Meditation is an umbrella term for hundreds of ancient and diverse practices. A meditation practice can range from a simple body scan, to chanting a mantra, moving the body in a mindful way, concentrating through visualisation to sitting in contemplation (Matko & Sedlmeier, 2019).
Participants of meditation programs have reported benefits such as a reduction of psychological stress, anxiety, depression and even pain (Goyal, et al., 2014). Meditation practice has also been shown to enhance emotional intelligence, sociability, empathy, positive state of mind, positive values, happiness, joy and positive thinking, whilst reducing perceived stress, and negative mental health (Chu, 2010).
Like training a muscle, concentrative meditation works to train our minds to know when we are distracted and sharpens our ability to refocus our attention (Chu, 2010). Mindfulness meditation works by increasing interoceptive awareness, an ability to recognise and understand bodily sensations and emotional responses (Chu, 2010). With its main function to increase self-awareness, meditation practice doesn’t attempt to change the felt experience, but encourages acknowledgement and acceptance of whatever comes up (Chu, 2010).
Meditation practice also works to change activation of different parts if the brain. Participants of a meditation program had their brains scanned pre and post program and it was observed that they had increased activation of areas responsible for self-regulation of attention and emotions, along with reduced activation of areas responsible for processing and responding to threatening stimuli (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2015). This is helpful for regulating emotional responses.
I was recently introduced to the concept of Yoga Nidra, a form of meditation that combines mental imagery with Savasana (AKA corpse pose). Within this fast-paced and instantly gratifying world it feels like it is getting harder to switch off. Yoga Nidra offers a way to enter a state of deep relaxation and reset without the pressure of taking a nap (Pandi-Perumal, et al., 2022).
A standard Yoga Nidra practice can take around 30 minutes, however, this can feel unachievable for already time pressed people. Recent research showed an 11-minute practice would elicit the same benefits as a regular practice (Moszeik, von Oertzen, & Renner, 2022). Benefits received from the short practice included an increase in positive affect, satisfaction with life, sleep quality and mindfulness as well as decreases in stress and negative affect compared with the control group (Moszeik, von Oertzen, & Renner, 2022). Feedback from participants was that the shorter time frame was more realistic for implementation into a regular routine and therefore more likely to be practiced ongoing (Moszeik, von Oertzen, & Renner, 2022).
Practicing at home can be as easy as opening an app or popping on a YouTube video. Here are some of my favourites:
Yoga Nidra guided by Yoga with Olive
- 9 Min Visualisation for Ground and Deep Rest
- 11 Min Guided Meditation on Bodily Sensations
- 13 Min Guided Meditation for Rest and Rejuvenation
- 15 Min Guided Meditation for Deep Rest
References
Chu, L.-C. (2010). The Benefits of Meditation Vis-a-Vis Emotional Intelligence, Perceived Stress and Negative Mental Health. Stress and Health, 26, 169-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.1289
Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E.B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine, 4(3), 357-368. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018
Matko, K., & Sedlmeier, P. (2019). What is Meditation? Proposing an Empirically Derived Classification System. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2276. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02276
Moszeik, E. N., von Oertzen, T., & Renner, K.-H. (2022). Effectiveness of a short Yoga Nidra meditation on stress, sleep and wellbeing in a large and diverse sample. Current Psychology, 41, 5272-5286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01042-2
Pandi-Perumal, S. R., Spence, D. W., Srivastava, N., Kanchibhotla, D., Kumar, K., Sharma, G. S., Gupta, R., & Batmanabane, G. (2022). The Origin and Clinical Relevance of Yoga Nidra. Sleep and Vigilance, 6, 61-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41782-022-00202-7
Tang, Y.-Y., Holzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 16(4), 213-225. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3916
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