumstance and context.
This becomes particularly important as we age - mindlessly approaching old age, with negative beliefs about growing old, may result in self-fulfilling prophecies. You may find yourself focussing on a moment of forgetfulness, then assume that you are losing your memory. But it may not signify that at all.
There is increasing evidence that our mindset has a stronger influence on our physiology than we have thought. Such worries and fears may result in the very declining health that we want to avoid.
Mindfulness meditation works to calm those inner worries - whether they are about ageing, physical pain or mental anguish - and allows you to feel more in control of the situation. While mindfulness meditation on its own is not a magic bullet, taking control of your mindset may put you in the right headspace to better deal with physical and emotional issues.
One of the best ways to start a meditation practice is by using a mindfulness meditation app. There are plenty available for iPhone and Android phones, but these are some that I have used and found helpful.
Paid subscription:
Free:
There are many benefits of meditation, but one of the most interesting is that using meditation to assist with mindfulness can be directly beneficial to our happiness. A recent study from Harvard University found that people are happiest when their mind is focused on what they are currently doing, rather than wandering to other topics - whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Mindfulness therefore teaches us how to use the mind in a more focused way and to live more consciously by concentrating on what is most helpful and useful to us.
Can a chiropractor help with meditation?
Contact us or book an appointment at our clinic in Canberra.
Thrive is member of the Complete Concussion Management Inc.™ (CCMI) Partnership Program - a network of clinics around the world offering evidence-based concussion care.