I had just had my favorite breakfast of bacon and fresh raspberry pancakes when I read this article in the Times Sunday.
Whoah …so cool!
I share a share a superpower with two greats: media mogul Arianna Huffington and basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
We share a daily practice.
This practice helped Kobe with his phenomenal basketball performance. It helped Arianna get some distance from the “obnoxious roommate” that lives in her head.
And it helped me get of my life-long roller-coaster ride of emotional ups and downs and find equanimity. I used to think it was my fate to have the “artist’s temperament.” Now I know how wrong and damaging that belief is.
What is this superpower?
Yes, meditation. Training the mind.
And yes, you can do it! It doesn’t take a lot to make significant shifts. I start my coaching clients off with just 1 to 5 minutes to create a habit.
If you are feeling overwhelmed and ungrounded. If you feel like you aren’t giving your best. If you are often craving something or distracted, meditation can help with that.
Meditation helps you let go of things that distract you. It helps you focus your energy on what is important.
It helps your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health. And with no side effects!
So, with that in mind, I give you a list of the benefits of meditation that you may not have considered.
- Lowers high blood pressure
- Reduces anxiety attacks
- Decreases tension-related pain such as tension headaches, ulcers, muscle and joint problems
- Helps you sleep better (reduces insomnia)
- Increases serotonin production so as to improve mood and behavior
- Increases signalling connections in the brain (protects against cognitive decline)
- Expands grey matter – grows your brain!!
- Slows the aging of the brain
- Improves the functioning of the immune system
- Increases physical energy levels
- Prevents stress from coming into your mind-body system
- Releases accumulated stress
- Reduces pain intensity more than morphine and other drugs
- Helps with depression as much as antidepressants
- Thinking becomes clearer
- Emotional stability improves
- Creativity increases
- Problems become smaller
- Ability to focus increases
- Happiness increases
And the cool thing is, every single one of us can access these benefits!
What do you think?
Which benefit could you use most? Share your answer in the comments below.
Try creating a habit now. Pick a time you can stick to every day and do this 1-minute meditation every day for the next seven days.
Celebrate at the end of the week with a little dance and some dark chocolate. Then, check in with me in the comments . I’m happy to help you move on from there. The key is creating the strong habit.
Make yourself more accountable by sharing your intention with the world: I’m developing a superpower starting with 1min/day! Join me! {Click to tweet}.
I know you can do it. I’m here to help you transform your old habits.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope this makes as big an impact on your life as it did in mind. Please take a minute to share this with everyone you know.
I’ll look for you in the comments below.
With warmth & lovingkindness,
PS. My Yoga Mama Home Practice video package is ready! Go ahead and subscribe to my weekly newsletter so that you can get in on the insider pre-sale.