You Need to Add Simplicity to Your Lifestyle With Meditation

I have been meditating for a few years now and every time I get back into it, it adds so much simplicity to my lifestyle. Honestly, it completely blows my mind. One of the first times I began a habit of this was when I was dealing with a lot of health issues in 2019. Yet, after getting better I stopped meditating. I didn’t think I needed it anymore.

It wasn’t until a stressful year of school that I got back into my meditation routines as a way to cope with the stress. These are my experiences with meditation which I will share through the main points…

• Why do I Meditate?
• What Have I Learned?
• My Tips for You

So let’s get into it!

Why do I meditate?

I’m always noticing new benefits from meditation but the most noticeable is how it helps me tap into my emotions. Meditating has helped me become a lot more aware of how I feel in my everyday life. Between my anxiety and stress from school, I can get moody easily with little to no idea why. Meditation began to help me take time, even if it’s only a few minutes, to notice that I’m feeling tense and analyze why and how to help myself. This has added so much simplicity to my lifestyle. Now I can focus on my energy and take more time for myself.

What I’ve learned

Before taking more time to practice self-care in my life, I didn’t understand it when people told me our bodies tell us what we need. Honestly, though, there is a major truth in it. Since taking time to care for myself, I’ve noticed that if I take time to listen, my body is telling me how I feel and what I need to move forward with. Meditation to me often is sitting on my yoga mat and focusing on my breathing, but there are a lot of variations. If you haven’t ever liked meditating, here are some other ideas to practice self-care–

• journaling — even if you write one sentence a day this helps a lot (plus, I love looking back on old journal entries to see how I’ve grown)
• sounds — whether this be a using a singing bowl or just listening to music, taking time to close your eyes and relax is very beneficial
• with guidance– there are amazing apps to help you ease your way into meditating. One of my favorites is the Headspace App
• taking time away from your phone– self-explanatory but lemme tell you taking this moment of peace does wonders for your soul!

My tips for you

There are articles upon articles about the benefits of meditation and getting started, or staying consistent, can be quite daunting. While I’m not a pro, I have had some experience with this and my best tip is to be patient. I know, the most generic answer ever. Yet, it does have truth to it!

I’m a HUGE overthinker. I remember the first few times I was meditating I would get so mad because I had too many thoughts, couldn’t tell if it was working, was bored, etc. And that’s okay! You can, and should, take breaks. The point of meditating is to help you in learning about your body. You are working to find simplicity in your lifestyle- don’t stress yourself out with it.

Buuuuut I also know the feeling of being impatient so if you do find yourself with some troubles, try new techniques. My favorite trick is to pretend that I’m sinking deeper into my body and soul each time I exhale. Other times, I imagine a bubble around me that I’m filling up with my breaths. Other ideas include listening to music, doing a guided meditation, focusing on your senses, etc.

Well, there’s not much else I can give ya until you give it a try! Feel free to contact me with any questions! Happy meditating!

~ alessia maria