What would your life be like if you felt peace and calm within your body, even when there was chaos surrounding you? As you open channels within your mind through meditation, obstacles can fall away to make room for creative discoveries. In this article, you will discover the joys of meditation, ways to meditate effectively, and how to commit to a regular practice.

Establishing a solid meditation practice will support all areas of your life.

Meditation can be best described as an every moment way of living. It is a practice of going within and learning to accept whatever happens there instead of judging what we are experiencing. Visualization and meditation complement one and can be used side by side. However, they are very different in their approaches. When it comes to visualization, the purpose is to realign with the desires of our inner spirit to experience a new outward reality so that we may understand our powerful role as creators. Meditation and visualization used together provide the added ability to reconnect with who we really are.
Questions To Ponder:
1. What does a regular meditation practice mean to you?
2. What is your personal experience or understanding of meditation?

My personal experience with meditation is that it takes practice and commitment to receive the full benefits. I started meditating about 12 years ago, and at the beginning, it was difficult staying focused and sitting still. When I did manage to have a few moments of silence, I felt this indescribable peace fall over my body. That was until my thoughts started up again. This was a great incentive for me to practice and learn to meditate with ease.
What I discovered is that meditation is not about stopping our thoughts, as some may think. Instead, it is a way for us to connect with every part of ourselves by becoming aware of what is happening within. When we become aware of our thoughts and feelings in our bodies, it becomes much easier to experience a deeper, more enhanced way of meditating. Of course, it takes patience.
Keeping a journal of your meditative experiences allows you to look back and uncover what works and what does not work for your personal practice. Every day you meditate is different from the next.

Making the Commitment
Have you ever made a commitment to yourself only to break it later? All of us, at one time or another, have changed our mind after making a decision. This is a natural cycle of life, but sometimes we sabotage ourselves by giving up on something that is truly for our highest good.
In today’s fast-paced world, life happens so quickly that, more often than not, we do not have the chance to react to the situations thrown at us. We lose the ability to thoughtfully reflect in favor of making quick decisions. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Unless you develop emotional control, stress can build up and can affect how you deal with the people or situations around you, not only in the workplace but also at home. And it can also impact your health!

What is the goal of meditation?
The goal of meditation is not to end or remove the outside or inside stimulation. It is a training of the mind to direct focus and concentration to one element. This single element may be a single sound, a single word, or thought a single image or even one’s own breath. Calmness and peace are brought into the mind’s focus and replace feelings of worry, stress, and depression.
Negative thoughts can be replaced with positive ones in this manner. The practice of meditation is a way for you to be still for a while and let your mind become focused until you become calm enough to deal with the daily pressures of life. People practice meditation for a variety of reasons.
So again, it helps us to become still in this fast-paced world. But meditation is also done for health reasons and to attain a higher state of consciousness, among others.

The Benefits of Meditation
The psychological benefits of meditation are many. Researchers and doctors globally are realizing just how powerful the psychological and physical benefits of meditation can be for people with stressful jobs, family responsibilities, and a never-ending list of things that need to be done.
According to Psychology Today, neuroscientists have found that brain waves of meditators show they are healthier than their non-meditating counterparts — both physically and mentally. Meditation can help people feel less anxious and in more control of their lives. Numerous sources state that when practiced routinely, the meditative state can lead to supreme bliss or enlightenment.
So again, the benefits of meditation are many, and there are lots of internet resources available to those who would like to reach a new level of self-awareness.
According to HealthandYoga.com, in addition to improving general health and wellbeing, regular meditation increases blood flow to different parts of the body, therefore increasing oxygen and other nutrients available at the cellular level, which also increases concentration.

Some of the health benefits of meditation include:
Lower oxygen consumption
Lower respiratory rate
Slower heart rate
Lower blood pressure
Reduced anxiety
Decreased muscle tension and headaches
Increased serotonin production which influences mood and behavior
Lower levels of this neurotransmitter are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia, and headaches.
Benefits of meditation also include enhanced immune system function; research has shown that cells became healthier with increased routine meditation, reducing activity of viruses, and emotional distress.

Getting Started ~ Basic Meditation Tips
Choose a quiet place where you will be undisturbed, choose an app to help you keep track (such as insight timer)
Decide on an amount of time to meditate (ex. 10 minutes)
Make yourself comfortable. Avoid wearing tight clothing.
Close your eyes for immediate relaxation
Begin by focusing on the inward and outward motion of your breath
Re-focus on your breathing when thoughts appear. The more you do this, the easier it will become
Sometimes results take some time to come forth. Just be patient and practice daily.

Anti- Stress Meditation Technique
Meditation is one of the techniques used in stress management. A person who is riddled with problems often finds it hard to focus, which often leads to more problems cropping up due to their mistakes. Meditation techniques help a person achieve a calm state of mind without having to resort to drugs or relaxation tools and implements. Every step to meditation is done in the mind.
Remember that meditation is not a one-shot deal. It is almost impossible to attain a calm state of mind in just a matter of minutes, especially if it’s your first time at it. It is essential that you keep on practicing meditation until you have conditioned your mind to instantaneously achieve the state just by thinking it.

Here are some steps for a beginner to start with meditation as their Stress Management strategy.

Step 1: Find a Quiet Corner To Start Your Meditation
Distraction is a hindrance to those who are still starting out with meditation. When you close your eyes, your sense of hearing improves — so it is quite possible to hear almost anything in your surroundings that make it difficult for you to concentrate. For beginners, it is important to start out in a quiet place in your home where noise is non-existent. Close your windows and lock your door. If possible, you can tell everyone in your home to minimize their noise so that you won’t get distracted.

Step 2: Ready Your Position
It is advisable for beginners to avoid lying down when practicing meditation. The aim here is not to sleep, and it is almost a guarantee that you could immediately fall off to sleep if your mind reaches a relaxed state. To stop this from happening, you can start your meditation in a sitting position on the floor, or you can find a chair to sit on. Make sure that your back is straight and your hands are relaxed on the armrest or on your lap.

Step 3: Begin Your Meditation with Proper Breathing
A good way to start meditation is to do the proper breathing exercise. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This way, you can come up with a rhythm that you can easily focus on. Also, the amount of oxygen in your body is enough to keep you relaxed. Keep practicing your breathing until you can do it easily without having to think about it.

Step 4: Focus On Your Mind
While you are busy with your breathing, achieve a state where your mind starts creating images. These might be random events of the day, future plans, problems and worries, fears, and so on. While difficult to ignore these thoughts, there is no need to ignore them. The best idea is to watch the thoughts without any emotional attachment.
This might sound hard, but here is a simple example to understand the concept. You know that you have furniture at home — you can see it clearly with your eyes, but you are not really concentrating on it. Focusing on the furniture will usually make you think of its color, its material, how it looks in that part of your home, etc. In the same manner, you need to be able to look at your random thoughts in a detached state — seeing them clearly in your head but not focusing your attention on it.
There will come a time when these random thoughts stop, and you will notice that you are already in a blank space in your mind. This is the state you want to achieve during meditation. This is the place where you can think about your problems and focus on it until you can find a solution for it. With this, you have successfully mastered the basics of meditation for your stress management program.

Committing to a Regular Practice
Now, how can you commit to a regular practice? The answer lies in these questions:
What causes one person to commit to meditation and another person to give it up?
What does it take to keep a commitment?

Let’s take a look…
In order to make and keep a commitment, you must have the following qualities:
Motivation
Passion
Clear Vision
From here, it’s easy to see that the opposite of these qualities cause a person to sabotage a commitment. A person who makes a commitment usually starts out feeling motivated and determined to make a change or add something of value to their lives.
When they begin their meditation practice, they feel a deep inner passion that feeds their motivational drive. They can see a clear vision of what this commitment will bring to their lives. Lack of results, outside influences, and a scattered lifestyle can make this vision cloudy and filled with uncertainty. At this point, there is the option to revisit the commitment to see if it still fits into your life, and you can then move forward or leave it be.

So how can you stay committed then?
You can remain committed by continually re-framing the commitment in your mind and keeping a progress log to show you the results of your efforts. Also, by joining the FREE Awakening Spiritually Together Community, you will receive support along the way. JOIN HERE NOW.
Meditation benefits your mind, body, and spirit. It allows you to experience the present moment and become more centered and balanced in your everyday life. The more you practice meditation, the more gifts appear in your life. Overall, the meditation process should be personal to your lifestyle and should reflect what you want to bring into your life. Once you are clear on techniques of meditation and finding your inner flow, you will be able to make a commitment to yourself to develop a regular, daily practice if you haven’t already.
Here is an extra special bonus to help you fast forward on your path to meditative bliss (something like that, right?:)

Click Here To Join The Meditation Community and Download Your Journal and Guide