5 Reasons why Meditation is Lit
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve obviously seen the wave of mindfulness and self-care articles and memes that have been trending online and on social media. I feel like every other instastory is about “drinking water and minding my business,” recognizing our own possible toxicity in someone’s life, or having a “healing girl summer.” I’ve also seen more and more buzz about meditation, and to be honest, I tried before, and didn’t really get it. However, during my 200hr yoga teacher training, I meditated for at least 30 minutes each day. I experienced different meditation techniques and felt the benefits of a strong practice. Now that training is finished my meditation game isn’t 100% consistent, but it has absolutely changed my day to day and my outlook on life. Here are 5 reasons why I believe that morning meditation is lit:
5) Regular meditation gave me a morning routine and increased my productivity throughout the day.
If you’re anything like me, your phone alarm wakes you up each morning, you check your email, social media accounts, and now you’re about to be late for work. Before I developed my meditation practice, I used to feel like I never had time to do things and that all that talk about Beyonce having the same 24 hours in day as I did was false. She and her team had to have snatched up the rest of my before and after work hours (along with my edges), because ain’t no way!? Meditation in the morning created structure for me where I needed it. When I started to meditate, I used my time morning time differently. I would immediately wake up, use the bathroom, go into the other room and set my timer for 10-30 minutes (I gradually worked myself up by 5 minutes to get to 30), meditate, do yoga or exercise, make breakfast and lunch for the day, and then get ready for work or training! Boom! I started to feel SO good about doing so much before 8:00am. My time wasn’t sucked away by my phone screen, and I was spending it the same way each day —hello routine! That structure felt so nice. When you FEEL productive first thing in the morning, it creates the energy of getting s&!t done that will carry you through at least until lunch. Even if you don’t hit all the to-do’s on your list, you’ve already started the day with a strong sense of accomplishment and that's major, especially when it becomes consistent.
4) Meditation allows me to be my best hype-man!
There’s no right or one way to meditate. Some people listen to guided meditations, some people walk, some people grow silent, some recite mantras, some pray, some journal, some do a combination of all of the above. I’ve found that sometimes positive self-talk can really change the game. What better time is there to say beautiful things to yourself than during meditation? We’re constantly in our heads second guessing ourselves, or rethinking what we should have said in that last argument, or critiquing how we look, etc. etc. Why not take a page from Lizzo’s book and remind ourselves of what the DNA test revealed? You’re 100% that b!$%&, sis! OR maybe you’re a little more conservative and you tell yourself that you’re in control of your peace, or that you’re enough, or that you’re qualified, or that you are perfect as you are and that the world needs your light. The point is, positive self-talk during meditation is powerful. Mess around and hype yourself up enough in the morning, and I bet you’ll start believing it!
3) There’s science to this, y’all.
There are actual-factual health benefits associated with consistent meditation, for real for real. When you meditate, you often start by focusing on and controlling your breathing. In yoga, the breath is known as the Sanskrit word prana, or life force. There’s SOOOOOO much that could be discussed here, and I won’t go into it but there’s a whole science and philosophy about the healing powers associated with the breath. But think about it, when you’re stressed or panicking, what do you do to calm down? Breathe! The breath calms you. Our nervous system is divided into two main systems: the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the body’s responses to stuff (think fight or flight), and the parasympathetic which is responsible for calming us down (think rest and digest). When you’re intentionally breathing while meditating you’re actually lowering the heart rate while activating the parasympathetic nervous system which tells your body “we good.” The breath also helps flush your lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system includes your bone marrow, tonsils, lymph nodes, etc. etc. and works with the respiratory system to regulate itself. Meaning, when you breathe deeply (belly breathing) during meditation, you’re actively helping to clear the toxins from the lymphatic system, resulting in you feeling much better! Why? Because! That breathing helps your brain to release dopamine, which can act like a pain reliever or produce arguably euphoric feelings. And finally, meditation increases the gray matter in the brain… the brain stuff that Frank Ocean was talking about. Increased gray matter is like increasing brain capacity, so you’re basically getting smarter or whatever.
2) Meditating helped me strengthen my prayer life.
Let’s face it, growing up Baptist, to my family meditation sounded rrreeaalll secular. Like a, “we don’t know about all that stuff, you do believe in Jesus, right?” side-eye type reaction. But I’ve realized that more often than not, when I sit still with myself, not only am I in prime prayer mode, but I’m also able to quiet my mind (not totally empty it) to bring awareness and focus on things that I’m grateful for. Sometimes the prayers happen organically, and sometimes I’m more intentional. I may start my meditation with praying and once I’m done, I move to quieting the mind and finding stillness, but it’s real. I’ve recently been in a space where my meditation has enabled me to become more aware of exactly what I’m praying about. By meditating everyday (or very frequently) I realized that more often than not, I was asking God to do stuff. Asking for more blessings, asking God to move on my behalf, asking that MY request be in God’s will, etc. Since becoming more aware, I’ve also challenged myself to thank God for what they’ve done vs asking God to do more. Now don’t get me wrong, requests are still being made—but my prayers shifted and my prayer life has strengthened as a result of regular AM meditation.
1) Mindfulness = Healing
Listen, we are all dealing with more than our portion of stuff. Some stuff we deserve, some stuff that we inherited, and some stuff that we don’t have any business with, but we have it. Will meditating change your life in 10-30 minutes? No. It won’t. BUT! A consistent meditation practice can help create the conditions that will. A consistent meditation practice can help bring up some stuff that you get to choose to deal with. A consistent meditation practice can help you learn to quiet your mind so that you can focus on what you determine is the most important thing to focus on at that time. A consistent meditation practice can help you to create your own safe space in which you can become more aware of how you’re processing your thoughts and ultimately the world. When you have that level of awareness, you can start having the conversations with yourself that can help you to heal yourself in areas that you may or may not have know need to be healed. Ain’t we all trying to be healed? I’m able to take more ownership over how I’m showing up in places, and more responsibility for my own happiness and grounding. For me, meditation has been a way to grow closer to God, to grow closer to myself, and by doing so, I’m able to grow closer and be my best self to others.
With all of that being said, I hope that you can get you a little piece of a morning meditation each morning! Start small with 5 minutes, and work your way up by 5 minutes each time it starts to feel like it’s getting easier. Happy Healing, y’all!