When people think of meditation, they think of yoga or martial arts. You might even associate this activity with those who are working to control anger issues, anxiety, and certain mental and emotional disorders.
Meditation has many applications, which is why it’s so popular around the world. One of those applications is using meditation for weight loss.
In this article we’ll look at a brief history of meditation, followed by the purpose of it with 4 benefits and how it can help you lose weight.
Where Did Meditation Come From?
Before learning why meditation is important, you should understand where it originated.
The Beginning
Historians discovered the earliest documentation of meditation in Vedanta. That is one out of six schools of Hindu philosophy. Regardless, various historians believe this practice to exist long before those ancient records.
Meditation was then introduced in Japan by Dosho, a Japanese monk, after learning about Zen in China. This practice grew in popularity and even became associated with certain religious traditions. Meditation reached the West, spawning many teachings, books, programs, and much more.
Modern-Day Meditation
There is such a difference between the current and traditional practices that they may as well be distinct activities. The point of meditation in the past, for example, was for spiritual and religious reasons. You could still meditate for those purposes, but nowadays you can do this practice to improve your focus and reduce your stress.
Ancient methods were limited to sitting cross-legged in a quiet place. Modern meditation is more flexible because you could do it sitting, standing, or walking while listening to music. You can adapt this practice to fit your lifestyle, especially for your workouts.
The Purpose of Meditation
The main reason for meditation all depends on you. Whether to find peace within your chaotic life or increase your self-fulfillment, this activity helps improve your overall mental state. In terms of exercise, meditation can give you the motivation, energy and focus needed to train.
When it comes to losing weight, focus and energy is everything. You need focus during your workouts, energy to keep eating the right foods without giving in to junk food and the focus to calm yourself down at night to get good sleep.
Gaining Motivation
When I meditate, I think about strong characters from various tv shows, movies, and video games. As silly as this sounds, it does give me the motivation to lose weight, build muscle and increase my physical capabilities.
That’s why meditation is good; as long as you know what motivates you, it can be a flexible activity.
Another way meditation can further your ambitions is by increasing your gray matter. That can result in you feeling more positive emotions. It’s much easier to stay motivated if you feel happier and more determined.
Focus
If you’re like me, your mind is going to find any kind of way to distract yourself from your workout. One minute you’re saying, “I’ll only sit down as long as this short video.” The next moment you’re chilling on the couch, scarfing down cookies and watching an entire YouTube playlist.
Meditation is like a focusing practice session for your brain. You’re training your mind to resist unnecessary distractions and hone in on your health goals; which is one reason why meditation helps in weight loss and when trying to get a 6 pack.
4 Benefits Of Meditation On Health
There are plenty of general advantages to this practice, like improving your emotional well being and promoting better behavior. There are still plenty of perks if you’re only using mediation for weight loss or health purposes.
1. Improved Sleep
I never realized how much my insomnia was affecting my workout negatively. That was until I started doing meditation for weight loss and sleep; I found that it was easier for me to sleep at night. It turns out that being tired and groggy makes it challenging to get yourself in the mood to exercise.
What meditation does to the brain is that it helps reduce your constant worries and thoughts plaguing your mind when you try to get to sleep.
2. Creativity
Your meditation can inspire you to adjust your workout to fit your physical capabilities and motives better. Meditation can also help you to come up with new meals and food to integrate that you may not otherwise have been open to.
3. Preventing Injury
It’s easy to want to breeze through your workout so you can get it over with sooner. However, doing that increases the risk of injury. Meditation teaches you to live in the present, which can encourage you to exercise at a safe and moderate pace.
That’s why meditation is important; it not just affects you mentally and emotionally, but helps protect you physically.
4. Breathing
Having a proper breathing technique is crucial to working out because it helps promote blood flow throughout the body. I sometimes forget to take proper breaths during reps. After meditation, I became more aware of my breathing and improved my training techniques.
How Much Meditation is Enough?
My workouts occur in the morning before I get to work. As such, I only have so much time to do everything. Your lifestyle might be a little different, though.
Some people question why meditation is good because they spend too little or too much time without planning it out.
Reasons to Meditate Play a Role
If you’re reading this article, then chances are, you’d like to be using meditation for weight loss and health. You might also be someone who wants to better yourself in other areas of your life. Even if it’s to improve your exercise regime, there can still be varying reasons.
There are also many different weight loss meditation techniques. For example, one person could do it to search their mind for ideas on how they want to enhance their workouts. Someone else would want to prepare their mind for their training each time. And another application of mediation for weight loss is to imagine your ideal body every day, and hold that picture in your head.
Time
A good method for beginners is to meditate for 5 minutes before bed. Once you get used to a single minute, move on to two minutes, and continue to build up from there. The point is to accustom your mind to this practice.
If you have limited time as I do, then you don’t have to meditate for too long. However, I do still recommend you do this activity in your spare time to help sharpen your mind in general. Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to determine how much time is enough for you to achieve your mental goals.
How To Get Started With Meditation For Weight Loss
Knowing how long to meditate doesn’t answer where or how you should practice. It varies with each person, so you must try multiple weight loss meditation techniques until you find one that works for you. For now, I’ll give you some suggestions to get started.
Where and How to Meditate
You’re probably thinking about meditating before bed, on a meditation mat in the morning or in your workout room since it’s before you start exercising. You can, but the goal is to find a place that will help you find mental peace. It could be in your room, at a park, on a cliff edge or on your roof.
You have to ask yourself what resting position makes you the most comfortable. I like to sit up against the wall while listening to my iPod. If you’re still unsure, then learn about the various types of meditation to help you get started.
So, does meditation help weight loss? We think so, you may just have to explore that option for yourself.
Meditation isn’t for Everyone
Regardless of the benefits, some people may not be affected by this practice. There are those who would even suffer from this activity. People with anxiety or past trauma might have trouble sitting quietly and alone with their thoughts.
Being forced to face negative, decades-old memories from the past might be what meditation does to the brain of those with conditions like PTSD.
If you have any mental disorders, then talk to your doctor first on whether meditation is right for you. Immediately stop doing this activity if you receive panic attacks or experience fear, sensitivity to light and sound, or other potential problems. No method for improving your workout is worth sacrificing your sanity or mental health.
Disclaimers
I am not a doctor and do not recommend anything on this site, or blog post, for anyone without consulting with their doctor first. Please read the privacy policy for more information.
The information in this article is for educational and entertainment reasons, it should not be interpreted as medical advice or as a recommendation for a specific treatment. Always talk to your doctor and in the event of a medical emergency one should seek the help of a qualified and licensed health care provider.
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