How to Meditate: Meditation Basics and Beginner Techniques for Those Over 50
Meditation Basics
Stress is detrimental to your health. The human body has tools to handle stress in small doses, but it can become long-term and chronic without some intervention.
Luckily, there are simple tools you can use to combat stress. People have been practicing meditation for centuries to produce a state of deep relaxation. Meditation which has both physical and mental health benefits, such as protecting against age related memory loss and lowering blood pressure.
Not everyone knows how to meditate, though. Here are some tips to practice meditation from the experts at Mighty Health.
What Are Meditation and Mindfulness?
When stressed, our minds are often stuck in a state of worrying about the past or future. Guided meditations refer to a practice designed to focus the mind and body. Mindfulness techniques, including mediation, ground us in the present moment and help clear our minds of anxious thoughts.
Understanding how to meditate could be the key to living a fuller, healthier life. It can feel a little awkward at first, though. That’s why meditation practice is essential.
Why Is Meditation Beneficial to Seniors?
Seniors live with challenges they didn’t always face in their younger lives, such as chronic pain or diseases like high blood pressure. They also benefit from exercises that strengthen cognitive skills and make them feel good. Meditation is a chance to check in daily and focus on yourself.
Meditation helps you feel better, and that leads to:
Improved sleep quality
Reduced stress
Reduced anxiety
Reduced risk of heart disease
Reduced risk of age related memory loss
Increase positive feelings
How to Meditate: Beginner Mindfulness Meditation Techniques
We will focus on being in the present moment for this mindfulness meditation. The purpose of mindfulness meditation is to bring calmness and clarity to the mind. That is a process that begins with body relaxation and includes deep breathing practices..
Sit with your spine straight and close your eyes. You can do meditation with your eyes open, but if you are prone to distraction, it is better to close them.
Physical Relaxation
Start your meditation practice with relaxation exercises. The goal is to relax everything but your spine. An excellent way to get to this point is by tightening and releasing muscles:
Start by pushing your shoulders up toward your ears and then letting them drop again.
Scrunch up your face and then relax it. This releases the stress in your forehead.
Wiggle your jaw from side to side to release stress there.
Make a fist with your hands and then relax them.
Make a fist with your feet, and then let go.
Deep Breathing
Now, move to a few deep breaths:
Inhale deeply to the count of eight.
Hold the inhale for a court of eight
Exhale for a count of eight.
Do two more of these exercises or a total of three. Choose a comfortable number if an eight count is too long for you. Breathing exercises help bring you to the present moment.
Breath Labeling and Breath Counting
Now, let’s move to the core of the meditation practice. During your meditation exercises, breathe normally and double-check to make sure you are sitting straight and that your body is relaxed. While meditating, you give your attention to your primary object. In this case, use your breath.
It’s okay if your mind wanders during the meditation, but there are tools like basic breath meditation you can use to keep it in the present moment:
Label your breath as inhale and out hale to refocus your mind.
Count your exhales backward from five. After five, start again at one.
These tools for mindfulness practice can help refocus your mind and establish mental clarity, lower your blood pressure, and reduce stress.
Ending Your Meditation
You can meditate for as long as you want. As you come out of it, start to move around a bit. Maybe wiggle your toes and fingers, and shift your shoulders around. This helps wake everything back up. After a few seconds, open your eyes.
How long you choose to meditate and how often is up to you. You could go anywhere from just a few minutes to 45 minutes or more. Many people have a meditation habit in their everyday routine. Others may meditate for a few minutes when they feel stressed, or their mind wanders.
Different Types of Meditation
Deep breathing meditation is just one type of mindfulness you can practice for health benefits. When learning how to meditate, try out different types to see what is the best fit for you. You may even find one type works best for daily use and another is more useful for times of stress. Whatever you decide, you will benefit in your physical health and your mental health with a dedicated meditation practice.
At Mighty Health, we provide you with guided meditations using several methods. Try each of them to find out what works for you.
Free Mighty Health Guided Meditations
The Loving Kindness meditation class helps you show kindness to yourself and others.
Our Self-Compassion meditation class helps you acknowledge the need to show compassion to yourself by de-stressing.
This Compassion for Others meditation class helps you accept, forgive, and love the people you encounter in your life.
The Stress and Anxiety meditation class is for when you need to manage those strong emotions.
Looking for more? Mighty Health has free, live guided meditations every month! Check out Mighty Health today to save your spot for all our free fitness, health, and wellness events!
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