Why You Should Try Meditation

What exactly is meditation? There’s a lot of misconceptions about meditation and this blog is all about breaking those misconceptions down and talk about the simple basics and benefits of a meditation practice. Meditation often feels like a mystery to beginners, but its simplicity is its power. By sitting quietly and focusing inward, meditation helps you manage stress, improve focus, and nurture a deeper connection with yourself.

You don’t need to sit on a mountaintop and “Om” for hours. You don’t have to clear your mind to a totally blank space. You don’t have to levitate(that would be so cool though! Let me know if you figure this out) Meditation can look different for everyone and there’s so many techniques that you can try to find which style suits your practice best. Let’s get into the benefits of a meditation practice below.

Stress Relief

Meditation is a scientifically proven way to lower cortisol levels, the stress hormone. Even a few minutes a day can help you feel more grounded and less reactive to daily challenges.

Enhanced Focus

Regular meditation strengthens your ability to concentrate and remain present. This mental clarity can improve your productivity and make everyday tasks feel less overwhelming.

Emotional Resilience

Meditation encourages mindfulness, helping you observe your thoughts and emotions without judgment. This practice builds emotional resilience, allowing you to navigate life with greater ease.

Different types of meditation

Mindfulness Meditation
Focus on the present moment by observing your thoughts, emotions, and sensations without judgment. This is one of the most popular forms of meditation and ideal for beginners. You can try the 5 things exercise where you list 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, and 1 things you taste. This helps distract the mind by focusing on a task and making you mindful of your surroundings.

Guided Meditation
Led by a teacher or recording, guided meditations use imagery, visualizations, or verbal instructions to guide you into a meditative state. It's great for relaxation or specific goals like boosting confidence. You can find my guided meditations on YouTube here at Balanced Bliss Lifestyle

Loving-Kindness Meditation
Focuses on cultivating feelings of compassion, love, and goodwill toward yourself and others. It’s particularly helpful for emotional healing and strengthening relationships. Try speaking positive messages and affirmations to yourself, like “I am worthy” “I am beautiful” “I am enough” “I am perfect the way I am” or try coming up with your own.

Body Scan Meditation
Guides you to focus on different parts of your body to release tension and foster relaxation. This type is especially effective for stress relief and improving body awareness. You can try starting at the top of the head, moving your focus to the space between the eyebrows, relaxing the facial muscles, unclenching the jaw, noticing your neck and shoulders, bringing your focus slowly down the body noticing and softening each part of the body and you scan from head to toe. Sometimes bringing the hands to the body can help you focus on each part as you meditate.

Breath Awareness Meditation
Centers on your breathing as an anchor to calm the mind. This simple technique is accessible to anyone and can be practiced almost anywhere. You can try a long inhale and long exhale or begin practicing different types of breathwork. No matter what breath you find, try shifting your focus to the sensations of the breath and how you feel.

Vipassana Meditation
Also known as "insight meditation," this practice focuses on self-observation and deep awareness of the interconnectedness of your thoughts and feelings.

Mantra Meditation
Involves silently or audibly repeating a word, phrase, or sound to focus your mind and deepen your practice. Popular examples include chanting "Om" or phrases with personal significance. You can pick your own mantra too; try something that feels powerful, calming, and positive.

Chakra Meditation
Focuses on the body's energy centers, or chakras, using visualization, affirmations, or specific sounds to balance and align your energy. You can incorporate the colors of the chakras, sounds specific to each chakra, or focusing on a single chakra at a time. If you want to learn more about the chakras, join my Chakra Masterclass to dive deeper into the practice of meditation, yoga, and breathwork as we learn about the chakras over a 7-week coaching program.

Movement Meditation
Combines mindful movement with meditative awareness, as seen in practices like yoga, tai chi, or even a mindful walk in nature. You can find me teaching in the Annapolis are or online on my YouTube channel.

Sound Meditation
Uses sound vibrations, such as singing bowls, gongs, or chimes, to guide you into a meditative state and promote deep relaxation. If you’ve never been to a sound healing, it’s something I think everyone should try! My favorite local spot is at Magnolia Wellness in Severna Park - they offer a donation based sound healing every Sunday at 2:00pm

are you ready?

The first step is just starting somewhere, anywhere, and trying your best. Don’t get frustrated or feel like you’re “doing it wrong” because there really is no right or wrong way to meditate; that’s the whole point of the practice. Just show up, breathe, and close your eyes as you allow yourself to explore meditation and what it looks like for you!

Questions? Want to work 1:1 for a deeper dive into wellness?

I’m always here to help! If you’re feeling stuck or just aren’t sure where to get started, set up a FREE Consultation call with me to talk about how working 1:1 together might give you the guidance you need to feel well.