Take a deep breath, relax your thoughts, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing cycles. Do you feel good?
That is basic mediation. But why do we need to learn or practice mediation?
Humans have an attention span that of a goldfish, and once we are distracted, an average of 23 minutes is required to regain our focus.
Yes, that’s how much we are prone to distractions!
So what is the way to focus and control your thoughts?
Focused Meditation.
To succeed in life, we need to concentrate on the things we are pursuing; to calm our mind, we need to focus on good thoughts; to control our emotions, we need to concentrate on our thought processes. Enhancing our focus and concentration is vital in many aspects of our life. And meditation can help us achieve it.
What is Meditation?
Mediation includes physical and mental techniques. These techniques help in building up focus by decluttering your mind.
Meditation is not only about developing a new self or becoming a better person; it’s about developing your awareness and broadening a healthy perspective. It is about learning to acknowledge your feelings without judgment.
Various types of meditation techniques available can help in different situations. Meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety, increase concentration, and prevent diseases. It helps in building strong and healthy mental health. It is a complementary mind-body medicine that provides relaxation.
Mediation is about focusing your mind and decluttering all the unwanted and negative thoughts causing stress and anxiety. It is a key to healthy mental health.
Meditation And Mental Health
A person is said to have good mental health if they are stress-free and have a clear thought process.
Meditation helps the brain to focus on the positive aspects of life. It helps in reducing anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. It also helps increase sleep quality, making us less tired and frustrated.
A research study by JAMA Intern Med on Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being found that mindfulness meditation programs had a positive response in reducing anxiety and depression symptoms.
You may improve your physical and emotional health by practicing meditation, which can help you feel relaxed, peaceful, and balanced. By concentrating your attention on something peaceful, you can also utilize it to manage stress. Meditation allows you to keep your focus and maintain inner serenity.
What is focused meditation?
Focused meditation enhances concentration by constantly focusing on something or any object to stay in the present. In general, meditation there is no process of focusing on something to quiet your mind.
Here you can focus on sounds, objects, smells, or your breathing pattern. Focused meditation, also known as focused attention meditation (FAM), helps deal with stress and relaxes the body and mind.
It is an easy meditation procedure, and one can easily practice it without the help of an instructor.
Benefits of focused attention meditation
There are many benefits of focused attention meditation. It helps reduce stress, control anxiety, increase self-awareness, improve concentration and focus on the present moment, increase creativity, and increase patience and tolerance. Focused attention meditation helps in decluttering negative and unwanted thoughts.
Focused mediation helps activate the Premotor cortex, The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and Mid insula, which results in increased concentration and cognitive control.
How to practice focused attention meditation?
1. Find A Suitable Place
It is essential to set a place for your focused attention meditation. Find a space that has the least distractions. A quiet place will help you stay calm and relax your thoughts.
Don’t bring your phone while meditating. You should only focus on your thoughts and feelings. It is a challenging process to concentrate and sit for a long time. But keep practicing. Initially, do it for a little time and then increase your pace.
2. Get Into A Comfortable Position
Before starting your meditation session, choose the right posture. You can either sit or stand or even lie down. There ultimate rule on crossing your legs and sitting while meditating. Do whatever makes you comfortable.
If you are uncomfortable while meditating, you’ll be constantly distracted. You might also experience stress on different muscles, causing you discomfort. The choice of proper posture is vital. Once you are set in your desired position, you are good to go.
3. Choose A Focal Point
Focused attention meditation means focusing on something or finding a focal point to concentrate. Choosing an object to focus on is essential to your meditation.
The object or point you choose for concentration should be easy to focus on. They shall only impart positive emotions. Stay focused on the object’s connection with something else. Just focus on the object.
You can focus on any object; the goal is to enhance your mind.
4. Free Your Mind
Freeing one from their thoughts is a difficult task to comprehend, but it is still possible. Yes, it might take time to clear your mind from thoughts but keep trying unless you are calm.
There are many ways to free your mind while meditating. You can try humming or slowly counting to 10 and taking deep breaths. This can help you stop the racing thoughts and clear your mind.
5. Set A Timer
While starting focused meditation as a beginner, you need to set a timer. You can go for short sessions for some days and then practice throughout the day.
Use a timer instead of a clock to avoid the distraction of looking at the clock every second. Slowly increase the time of your sessions. Keep patience; it will take time to adjust. But once you have adjusted, you’ll easily sit and meditate.
6. Allow Your Eyelids To Relax
Some people meditate by closing their eyes, while others open them. Whatever the situation may be, don’t strain your eyelids or eyes. Relax them. If you are opening and focusing on something, keep your eyes relaxed.
Because of the discomfort, you’ll find concentrating difficult if you strain your eyes. You will experience itching in your eyes or burning, which will entirely ruin the motive of your meditation.
7. Breathe
While meditating, you must have a proper breathing cycle. Your breathing should be at an average pace that can make you feel comfortable.
Try breathing through your nose rather than your mouth. Breathing from your nose increases concentration.
You can also count each breath while meditating; it is a great way to concentrate. This meditation is known as zazen meditation.
8. Shift Your Attention Toward Your Target
When you sit to meditate, millions of thoughts will come to your mind. Your only goal at that moment is to shift your attention to your focus target.
When you sit, close your eyes, imprint the shape, size, or any feature of the target, and try thinking of it only. Slowly you’ll realize that your attention is set on your target.
9. Keep Practicing
You can master anything by doing just one thing.
Practice.
Practicing enhances skills; gradually, we can attain the desired goal with perfection.
It is okay to fail. Accept your faliures as learnings. Keep practicing till it incorporates into your life. Adjusting something in your life is a challenging thing to do. Patience is the key.
10. Journal Your Experience
After finishing up your meditation session, take out your journal and blurt out everything you felt while meditating; along with this, note down the instances you lost your focus and the points you need to work on during the next session.
This won’t just help you during focused meditation but also for other forms of meditation exercises like guided meditation and others.
Takeaway
Meditation is a life skill that everybody needs to know. When you are beginning to learn meditation, distractions are normal. In such a case, focused meditation is the best thing you can try.
It works as a guide for you to concentrate. Practicing focused attention meditation will help you overcome anxiety and depression. It helps in promoting cognitive function. So go find a place to meditate and focus on something that doesn’t distract you. Concentration and meditation calm your mind and body, making you reason.
It helps you face stressful situations with ease. It is essential to control your emotions for healthy mental health and well-being. Meditation also helps in emotional regulation.
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