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A very effective way to experience an uplifting and Divine December is to get started with regular mindfulness meditation. One of the biggest reasons we get started with meditation is to release stress and the level of anxiety. Although you always will benefit from a great meditation session, December is a great month to get started with meditation as a beginner. Today I would like to talk about how to meditate to relieve anxiety by emphasizing the benefits and techniques of Mindfulness Meditation!

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As an ACE Certified Professional, your safety and health are extremely important to me. If you have or have had any health issues it is especially important to consult with your doctor and make sure all the tips mentioned within this post are healthy for you to do.

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

Before I start talking about mindful meditation let’s discuss:

• Why you should meditate?
• What are the benefits of meditation?

The two most significant benefits of meditation are

•  it reduces the level of stress
•  it helps manage anxiety

A study suggested that meditation programs should be on the list of clinicians when it comes to treating psychological stress. The research also showed that mindfulness meditation programs had a moderate impact on an improved level of anxiety. (1).

You might have heard that stress increases your cortisol level which is responsible for the release of inflammatory chemicals. If you gain weight due to stress that is caused by the higher level of cortisol.

A research of 1295 people with anxiety reported improvement after practicing meditation (2.).

Apart from treating stress and anxiety-related issues experts found meditation can help with:

• self-awareness
• better concentration
• avoiding age-related memory loss
• better sleep which has important health and fitness benefits. (3.)

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

In this post I specifically would like to focus on Mindfulness Meditation.

Let’s discuss what is mindfulness meditation. Well, as it says in its name the main focus is to control your attention and thoughts by:

• relaxing your mind and body
• letting the harmful feelings and thoughts go. (4)

Mindfulness Meditation is one of the most popular meditation techniques, and that is why I have chosen to introduce this method.

For this purpose you need to understand how to practice this technique, so let’s dive in!

HOW TO PRACTICE MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

In order to understand the technique, you should be aware of the purpose of Mindfulness Meditation to do the exercise consciously with the goal in mind.

The two main parts of Mindfulness Meditation are:

1. attention, when you move your focus on to the present by being aware of the way you breathe, what you think of, and the physical senses you experience,
2. acceptance, when you let your judgment go in terms of what you’re experiencing in the attention phase

With these goals in mind let’s see how Mindfulness Meditation is being practiced?

First of all, if you are a beginner you might experience difficulties in being in complete silence and only focus on your breathing, so try to practice meditation for only a few minutes.

If you are a first-timer, a couple of minutes is a great result. So here are the most important steps: (5.)

1. Find a good spot and a comfortable position. Later on, I will share a few thoughts on how to create a supportive space.

• If you are in that spot and in a comfortable position, such as lying supine, or sitting in an easy pose as pictured above then bring your attention to the present. Close your eyes and start breathing. First, only pay attention to your breathing without trying to change it. If you start having different thoughts let them go and come back to your breathing.
• As I referred to in the second step, thoughts, such as why am I doing this, what I am going to do today, or how long I will have to do this might arise, but you should let them go and always come back to your breathing.
• When you feel this meditation is complete then gradually terminate it, by slowly opening your eyes and doing some stretches after keeping the same position for several minutes

HOW OFTEN AND WHEN YOU SHOULD MEDITATE

There are two important questions regarding meditation for anxiety, which are:

1. What is the best time during the day to meditate?
2. How many times a week should you meditate?

The common answer for the first question is anytime when it feels good for you.

Most people benefit from meditating in the morning right after waking up to release stress for the day. However, meditation before sleep could be a great idea since if you experience better sleep you will have a more uplifting next day.

Talking about my experience, I have to admit I am doing meditation in a different way since my favorite time proved to be the afternoon.  The reason for that is because between 1 pm and 2 pm I actually want to do meditation after working at home beforehand. If you work from home and your favorite time for working in the morning then try to meditate in the afternoon. I had a very positive experience with that.

As far as the frequency of meditation is concerned I would definitely recommend doing it every day. If you have never done it before then try to meditate three times a week, and then as the weeks progress you can increase the number of times you practice.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR MINDFULNESS MEDITATION SPOT

When it comes to a great Mindfulness Meditation a special spot for this purpose could really bring this experience to the next level.

There are a few meditation space essentials that could really help your practice:

• This HALFMOON SIT SET below includes a meditation cushion which is designed to provide you comfort during your session and a Zabuton that lifts you off the floor. This combination is also a great decoration for your living room.

• Incorporating this singing bowl in your meditation practice is a great idea, as it produces a resonance that supports the relaxation of the body & mind!

• Having this divider could be a great idea to create separate meditation space at your home

If you are on a budget this Zabuton Floor Cushion has a very affordable price and it comes with an extra cushion.

This ZABUTON is very popular among people since it has a microfiber cover with body-conforming cotton batting. People who regularly meditate explained that this item gave great comfort to their knees and ankles. I personally think this is a very great price for doing a practice that will enhance your wellness by reducing your stress and anxiety level.

Obviously, you can start meditation in the morning in your bed or on a yoga mat if you are beginner and you just want to ease into this habit without buying anything. However, these items could not only enhance the efficiency of meditation, but they also improve the look of your living room for a very good price.

As we know a nice and tidy home creates a tidy mind, which does not hurt for a mindfulness meditation 😊

So that was all I had to say regarding how to meditate for anxiety at home and how to practice mindfulness meditation.

Enjoy your meditation,

Stay safe,

Eszter

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