Meditation: The Fastest-Growing Trend in America
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, there is a rise in the complimentary wellness practices: yoga, meditation, and chiropractic care in the US in the last five years. While yoga is the most popular of these three, meditation is the fastest-growing trend.
What are the Benefits of Meditation?
Why is mindfulness meditation so popular? A growing body of research in the field of mindfulness meditation is proving its benefits for our mental, emotional, physical health and our relationships. Mindfulness exercise can improve your mood and increase optimism, boost your confidence, enhance your emotional intelligence and improve your relationships with other people.
1. Mindfulness Meditation Improves Concentration
One study suggests that regular mindfulness practice can improve your focus and concentration – even 10 minutes of meditation a day can make a difference. Meditation enhances memory and problem-solving skills.
In addition, meditation makes you more sensitive to the needs of your body. Practicing mindfulness can help you recognize stress-related somatic symptoms such as headaches or back pain earlier and take proper action.
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2. Meditation Boosts Gratitude
Being aware of what is good in your life helps improve your resilience and stay emotionally balanced. Gratitude awareness may increase your happiness and improve your overall well-being.
3. Meditation Reduces Anxiety and Helps Cope with Stress
Mindfulness-based research showed that mindfulness exercises can rewire our brain in ways that affect our thoughts and behavior. That is, mindfulness meditation can reduce the activity in the amygdala, the cluster of neurons in the limbic system of our brain that plays a vital role in processing emotions and it is a starting point for our anxiety reactions.
Practicing meditation helps you quiet your mind and find peace. It distracts your attention from disturbing thoughts. Mindfulness breathing can interrupt our flight-or-fight stress response and “calm” the amygdala.
Mindfulness exercise will boost your resilience and you will start feeling. Practicing mindful breathing can help you relax in situations that you perceive as stressful. While sitting or lying comfortably, focus attention on deep inhale and exhale. Repeat this exercise until you feel fully relaxed.
4. Mindfulness Meditation Enhances Self-esteem
People who tend to see themselves as incompetent and unworthy for most of the time, usually struggle with low self-esteem issues.
Studies have found that mindfulness exercises can help you overcome low self-esteem. Mindfulness exercise allows you to feel the way you are feeling instead of avoiding thinking about your feelings or trying not to feel upset. If you learn to acknowledge your feelings and allow yourself to feel a certain way at the moment, it is more likely for those feelings to settle down and pass. When you notice that you are starting the usual self-criticism, acknowledge what is happening and remind yourself that those are just your negative thoughts, not facts.
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Meditation can help you overcome anxious ruminations, boost your resilience and improve self-esteem. As a regular daily practice, mindfulness exercise can spark your gratitude, increase optimism, and inspire positive thoughts. Moreover, research shows that meditation can improve your mental health, physical well-being, and relationships, which explains why meditation is the fastest-growing trend in America.
