Meditation: bridging the mind/body connection

Written by Karen Bruno, PT

“Meditation fuses your inner and outer selves, making you one with your body. ​It allows you to receive and experience the Divine Presence.”  
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- Steve IIg, from Be Good to Your Body Therapy

​We often hear the term mind/body used in various wellness, medical and healing platforms. What this means is that there are powerful and complex interactions that take place between our thoughts, our bodies and the outside world and these factors can directly impact our health.  Our thoughts, feelings emotions and attitudes can affect the health of our body and our physical body (what we eat, our posture, and how we move) can positively or negatively affect our mental and emotional states. Simply put, the body can affect the mind and the mind can impact the body. Meditation, a practice of focused awareness, is a mind/body technique that can mitigate the effects of stress on our bodies by bringing calm to our bodies through calming our minds.

​Benefits of meditation closely resemble and often overlap with the benefits of deep breathing and exercise. Some benefits of meditation include:

• Relaxation
• Eases pain,decreases muscle tension
• Improves metabolism, assists in weight loss
• Reduces  perception of stress and anxiety
• Improves concentration
• Increases self awareness and self acceptance
• Supports healthy living
• Increases happiness
• Fosters well being
• Benefits lungs and heart-slows respiratory rate and lowers blood pressure
• Benefits  immune system so you stay healthy
• Slows aging

People often get anxious about the thought of meditating, perhaps because they think they can’t do it, or they don’t have enough time, or for a myriad of other reasons. Meditation can take many forms and is practiced in a variety of ways. Even a few minutes of deep breathing, relaxation or meditation can elevate your mood, sharpen your focus and improve your physical and emotional state of well being. The following are two examples of simple ways to comfort your mind and receive the benefits of meditation.

1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position with your feet on floor and your back supported.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Focus on your breathing, the gentle rising and falling and your abdomen as you inhale and exhale. Breathe comfortable breathes-inhaling to a count of 4 and exhaling slowly to a count of 5-8.
4. Become aware of any tension you are holding in your body.
5. Invite the beautiful, healing, nurturing energy of the breath into every area of your body. Allow these breaths of love to fill your cells, molecules, atoms and the space in between these particles  with appreciation and love.
6. Continue this exercise for as long as you like, then gently open your eyes and enjoy the positive and loving feelings you have created as you go about your day.

Here is another quick meditation technique to expand your heart energy:

1. Breathe in through your nose and direct your breath down into your heart .Slowly breathe out, allowing the breathe to radiate out from your heart.
2. Additionally, you can envision a beautiful emerald green light flowing into your heart and expanding out from your heart.
3. Place your hands over your heart and hold yourself in love, reverence and honor.

I wish you well. I wish you peace.