Meditation is a mental practice which consists in focusing our attention on an object, often our own breathing. The first traces of this ancestral practice come from India and it is undoubtedly more commonly known as one of the practices of the Buddhist religion. Since then, meditation has evolved outside religious practice to become a tool for hygiene and mental health practiced worldwide.
Although this list is not exhaustive, we will try here to draw up the benefits of meditation practice
- Improve its concentration
One of the meditation techniques is the connection to the breath. We are invited to observe our breathing and turn our attention to the air that returns to the inspiration and the air that comes out at the expiration and feeling it at the sensory level. This simple exercise is a brain training to maintain attention to the action of breathing.
- Connect to your body and your breath
As explained above, meditation invites us to connect to our breath. Breathing is an automated mechanism to which we no longer really pay attention, but through this practice we are led to reconnect to this breath which is neither more nor less the manifestation of life in us. Another method of meditation is the body scan, there the mind turns its attention to body parts one after the other to feel them and become aware of it. It’s also an excellent concentration exercise.
- Cultivate clarity and presence of mind
When we exist to connect to our breath, we anchor ourselves at the moment pure. Through our sensations, this presence, when it is cultivated by repeated practice, begins to simply take the place of internal dialogues often ruminations, projections or analyzes. SI We are busy connecting to our breath and feeling it, we are not busy thinking about something else that does not anchor in this present moment. So we free up space to better welcome what comes to us and approach it with more clarity and hindsight.
- Get to know each other better and understand each other
Meditating is also an invitation to express yourself internally. For example, if you feel a strong negative emotion and decide to meditate on it, without judgment, simply sit down and trace the path of the manifestation of this emotion, you will understand a lot about you and what triggers these emotions. Of course this exercise requires a lot of honesty and compassion towards oneself. But you will now know what this emotion reacts in you and you can then do the necessary work and the adjustments to no longer be in the reaction but no longer in observation.
Better manage your emotions
So through this attentive listening of ourselves, we develop an ability to better manage our emotions, because we no longer position ourselves as victims, we understand the role that our own thoughts of thought play in the triggering of our emotions and how Ci influence our behavior.
Discover our other blog article "Why using meditation cushions is necessary"