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It’s time to get honest with yourself: struggling with feelings of anxiety or depression isn’t just normal, it’s inherently human.
Between balancing your daily routine, navigating relationships and managing the never-ending stream of notifications on your phone, it’s no wonder your mind gets overwhelmed from time to time. But when those feelings of anxiety or overwhelming sadness take over, it can be hard to adjust your mindset and find a way out of the fog.
How Can Meditation Help?
Meditation can actually change an anxious brain by helping you sit with and make sense of negative thoughts to build resiliency and, ultimately, manage your anxiety. Studies show that a regular meditation practice can actually re-wire your brain by reducing fear-based responses and encouraging better cognitive processing.
In other words, you can train your brain to process information in a calm, cool and collected manner and literally change your mindset from negative to positive.
And, on the flip side, mindful meditation (when you focus on what you’re feeling in the moment without interpretation or judgment) can help shift your mindset in the moment so you feel prepared to go into stressful situations, busy workdays, or to simply conquer the day ahead!
But, just like a regular workout, you have to train your brain regularly in order to see results.
What if I Don’t Like to Meditate?
We’re going to let you in on a little secret: Meditation can be whatever you want it to be.
It doesn’t have to involve sitting silently in a cross-leg position muttering mantras to yourself (but if that’s your thing, all the power to you). The whole point of meditation is to find an activity that calms your mind and helps you focus inward. You have to find what works best for you.
Here are a few ideas you can experiment with to find your form of meditation:
Focus on Your Breathing
One of the easiest ways to start meditating is by focusing on your breathing. Find a position that feels comfortable (hint: this can be on your couch, lying in bed, or even sitting at your desk). Now, fix your attention on where you can feel the breath. Maybe it’s the air rushing through your nostrils or the rise and fall of your chest. If your mind wanders, don’t worry. Just try to focus your attention back on your breath. Counting each inhale might help.
Try a Float Tank
A float tank is really a spa-like version of a sensory deprivation tank, except the buoyant Epsom salt water helps to reduce muscle tension by allowing you to fully relax your muscles. It gives you a zero-gravity experience in a silent room, allowing you to concentrate on your breathing. You never know, we might just experiment with one of our own in the clinic!
Book a NuCalm Session
NuCalm is a revolutionary program that fights the effect of stress by re-training the nervous system to build stress resilience and better mental focus. During your treatment, NuCalm sends signals to activate your brain’s natural relaxation system by interrupting your adrenaline response—just like meditation. You can book a session at both our Newmarket and Sharon Clinics!
Opt for a Guided Experience
If you’re looking for a more traditional route but finding it hard to quiet your thoughts, you might find it helpful to listen to a guided meditation. When Dr. Sanderson discovered meditation, she found Deepak Chopra’s free 21 – day meditation course incredibly helpful. But you might find your happy place using apps like Headspace, Calm, or Oak, all of which offer dozens of meditation options.
Align chiropractor Dr. Emma Whelpton has also recently launched her own mind-body healing course aimed at those who are experiencing chronic pain. The PAIN PROTOCOL is a comprehensive guide to managing chronic pain naturally. It will teach you mindset, mindfulness meditation, movement, nutrition and lifestyle changes to help you leave your pain behind and step into the best days of your life.
Dr. Whelpton is offering our blog readers $100 off the PAIN PROTOCOL when you sign up using the promo code “PAIN.”
Remember, change doesn’t happen overnight. Take time to experiment with different forms of meditation to find what works best for you—and don’t be scared to switch it up from time to time.
The more you practice, the clearer you’ll feel.
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