WELLNESS AUTHOR
Rachel Cook
MEDITATION AND YOU n How to find personal connection through meditation.
A
s we enter the month of February, it’s common to reflect on love and relationships and hold Valentine’s Day celebrations. It is also often a missed opportunity to reflect on one of the most important relationships in our lives: the one we have with ourselves. Unlike New Year reflections, this one is not about goals or resolutions; it is about cultivating kindness and finding personal connection with oneself through meditation. Meditation, to put it simply, changes the way we relate to our thoughts and feelings. It is a
FEBRUARY 2021
tool that helps people distance themselves from pesky thoughts or feelings they may have, allowing them to think clearly or focus on what they want to. The benefits of meditation are abundant. If practiced daily, meditation can help decrease stress, relieve anxiety, improve sleep, improve the immune system and increase focus. The most common form of meditation is mindfulness, a practice that can be most often found on guided meditation apps.
Getting Started
Meditation comes in many forms. The first distinction is a
54
guided or unguided meditation practice. Guided meditations can be particularly helpful to those who are new to meditation, and they are easily accessible with meditation apps, Instagram accounts, YouTube videos and online workout subscriptions. The second distinction is Samatha or Vipassana. Samatha focuses on calming the mind by focusing on breath, mantra, physical objects or physical sensations in the body. Vipassana focuses on insight or clearing the mind by setting an intention, focusing on the breath, noting sensations, noting thoughts or noting feelings.
