Let’s Talk About Mental Health: The Benefits of Meditation
Mental health issues can impact anyone, regardless of age, gender, or background.
In honor Mental Health Awareness Month (May), GovCIO has initiated a new, ongoing, employee interview series to help foster a more open dialogue about mental health in the workplace. As a part of this series, members of the GovCIO team are reflecting on some of the most prevalent mental health topics today, along with tips for managing stress and anxiety.
Spotlight on Meditation with Patrick Wills
GovCIO’s Project Manager, Patrick Wills, writes about the positive influence that meditation has on your mental health and how to get started if you are looking to incorporate this practice into your life.
What is Meditation and How Do You Do It?
Mindfulness meditation is a wonderful tool for managing stress and your overall mental health. It’s simple and convenient but it requires patience and consistent practice. The good news is that making meditation a habit is easy!
Some of you may have tried meditation before and given up on it because you expected an immediate result. It doesn’t work that way.
Some of you may have researched it but not tried it because you’ve made assumptions about how you should do it based on pictures, videos and articles.
The first thing to understand is that there is no “right way” to meditate. You don’t need to sit on the floor with your legs crossed and fingertips touching while dressed in a robe. If this approach suits you, then go for it! But it is not required.
Next, while researching meditation is something you should definitely do, don’t get stuck on one source’s “way” of meditating.
You certainly need instruction on how to get started but reference various sources for that and not just one. You’ll quickly see that while the core concepts don’t change from one source to another, there are tweaks in people’s approach to their practice.
Core Concepts of Meditation
Let’s look at some of the core concepts of meditation. If you understand these then your chances of establishing a consistent habit increase significantly:
1. The focus is on your breath…always and forever.
2. Acceptance is the key to success … whatever is going on during your session is ok.
3. There’s no such thing as a bad session – even when you can’t quiet your mind you still benefit physically from slowing your breathing which lowers heart rate and blood pressure and relaxes your muscles.
4. Meditation is not a magic trick. There won’t be instant improvement – progress comes from repetition over time.
5. Consistency will bring results sooner; you’ll notice you might react differently to situations than you did before.
How to Build a Mindfulness Meditation Habit
Having a mental health workout routine is just as important as having a physical workout program.
You can’t run farther or faster unless you get out and run regularly. You can’t get stronger unless you do resistance training regularly. Mental health is no different. You can’t improve your mental health without doing something about it and meditation is a great and natural way to tune into your mind and body.
Even after 2.5 years I still have plenty of days when I can’t really focus like I want to, but I’ve learned to accept that. Keeping the habit is beneficial no matter what.
Consider making meditation a consistent part of your overall mental and physical health maintenance program!
Tools for Establishing a Meditation Habit
An App. is a Great Way to Learn
I use the Calm app but there are others such as Headspace, etc.
Watch videos and read articles for beginners
These can help you understand the concepts and goals and to help set expectations.