Greetings health nuts! My name is Laurel and while I’m no certified professional,
Alex is a good friend of mine who was gracious enough to allow me to share a guest
post with you all this week. I recently took an 8-day trip to beautiful Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico with my yoga studio, Modo Yoga LA, for a retreat at Xinalani that was
undoubtedly life changing. The knowledge I obtained there went so far beyond the
realm of just yoga that I felt deeply inclined to share what I learned with others.
Here I’m going to highlight one of the most buzzed about topics in the health world
today that we covered: meditation.
If you’re like me, you have a pretty substantial knowledge of health, fitness, and
well-being. You shop locally, eat organic, stay away from sugar, exercise regularly,
and down right take care of your body to the best of your ability. You read
newspaper articles, stay up-to-date on wellness blogs (particularly if you’re finding
yourself here on this webpage), follow all the latest trends via social media, and
have a general understanding of what it means to be healthy in this day and age.
And while all these things are great in terms of taking care of our
bodies—decreasing risks of heart disease, stroke, obesity (just to name a
few)—what about taking care of our minds? Sure exercise gives us endorphins
which are, without a doubt, great for our mental health, but what happens when that
surge of serotonin dies off and we’re left to deal with the rest of our day? The fact of
the matter is: taking care of ourselves physically can only do so much; if we want to
live long, fulfilled lives and still stay active in both our bodies AND our minds, we
absolutely MUST make it a priority to start embracing meditation.
Meditation is a practice that has been around for thousands of years and has been
repeatedly scientifically proven to benefit our overall health and well-being by
reducing anxiety and aging, improving metabolism and brain functioning, helping
sleep patterns and stress levels, and overall making us more genuine, focused,
happy human beings. It has been said that those who have a steady, regular
meditation practice are thought to be some of the most successful people out there.
Not only does it improve our lives on a mental, physical, and emotional level, but it
also provides us with a deeper connection to the spiritual world and to our higher
self.
Beyond what we already know about meditation, here’s what my experience has
looked like: dull, lacking, and full of resistance. No matter how hard I try or how
much I will myself to make it a part of my day, I can’t seem to get that overactive,
chatty little voice in my head to pipe down and quiet itself enough to be able to slip
into that zen-like state that others so often speak of.
Here’s the catch: meditation isn’t always easy (surprise!!! – bet you didn’t see that
one coming). In fact, for most of us, it’s a real challenge – even MORE the reason
why we should embrace it. I’ve spent countless years chalking up all the excuses in
the world I can think of why meditation is not “for me” (I’m too ancy, I have to be
moving, I can’t sit still—you name it) but while being on this beautiful retreat in the
jungles of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I had a calling to start embracing change (if I
wasn’t going to do it there, then where else was I going to?) My “aha” moment
occurred when, during one of our group discussions, our resident nutrition
consultant said to us, “what’s gonna happen when you’re 80 years old and that
youthful, active body you spent so many years working to maintain isn’t able to
function because your brain is a vegetable?” Ding ding ding! A lightbulb went off
inside me. This was my time.
So how did I make the rough transition from meditator to non-meditator that so
many of us are resistant to? Well, I started small. 5 minutes a day when I first woke
up in the morning gradually increased to 10 minutes, then to 15. Additionally,
letting go of any expectations I may have had about the process. The truth is, there
is no right or wrong way to meditate. Some people are better at it in the morning
rather than at night, some people need a mantra to repeat so that they can have
something to focus on other than just the rise and fall of the breath. But making it a
point to find what works for you and to do it consistently is what will help build
your meditation practice and thus, your mental health.
I can’t reiterate enough how beneficial this practice is to maintaining a healthy
mind, body, soul, and spirit (amongst other things). While my time spent on this
yoga retreat was full of several different transformative and humbling experiences,
what I walked away from it with and what resonated with me most was my desire to
embrace change, stop giving so much of my energy away to other people and start
harboring more of it for myself so that I can find what I truly want out of life and
what will make ME happy. That, I found, came in the form of meditation.
If you are ever interested in taking a yoga (or any kind of life) retreat, I highly
recommend it. Never in a million years did I expect to find myself on one of these
kinds of trips but I am so incredibly grateful that I did. By pushing myself beyond
my limits, facing my fears, and releasing my mind of any/all expectations I may have
had for my experience, I gave myself what was by far one of the most challenging
and yet most rewarding gifts I ever could have given. I can only hope that I will
continue to see the effects of it for years to come and inspire others to do the same.
Namaste.
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