Meditation is Needed More than You Think!

Meditation has considerably grown in popularity in the last 5-10 years. Something that began thousands of years ago as a "religious" practice, is now a modern-day essential for many people. But why all of a sudden in the last decade has Meditation taken off? Firstly, if you're just just starting a wellness-focused lifestyle, Congratulations! You've made the first step to take your life in a better direction. In your research, its likely you've heard about Meditation. Yet, what is Meditation and can everyone do it?

Meditation is a practice; something we strengthen and grow overtime. It is not a competition, nor the new hype. It is not a "millennial" practice. Meditation is how we train our minds to calm overwhelming thoughts, reboot our scatter-brained ideas, and teach you how to handle stressful situations - better! Remember when we used to disk defragment our Microsoft computers? It combined files on your hard drive to improve your system's performance... No?...Come on, we're not looking that far into the past! Anyway...Meditation works similarly; to filter and combine a mass of information in our brain, find where they belong, reboot our mind, and allow us to function better. And YES, everyone can do it! Let's look at the facts. Speaking for the North American lifestyle, we push ourselves on a daily basis to do more and do better.

We accept to work more hours, with more screen time and emotional stresses than those before us. Each day we fuel ourselves with caffeine (myself included) and are exposed to pollution, environmental factors, the commute to and from work, rush home to make dinner and fill our evening with last minute errands. We may try to fit in a TV show we really want to watch (more screen time) and to end our day, we scroll through social media for about an hour- bogged down with MORE screen time, and often some very negative world news and dramatic comments. PHEW, I'm tired, are you?? We have accepted this lifestyle as the norm, and due to this, deal with more stress and more mental disorders than generations before us. We tend to put our own self care on the back-burner, and put every thing else in our lives as the bigger priority. 

Here is an example of that. A person will stay an extra hour or 2 each day, to complete their tasks at work. They will then get home later, possibly need to assist their kids with homework, spend some time with their husband/wife, spend  time on their phone or laptop to research what will give them more energy during the day, then go to bed around 11:30pm/12:00am. Get up the next day at 6:00am and start the same routine all over again. They may make an appointment with their doctor to look for reasons why they are so stressed, depressed and fatigued. They may try and increases certain supplements to increase their energy and productivity. Usually this results in a quick fix, like and energy drink or more coffee throughout the day to help them push through. However that doesn't address the sadness they feel. So their doctor may prescribe an anti-depressant. They feel nausea's, tired, uneasy, and dizzy for a few weeks, and are feeling worse than before. During this time, they haven't changed their lifestyle habits, only what they are putting IN their bodies, and have not evaluated what is causing these issues in the first place. This can lead to exhaustion, burn out, and even becoming ill-taking weeks to recover. This is the exact situation for many people in a North American lifestyle. They go through a cycle of this until it becomes apparent that something needs to change. Here is where you will find the increased demand for Meditation and wellness-based products. We have everything we need at the touch of a button, including more relaxation and Meditation apps than we can count! From a society that was so used to relying on their doctor and medications to help them with their stress and hypertension, Men and Women are trying to find alternative ways to manage.

Meditating, like I stated earlier, is a practice. It is not something we master after 1 session, or block out our thoughts in an instant. Our main goal is to provide us the opportunity to calm our mind and regulate our breathing- whether in silence, or a guided meditation. This is a practice that can be implemented by beginning to commit 5 minutes a day..Yup that's right! 5-10 minutes each day are the building blocks to start you on your journey to a more relaxed lifestyle.  Meditation can: *Lessen Anxiety triggers *Increase the Happy Hormones in your Brain *Reboot and alter Negative Thoughts *Calm your Breathing and allow your Body to enter a Less Stressed State *Lower Blood Pressure *Increase Positive Thoughts *Increase Energy Levels ...and this is just to name a few! It comes down to re-evaluating what is important to you, and how you can implement these small adjustments into your lifestyle. If you can leave a few minutes earlier in the morning to make it to Starbucks and grab a Venti Red Eye (look that one up!), then you can definitely add a few minutes in your day to benefit your heart, body and soul!

Rest assured within as little time as 1 week, you will see and feel differences in your life, your body, your sleep, and your stress levels when you start making yourself a little more of a priority. This is why we are passionate about Meditation...as we were once the ones who needed it most.  (**Please note, we would never suggest to not take guidance from your doctor, nor are medical practitioners ourselves. We do not diagnose nor recommend to dismiss a doctors advice and/or prescription, should you be provided any. This post is strictly for those who care to practice and benefit their lifestyle with Meditation**)