by Brian Warriner
Take
a deep breath in and hold it, then let it out. Meditation is a tool that I have
used in my life, not just as a spiritual practice but as a mental health
practice. To sit quietly and let your mind focus on your breathing, and let the
world around you fade away. In a world where you are dealing with anxiety or
depression, meditation has been found to help manage these disorders. You must
find the practices that work for you. Not all holistic practices will resonate
with you. However, talking to your therapist and counselor is important to
discuss what works for you.
For
me, meditation was something that I started doing when I started my spiritual
journey. I would listen to guided meditations because trying to meditate on my
own did not work. My mind kept wandering off, and the thoughts were constantly
distracting. Guided meditation helped me focus on my breathing. When I was able
to complete a meditation, I would feel calmer and grounded. I used guided
meditations for grounding, connecting with my spirit guide, past lives, and
many other spiritual purposes. I even tried to write my own guided meditation
scripts, but that did not go well. Furthermore, I am considering becoming a
certified meditation guide, which is a person who leads groups of people into a
meditation practice. It is something I would like to teach people to include in
their mental health treatment.
As a
holistic wellness practitioner and a soon-to-be clinical mental health
therapist, I want to integrate holistic practices into the mental health field.
I will try to introduce these holistic concepts into practice and teach you to
incorporate them into your treatment.
How Does Meditation Connect with Treatment
To
include meditation in your treatment, it will not take hours a day. There are
simple ways that take no more than twenty minutes of your time. You can do
these exercises when you wake up, before you go to bed, or whenever you have a
few minutes to spare. Sometimes when you are journaling, you can take a few
deep breaths and allow yourself to find your grounded, centered self.
You can even use guided meditation, available on YouTube.
Forms of Meditation
According
to the American Psychological Association, researchers studied over 200 studies
on the benefits of meditation. Through it, they found that mindfulness-based
meditations have a better effect on the brain (American Psychological
Association, 2019). These forms of meditation are both mindfulness-based, such
as (MBSR) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and (MBCT) Mindfulness-Based
Cognitive Therapy. MBCT is a combination of meditation and cognitive behavior
therapy. The purpose of MBCT is to give the client an understanding of what
depression is, what causes them to be vulnerable, and the connection between
negative thinking and their spirals (Guy-Evans, 2022)—using meditation,
cognitive restructuring, and psychoeducation, to identify and modify negative
thought patterns (Guy-Evans, 2022).
Mindfulness-Based
Stress Reduction is backed by evidence and research that uses mindfulness
practices with meditation and wellness enhancements (Ackerman, 2017). According
to Positive Psychology, there are exercises you can do to include this practice
at home. MBSR uses meditation and body scans, encouraging one to be present in
the moment and accept the moment. When you use MBSR, it is meant to reduce not
just stress but anxiety, but to enhance one’s emotional resilience (Ackerman,
2017).
Both
MBSR and MBCT use meditation to treat mental health disorders. With these
treatments, you become aware of what your triggers are and how to work through
them to deactivate them. For the most part, meditation helps bring awareness to
oneself because that is where we can have control. Moreover, do our part to
participate in our own recovery.
Besides
mindfulness-based meditation and guided meditations, I am mentioning the
various forms so you may choose from them that suits your needs. One may also
try mantra meditation, where you are chanting a mantra while focusing on your
breath, qigong, and tai chi, which are slow-moving movements where the focus is
on the moment and the movements. Yoga is also a form of meditation where you
focus on breathing. The purpose is to get your mind to focus on something else
other than your problems or issues that are adding to your anxiety (Mayo
Clinic, 2023).
Stress Reduction
Meditation
has been used for stress reduction for many decades. It is a tool that many
people employ to help when times get difficult, like when a loved one is in the
hospital with a serious medical issue, break-ups, divorces, and even during the
school year when your children have so many sports and activities. Life can be
stressful, whether you are a caregiver to loved ones or a student who works all
day and attends classes at night. No matter what the situation, stress comes in
many forms.
May
spiritual beliefs have included meditation, while the roots of it are in
spiritual or religious practices, many have used it for other purposes. When
you see a religious person prostrating on the floor, they are meditating. You
may have also seen Buddhists or Hindus meditating and chanting. There is no
wrong way or where you pull from your practice.
The
Mayo Clinic posted about simple ways to use meditation to reduce stress.
Meditation does not require you to sit cross-legged, chanting peanut butter a
thousand times. You can do tai chi, yoga, and Qigong, which involve slow and
rhythmic movements. You can also pray or do breathing exercises that bring you
into the moment and center around your breath (Mayo Clinic, 2023). It also suggests
how one can use meditation during medical treatment for various medical
conditions, such as cancer. Those who have survived a cardiac event, such as a
heart they, are recommended to take up tai chi, not just for the exercise, but
also because it has many benefits for cardiac patients.
The fact
that stress can make your mental health disorder worse. It is possible that
when you reduce your stress, you can improve your mental health and your overall
health. That is according to Psychology Today. Most medical professionals would
agree with that. Because stress can cause you to have a panic attack, be
stressed out, and cause physical health problems. It is best to include a
stress reduction tool(s) into your everyday life (Ahmad, 2019).
Benefits of Meditation
The benefits
of having a meditation practice improve your overall health. Stress reduction, increased
self-awareness, depression, and anxiety management. Whether you have physical
issues due to mental health disorders, or because mental health disorders can
cause physical issues to flare up (Welch, 2019). This could also be from certain
medications that are prescribed for mental health disorders. If you are having
side effects and issues with medication, please contact your mental health
provider or your doctor.
UC
Davis Health has been studying the benefits of meditation and how they can
improve your health. Studies have shown that meditation can lower your blood
pressure, and it can help you take deep breaths that bring in fresh oxygen,
which can improve lung function. If you are someone like me, who has insomnia,
meditation can improve your sleep. Through meditation, you can have awareness
of your thoughts, and you can use the techniques of meditation to help you get
to sleep (UC Davis Health, 2022).
You
will be able to regulate your mood through meditation, and you can identify
your triggers and how you react to them. If you are feeling a certain way or a
situation affects your mood, you can modify it. This is the self-awareness that
I stated before.
In conclusion,
when you include meditation in your mental health treatment, you develop the
tools you can use when you have a mental health episode. These tools give you ways to ease the
suffering of mental health disorders and deal with them. However, I will always
advise you to stick with your current mental health treatment and discuss with
your doctor, therapist, or mental health professional before you do anything.
References
American Psychological Association. (2019, Oct 30).
Mindfulness Meditation: A Research
Proven
Way to Reduce Stress. American Psychological Association.
https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation
Guy-Evans, O. (2022, March 30). Mindfulness-Based
Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) | Simply Psychology.
www.simplypsychology.org https://www.simplypsychology.org/mindfulness-based-cognitive-therapy.html
Ackerman, C. (2017, February 19). MBSR: 25
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Exercises
And
Courses. PositivePsychology.com.
https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction-mbsr/
Mayo Clinic. (2023, December 14). Meditation: A Simple
Fast Way to Reduce Stress.
Mayo
Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/test-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858
Ahmad, S M.D. (2019). Meditation and Mental Health.
(2019). Psychology Today.
Welch, A. (2019, April 29). How Meditation Can Improve
Your Mental Health. | Everyday Health.
Everydayheath.com.
https://www.everydayhealth.com/meditation/how-meditation-can-improve-your-mental-health/
UC Davis Health. (2022 December 14). 10 Health
Benefits of Meditation and How to Focus on Mindfulness
Cultivating
Health; UC Davis Health.
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