Why You Should Be Practicing Transcendental Meditation Every Morning
Why You Should Be Practising Transcendental Meditation Every Morning
Described by Russel Brand as "a shower for your brain", and Jerry Seinfeld, “like a phone charger, for your mind and body”, Transcendental Meditation (TM) has over the last few years had quite a resurgence, despite being practised around the world for thousands of years, originating in ancient Vedic Tradition of India. It is also one of the most studied forms of meditation, with huge numbers of evidenced-based research covering its benefits.
In essence, in TM you use a mantra, (a private word used for its sound value only) to free your mind from conscious thought, promoting a state of relaxed awareness.
At Nutriseed, we are great advocates of TM and its benefits as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Here is why you should be practising TM for 20 minutes every morning:
- Concentration & Clarity Of Mind
Numerous scientific studies have found that practising TM can lead to clearer thinking, improved memory, and heightened creativity. This is said to be because when in the state of meditation, we create alpha brain waves, which have been associated feeling ‘happy, relaxed and focussed’. Being able to stay focused, concentrating on what matters and thinking clearly, will help to set your day up for success.
- Reduces Stress
Giving the body a daily deep rest from all distractions, aside from usual sleep (and far deeper), has been said by scientists to evoke a ‘restructuring state’ because it produces physiological reactions, exactly opposite to those of the ‘fight or flight response’. Clearing perceptions for this time can help you to later focus on issues in life with a clear mind, leading to easier decision-making relief to stressful situations.
- Increases Self Awareness
Self-awareness has been described as “the process of going within and connecting with your true self. Not with your outer appearance or personality, but your inner essence. It means knowing yourself as both a physical and spiritual being”. Meditation provides the perfect opportunity to do so by helping you to stop thinking, and stop doing, relieving yourself from the world’s distractions and connecting inwardly with yourself.
- Increases Efficiency
Studies in both small and large companies found that after 3 months of meditation for 20 minutes each morning, meditators found to have increased or improved work effectiveness, leadership abilities, professional relationships and job satisfaction.
- Cardiovascular Benefits
Meditation induces relaxation, which has been proven to help reduce blood pressure (as it increases the compound nitric oxide that causes blood vessels to open up). For anyone that suffers from high blood pressure, meditating each morning is a free and natural way to help combat this.
- Encourages A Healthy Lifestyle
Concentration on the self through meditation has been shown to make you likely to strive further toward an improved lifestyle, and a persistence on being the best you that you can be. (This is why there have been many studies that support that meditation can help to beat addictions such as alcoholism and smoking).
- Helps Keep Relationships Healthy
With TM used by many to ease stress and concentration, a by-product of this is improved relationships with those around. Having clarity of mind can prevent you from being snappy, and enabling you to focus on those around you with fewer distractions in mind.
For more information on TM, and how you can learn, visit the official Transcendental Meditation website here.
