Daily meditation

Practicing meditation feels intimidating to some people, it takes patience and in a busy world finding those few minutes to just sit with yourself seems hard to manage. But I have good news for you, if you are new to meditation, like I was about a year ago, you  just need 1-2 minutes a day. That's doable, right?

60-120 seconds, to transform your mind, heal your body. I don't want to sound weird, but it truly does so much. Let me give you an example.

Ever since I was a child I had asthma, taking deep breaths, running, allergies, etc. took a tremendous toll on my lungs. It wasn't until I started meditating that I was able to shift away from it. With running thoughts as my company I sat down on the living room floor and started with my Apple Watch breath exercise, 60 seconds of breathing according to the vibrations. I was out of breath after the first two breaths, it took me a while to even get through the entire 60 seconds, but each time I tried I saw an improvement. I did this for about two months, afterwards I started sitting on the floor but breathing on my own rhythm, taking deep inhales and exhales, I focused on my breathing and sat there for 2-3 minutes each day. If I didn't have time to sit with my eyes closed I would do it on my way to work (I take the bus, and I kept my eyes open but focused on my breathing). I haven't used my inhaler ever since. And this breath work has become so automatic that I do it at random times, throughout the day, and right before bed.

Now, while breath work is a great staring point, there are other forms of meditation that might be more suitable for you.

Another one I like to do is affirmation meditation.
Here, you go through your affirmations in your head, and when you loose your focus and drift of you bring your attention back to your affirmations, this way you practice narrowing your focus and redirecting your attention, while also keeping your affirmations in your subconscious. This one is, from my experience, especially beneficial right before bed. Falling asleep to your affirmations, so they are the last input you have, instead of distracting thoughts, or media input.

Meditation, regardless of its form, has both short term and long term benefits, so increasing the time you do it slowly will show up in your overall health, including inflammation, sleep, emotional regulation, gut health, brain function, and many more. Your mind is a powerful tool, use it.