Three Daily Meditations for Better Health, Better Memory, and a Peaceful Mind

Meditation has been found to be an important exercise for the brain and yields many benefits for the mind and body.

Many people want to begin a meditation practice, but they do not know where or how to begin. Meditation does not have to be difficult, it can be as simple as Meditation #1, “Follow the Breath”. Taking the time to focus on our most basic function of breathing helps us to slow down and remember the simplicity of being human.

Meditation can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be.

Begin with simple meditations for a short amount of time.

Keep meditating a fun experience and slowly add more time or steps as you develop your ability to sit in concentration. By keeping it fun, you will be much more likely to practice.

Do not punish yourself or feel down if you forget to meditate in a day. When you realize you have forgotten to meditate, make a mental note to meditate when you have open time.

If you really do not have time to meditate, that is when you need meditation the most! An easy trick to include the meditative mindset into your day is to focus on your breath and the action you are performing in the moment.

For example:

You are painting a wall or mowing the lawn and you remember you have not yet meditated today.

Focus on your breath and on your action.

Connect your breath to the brush stroke or with your stride.

Count out 10 inhales and exhales.

Once you get to 10 inhales/exhales, notice how your mind feels a little clearer, and your actions feel a little more intentional.

That is it! You have completed a moving meditation today.

Here are three daily meditations for better health, wellness, and memory:

Photo by Ale Romo on Unsplash

Meditation 1: “Follow the Breath”

This is the most basic meditation. Everything begins from here and everything returns to this meditation.

Start from a seated or standing posture
As you inhale, draw your breath into your abdomen, filling every inch of your inner space.
Focus on the experience of breathing, allow any other thoughts to simply roll by without paying any attention to them
Once you are completely full of air, pause, then gently and completely exhale
When you are empty of air, pause for a second, then return to a deep inhale

Follow this pattern for 10 breaths. The game is to remain fully centered on the breathing experience and to not become distracted by passing thoughts or things you may need to do.

Give yourself a pat on the back when you can make it through 10 breaths without becoming distracted!

Benefits: Improves concentration, improves body awareness, and de-stresses the mind

Meditation 2: Basic Pranayama

Pranayama is a whole class of yogic breathing exercises. Pranayama is for the breath as yoga is for the body. Historically, pranayama is practiced after yoga, so make sure to do your stretches before you practice this!

I am in no way trained or certified in Pranayama so if you are interested in learning more, find a local yoga teacher that is well-versed in this practice!

For each of these exercises, inhaling and exhaling is through the nose, with number 6 being the only exception.

Take your time with each of these exercises, they should never be painful. Try to breathe from your abdomen.

Gentle Inhale – Pause- Gentle Exhale
Gentle Inhale – Pause – Forceful Exhale
Inhale through Right Nostril – Exhale through Left Nostril
Inhale through Left Nostril – Exhale through Right Nostril
Gentle Inhale – Exhale while gently pressing both Nostrils (should create a “buzzing” sound)
Gentle inhale – Pause – Exhale through Mouth while creating the “Om” sound (you should create the sound from deep within your chest, it should gently vibrate your throat and feel good)

Benefits: Improves lung function and capacity, reduces anxiety and stress, and can energize you for the day!

Photo by Brian Mann on Unsplash

Night Meditation: “Walkthrough of the Day”

I have had a life-long journey of working to improve my memory. When I stopped smoking weed in college, I discovered that my memory was very weak. I started researching herbs and foods that could help me to regain my ability to remember.

The supplements helped, but I realized that if I wanted a better memory, I needed to practice remembering! That is when I started practicing the following meditation every night, and my memory has improved by leaps and bounds.

With this meditation, try to recreate your day in images, in sequential order. This will be difficult at first but the more often you practice, the easier it will become.

Eventually you will be able to see your whole day on ‘fast forward’ with an increasing number of details included.

Settle yourself with some stretching or a “Follow your Breath” meditation
Picture what you did at the beginning of the day
Then picture what you did next, moment by moment
Start with the big events such as “First I got out of bed, then I made breakfast, then I got dressed”
As you practice, the smaller, in-between details will be included.
Take your time and remember the whole day up until you sat down for this meditation.
When you have arrived at the present, ‘close’ the day, put a mental period at the end, or an imaginary lid on the box.

This final step will enclose the day into a mental box so that it is easier for your brain to catalogue it and remember it later. It will also help to prepare you for sleep.

Sleep is where all of the important memory-preserving functions happen.

By ‘closing the day’ you are telling yourself that the day is done and now it is time to relax and sleep.

Benefits: Improved memory! Better sleep, improved concentration, reduces anxiety and stress.

Conclusion:

Meditation is a simple and fun practice that has a limitless number of applications. Practicing meditation can reduce stress and anxiety, improve concentration and memory, and even make sleeping easier! Start with short and easy meditations and see the benefits build over time.

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Originally posted on Medium