We’ve all seen the advertisements for how to lose weight quickly. Whether it’s a 6-week plan, a 12-week plan, a strict diet or simply slogging it out in a gym every day until you reach a weight that you’re comfortable with.

However, have you ever considered that meditation could help you change your mindset and therefore help you lose weight? To some, this may seem too easy but, the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Today, we’ll explore how meditation and practising can help you to lose weight proactively. You’ll also be able to enjoy the other benefits, such as a calmer state of mind and reduced stress levels.

How Does It Work?

So, you may be thinking, how does sitting there with my legs crossed help me lose weight? Valid question, I’ll explain.

Imagine you’ve started your diet on a Monday morning. A new week, a new start. By Tuesday, you’re already back into the biscuits, and by Wednesday the diet has completely gone.

At its core, this is a basic example where your mind wants something, but your body is telling you otherwise. Your mind and body are in a state of conflict. This is because, in this case, food, the temptation is right in front of you and, whether out of habit or out of impulse, you don’t think before eating it.

Although you may have a brief thought of ‘oh, I shouldn’t be eating this’, or a guilty thought afterwards, you’ve still gone against what you set out to do. For many of us, this leaves us feeling depressed, sad and lowers our self-esteem as well as our confidence in ourselves.

However, with meditation, you’re training your mind to develop a larger length of time between your thought process of eating the food and the action of taking it. This is what mindfulness meditation is. It’s all about becoming aware of your thoughts in a non-judgemental way that gives you time to think before you act.

This means when you see triggers, such as a piece of cake or pizza, or any food that you would normally consume, you dismiss it as you’re thinking about what you truly want and what will make you happy.

In part two of the article, we’ll go through several steps so you can get started with meditation at home. And so beings your journey to a happier, healthier, more confident you!

Studies suggest that meditation is going to be able to reverse time and put the clock back on your brain. But as we get older, our brains are subject to an increased number of mental effects that come with aging. These effects can include a shorter and more quickly diminishing attention span, a longer processing time when it comes to logic and problems and even problems with your memory.

However, a huge study published last month has concluded that through meditation, you have the potential to alter and change the long-term effects of your brain, such as the ones listed above. In laymen’s terms, meditation could prevent and actively reduce the effects of an aging brain.

This study is the first of its kind, known now for being the most extensive longitudinal study that has ever been published, spanning across seven years, as well as being one of the most recent.

Research began back in 2011 at the University of California and included a control group of individuals that ranged between the ages of 22 and 69. Both before and after the study took place; the individuals were taken to a three-month meditation retreat known as the Shambhala Mountain Center, which is based in Colorado.

It was here that the individuals focused on several types of meditation training. These included a substantial focus on certain objects, practicing mindfulness breathing techniques as well as being proactive in feeling compassion, kindness and empathy towards the people around them, and for life itself.

The immediate findings were then published after the final retreat that clearly showed that the training they had received have dramatically enhanced the individual’s emotional well-being and even helped them to perform tasks in their everyday lives more effectively. There was also a huge dramatic increase in the individual’s ability to focus and concentrate.

Seven years later, after the retreats had been and gone, the researchers checked up on the individuals to see how they were doing. It showed that all the participants of the study managed to maintain a certain level of daily meditation practices and that this had an extremely positive effect on their mental health and conditions.

In fact, it was also discovered that the more these individuals had meditated post-retreat, the more noticeable and prominent the benefits from the retreat were and the longer it had stayed with them. This long-lasting effect was far more prominent in the older generations.

What Does This All Mean?

Allow me to summarise. If you practice meditation from a younger age, this study suggests that you’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits that we know mediation to provide. However, if you continue this level of meditation into your everyday life, especially as you’re growing older, these effects will become much more long-lasting and more beneficial to your well-being.

We all know that meditation can provide a tonne of benefits to our everyday lives, whether that’s reducing stress, minimising the symptoms of anxiety, helping us improve our emotional intelligence and helping our minds to stay in the present moment.

However, meditation is also renowned for many other little benefits here and there which are continuously being proven as new studies are conducted around the world. However, one of the most recent studies to be released earlier this year has detailed one of the benefits that many people have been waiting to hear.

Of course, I’m talking about having sex better.

At first glance, this seems only natural. Through daily meditation practice, you’re proactively helping your mind and body to connect, allowing you to become more in touch with your mental and physical well-being, in which sex involves both.

However, it hasn’t been until recently that science and studies have been able to prove it.

The Proof

The referred study was published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy and aimed to prove the link between the practice of meditation and the sexual functions of women.

In the study, the researchers asked 450 women that were between the ages of 17 and 70 about their personal experiences of meditation. There were also questions asked relating to their sexual desires, their personal health, their mood and their own awareness of their body and its sensations.

Out of the 450-strong group, 193 claimed to meditate regularly. As a result, it was this group that scored higher on the sexual function questions and their passion and desire. However, there didn’t seem to be any notable differences when it came to how long they meditated, or for how long they’ve been practising, or how often they practised.

Of course, accompany this with all the other studies that have been published with the information of how meditation can benefit your life, it’s only natural that it can be used to benefit all areas of your well-being. If you’re able to focus and stay synchronised with your emotions, when you’re with your partner, you’ll be able to enjoy a much more in-touch and enhanced experience.

Do you ever feel like the week is getting you down? Perhaps you’ve been spending all day at work, getting home and running your daily errands and you’ve barely found time to sit down. Of course, this is only going to wear you out, which means you’ll have very little energy to use for yourself and living the more enjoyable part of life.

For most of us, we just end up sitting in front of our TVs or computers and wasting the hours, simply because we don’t have enough energy or motivation to be doing the things we want to do. However, times are changing, and there’s a simple way that you can energise both your mind and body, boosting your productivity levels, so you have more than enough drive to get up and live life.

No, this doesn’t involve yoga, performance-enhancing drugs or even energy drinks! In fact, all you need is your lungs and control of your breathing! Let’s get started.

Shining Skull Breath

Don’t let the powerful name of this breathing exercise scare you. This practice is incredibly simple and something you can practice anywhere at any time when you need an energy boost. It’s also more commonly referred to as the ‘breath of fire’ for the same reasons.

This method works because you’re breathing using the technique for about a minute or two which dramatically increases the amount of oxygen your body is dealing with. Of course, the more oxygen-rich your blood is, the more oxygen your muscles and brain will have to use. Some say it’s like drinking a high caffeine drink, or even an espresso shot!

Anyway, let’s get right into it!

Firstly, you’re going to want to find a quiet and secluded space where you can concentrate. You can do it anywhere you want, even if that’s just walking down the road for five minutes to catch a break, but you’ll feel the effects far more if you’re able to concentrate.

Next, make sure you’re sitting nice and however you feel comfortable. You could be on the floor cross-legged or even sitting in a chair. Now take a deep breath in. Start breathing into the core of your body, around your stomach area. You should feel your stomach expand and then the air filling up your lungs and rising up towards your throat.

Now exhale rapidly. Of course, you’re not going to be able to get it all out in one go, so you can do short but defined breaths out of your nose. As you progress into the practice, try to aim to make your inhales just as long as your exhales.

Because you’re not giving your body much of a chance to hold onto any carbon dioxide you have in your body, this means your body will solely be dealing with oxygen, ensuring your blood is oxygen-rich.

When you come towards the end of your practice, inhale deeply through your nose and hold your breath for just a moment, about ten seconds at most. Now let out strong exhale to clear your body, and you might even feel like saying a small affirmation to really get your mind into a motivated mindset.

Of course, this might sound like a very strange technique, and you’ll certainly look strange while you’re doing it, but the results are out of this world, and you’re sure to feel the benefits immediately after the practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2oZX1s6nuM

Although the human brain isn’t actually known for being a muscle but is, in fact, a collection of white and grey matter, that doesn’t mean that it has different properties to a muscle. We all know that the less you use your brain, the weaker it will get. Likewise, the more you implement your brain, the stronger and more versatile it can become.

However, using the ‘growth mindset’ term, it’s important to realise that we can physically take control of how our minds work, and the pathways that our brains use to do the things we do every day. For example, if you’re developing a habit of going having breakfast at 7am every day, this forms new neural pathways that will hardwire this into your system, hence why it can become a habit.

Like forming a habit, there are many other ways you can influence and change the core structure of your mind, one of the most notable of which is meditation.

Today, we’re going to explore five was meditation can proactively change your brain, bringing so many positive benefits into your everyday life, all of which are backed up science.

#1 – Controlling Your Focus Levels

There are so many studies out there that describe the benefits that meditation can bring to your levels of productivity and focus. By meditating every day, especially at the beginning of the day, you can help yourself to clear your mind of distracting thoughts, allowing you to stay focused throughout the day, helping you to achieve more.

However, one study went further and proved that these effects aren’t just short-term after completing your practice, perhaps lasting until the end of the day. These events can slowly become hardwired into your brain over time, resulting in your levels of focus lasting years, perhaps even decades.

#2- Increase Information Processing Speeds

Our brains are a little bit like computers in the fact that they can process information, but this ability to process can differ from person to person. Of course, the common misconception that humans only use 10% of their brains is a complete myth, but the percentage of our conscious and subconscious mind couldn’t be truer.

A 2014 study, conducted in Norway, found that the brain’s processing speeds and ability dramatically increased in individuals who were meditating, rather than decreasing, or ‘slowing down’ as most people believe.

#3 – Reduce Levels of Anxiety

Perhaps one of the most common benefits that meditation provides is the reduction in symptoms of anxiety and even depression. Anxiety stems from our evolved genetic response to fight or flight in potentially dangerous situations. Of course, for many people around the world, this response can become uncontrollable.

However, one 2017 study found that meditating just 10 minutes a day can actively change your brain structure in a way that helps your levels of anxiety become less intense and disruptive in their every day lives.

#4 – Actively Reduces Pain Signals

There are so many links and connections that have been associated with mediation and pain relief that it’s hard to know where to begin. In 2017, one study found that as little as ten minutes of meditation can actively increase your tolerance to pain.

Although this particular study focused primarily on young people, so this doesn’t directly relate to people suffering from chronic pain, the individuals who were exposed to sources to pain had dramatically increased tolerance towards it than those who didn’t practice meditation.

#5 – Increases the Mass of Your Brain

That’s right; you read that correctly; meditation can actually increase the volume and physical size of your brain. A human brain is made from grey matter, the foundations of neural cells which connect different areas of our minds.

In 2009, one study found that people who have meditated daily for a long-term period, over the course of several years, discovered that people could ‘grow’ their brains by through intense concentration. While this doesn’t necessarily make you smarter, it is suggested that this can help you to handle your emotions more effectively, and can help improve yo