Meditation
Content Courtesy of the Forever Young Podcast with Christiana Egi and Cherrie-Marie Chiu.
We once again had the pleasure of having Swaati on our Forever Young Podcast. Some of our listeners and readers may remember Swaati from our episode on Yoga for Pelvic Health. We discussed interesting tidbits on how yoga can help you feel good, and of course, help you stay forever young.
In this episode, we talked to Swaati about meditation. Nowadays, there is so much information available about meditation, and a wide variety of people are seeking to benefit from it. Swaati is also benefited from meditation and, although she is not an expert in this area, she tries her best to meditate when she can. As we try to demystify meditation in this episode of the podcast, we discuss the different types of meditation, how it benefits us, and also similarities and differences between prayer and meditation. Listen to the full episode with Swaati here:
Swaati finds that meditation can help her be in the present moment and really feel in tune with herself in the world. She used to put pressure on herself to sit for a certain amount of time or to push her thoughts away, however, Swati now takes a different approach to meditation. Each person has their own way or could find their own way of meditating.
The main purpose of meditation is to quiet your mind for the purpose of relaxation. This practice can range from personal reasons to religious or spiritual reasons. In our hectic lifestyles these days, who doesn't need a way to manage stress? So mindfulness definitely has become very commonplace in our culture today. Meditation might also be something you practice without being aware of it.
If we go back to its origins centuries ago, the actual Yogis were doing what we call yoga today (or Asana), which is the movement part. They were moving so that they could find comfort in meditation. They were doing movements to prepare for meditation and their end goal was meditation. They felt that they needed to move the body in a way in order to sit for a long meditation.
We hear a lot about mindfulness these days, and what Swati has learned is that mindfulness is being aware of, or bringing attention to the here and now, without explanation or judgment. Meditation could describe a way to become mindful - mindfulness of the breath, or of walking, eating, sitting, talking, of sound, of body and sensation of emotions, or imagery, taste or movement - all of these things can be types of meditation. Therefore meditation is a way to bring mindfulness into our everyday lives. While preparing for this episode, we also found there are nine types of meditation. Some of these methods might be practiced by you without even being aware of them!
The first one is mindfulness meditation, where you pay attention to the thoughts that come across your mind. In this method, you don't pass judgment on your thoughts, but let them come and go. Simply observe your thoughts and see if there are any patterns. If you're going through something stressful, and you have recurring thoughts, let those thoughts move. This is an easy way to incorporate meditation into our everyday lives and as well as reduce stress and anxious thoughts!
Another type of meditation was spiritual meditation. The idea of spiritual meditation is very close to prayer. In this method, really take the time to sit in silence, and seek a deeper connection with God or the Universe. Additionally, some people use essential oils or incense to enhance their spiritual experience, which can alleviate stress and anxiety.
Then another one that we discussed was movement meditation. A lot of people might think of yoga when you think of movement and meditation, however, movement meditation could also include a walk through the woods or gardening. Gardening and weeding can be really meditative because they can be assertive, helping you be in tune with your body and your thoughts. If you are not into gardening or meditating, maybe you might participate in walking meditation. This could mean going out for a walk in nature, doing your best to be present within nature which has proven to be healing.
Another type of meditation we found was also something that we definitely do in our yoga practice, and that's progressive relaxation. Progressive relaxation is like a body scan, where you tighten different body parts, and then relax them one body part at a time If you really listen and loosen these body parts at the end of a class, or at any time, it can leave your whole body feeling really relaxed.
Another type of meditation that we found very interesting is the loving-kindness meditation, which is quite similar to praying. In this type of meditation, you sit in a very comfortable position, take deep breaths and mouth or make positive affirmations for happiness, peace, and good health. After doing this, you turn these wishes towards someone else. This piqued Christiana's interest and got her to take a deeper look at the difference between meditation and prayer. For Christians and many other religious groups, praying is a way of offering God thanks or making your requests to God. Meditation, on the other hand, is paying attention to God, the Universe or nature, and asking these forces to speak to you through religious literature or by being still. So while meditation and prayer seem very similar, they are different. Meditation would be seeking guidance or answers, and prayer is requesting specific things from your Maker.
For many, meditation can be really peaceful. It is common to feel discomfort in our thoughts or to sit in silence, so we try to fill our silence with noise, like turning on the TV or putting music on to avoid that discomfort. We can try to use meditation as a way to change the channel and refocus our minds on happier times, letting the sadness pass. If you are scared of sitting in that silence, one great tool that you can use is journaling. Letting out all those feelings and allowing your pen to just write whatever comes to your mind can be helpful.
Swati also shared with us some ways we can try meditation. She shared a quick meditation that we all could try, especially if you are scared and want to feel safe while meditating. Get in a comfortable position, either seated, on the ground, or in a chair. Relax your hands and close your eyes. Soften your eyelids and relax the space between your eyebrows. Take slower, deeper breaths and take a moment to notice what you are feeling and name it. This might be that you are feeling stressed, feeling grateful, etc. Try to notice how this feeling makes your body feel. While you don't need to fix what you are feeling, acknowledging your emotions can help you feel more relaxed and less tense. Gently open your eyes when you are ready. This is one method to sit and go through your emotions and feel safe in your silence.
If this is too confusing, start by focusing on your breathing as you inhale and exhale and allow your stress to leave your body with every exhale. The whole idea is that as busy as you are in your day, you always have time to take a couple of minutes to do that to make you feel to call me back down to bring you back to a place where you're not feeling so anxious and so rushed.
A lot of scientific evidence supports the numerous benefits of meditation. This includes relief from chronic illness, lowering blood pressure, reduction in anxiety, decreasing pain is in our symptoms of depression and even improving sleep. With that list of benefits, why wouldn't anyone try working meditation into their lives?
We thank Swati for joining us for this interesting conversation. We do hope our readers and listeners will have a takeaway from this episode. The more you come to understand meditation, you may realize it is less tedious and more attainable. Meditation after all helps us in the journey towards staying forever young. Stress is the number one killer, and so it is important to step away from hardships and take a second to breathe and be silent. Even if you are busy, taking the time to go for a walk, cleaning, or cooking, take time to be mindful and present as it would go a long way to helping you. See you next time on forever young. Until then keep smiling because you're never too
If you want to take it one step further and learn more about how to incorporate Yoga into your lifestyle, check out our last episode with Swati where we discussed yoga for pelvic health below. You can find Swaati on Instagram and her website yogawithswaati.com.
The Forever Young podcast is created and produced by Christiana and Cherrie Marie Chiu. Produced and engineered by Elisse Hill. The podcast represents our opinions and those of our guests. The content should not be taken as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please consult your health care professional for any medical questions. If you like our show, please tell your friends and leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. New episodes are available every other Wednesday. Have questions? Email us at ourforeveryoungpodcast@gmail.com.
