At Legendary Life, we’re HUGE fans of meditation and relaxation — if you haven’t noticed. There are various ways to “relax” but oftentimes peoples defintion of relaxing isn’t as intentional and mindul as it should be.
“I relax by watching TV every night.”
“I have a glass of wine.”
“I read a book.”
“I go out with friends.”
Sound familiar? Although each of these activities may be perceived as relaxing and may even have an element of mindfulness, they don’t provide the brain and body with the deep meditative relaxation we require.
It’s when your brain enters into an “alpha” state. An “alpha” state refers to our brain waves as measured by an EEG. The normal state of wakefulness in which we are fully aware and active is shown as “beta” waves. Beta waves on the EEG are very active, not very uniform, and not deep are slow.
It’s important to allow your brain to get into this alpha state — while some activities may seem relaxing, they are stimulating your brain into a beta state — a state we are in many hours of the day.
When we fall asleep, the brain waves become deeper and more rhythmic as we progress through the deeper stages of sleep including theta and delta brain waves.
With deep relaxation, meditation, hypnosis, and mindfulness people experience the alpha brain wave state as well as the theta brain wave state (Chiesa, 2009; Lagopoulos et al, 2009) which have been shown to have significant health benefits.
There are so many! To name a few
1. Reduce stress and anxiety
2. Improves cognitive function
3. Reduce depression
4. Reduce symptoms of various physical illnesses
There are various exercises out there but we love this one here. We encourage you to read the whole practice, but here is a summary via Live and Dare:
Before meditation: relax the body, calm the breath, gladden the mind, focus the intention.
By integrating these 7 elements in your routine, your meditation can be deeper, more enjoyable and more transformative. Here’s a summary:
Before meditation
Relax your body and breath, to calm down and center yourself;
Gladden the mind with gratitude or other positive feelings;
Have strong intention in your mind
During meditation
Don’t feel bad about getting distracted
Find delight in the moments of concentration
After meditation
Move out of meditation gently
Take notes in your journal
Try practicing these Deep Meditation techniques and let us know how you do!
“Meditation is a vital way to purify and quiet the mind, thus rejuvenating the body.”
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With the support of our community and the free tools and information available here, join the Legendary Life No Phone Challenge. Remove the dependency you have on your mobile and re-connect with yourself, your loved ones and the world around you.
