Hi all! Welcome back to our ACTNW blog!
I won’t lie to you all, it’s been a dark few weeks in my personal world. Luckily, I’ve got the self-care on lock. In this post I wanted to talk about meditation, one of my many self-care tools I use for my recovery and spiritual journey.
When I began my spiritual journey, I didn’t know any of the facts behind meditation being so good for the health of our bodies. Personally, I thought it was hippy-dippy and weird. But then again, I was 14 when I began my spiritual journey. Meditation wasn’t all too beneficial until I entered my recovery journey though. Growing up I started reading some of the studies on meditation as a medical tool, how it was some sort of magic that could heal disease and heart problems, mental health, etc. (you get the point). But now, I’m a full believer in meditation as a form of both self-care and therapy.
I think the hardest part about meditation is actually getting myself to do it, to start. The fun thing is it doesn’t have to be one way. There are so many variations of ways to meditate and benefit from it. I remember in high school and early teenage years meditation was my escape, using visual meditation audios to get out of my own world and build something beautiful in my subconscious, and that was much needed at the time. As I’ve grown in my recovery and created a world I love participating in, meditation is now something I do to calm my overactive brain and ease some cyclical thoughts that can sometimes turn for the worst.
The mind and body can be an overwhelming place to be, I always make jokes about how when I’m actively choosing to isolate myself and put-up walls of distraction, it’s because my own mind can feel like a bad neighborhood. Meditation and other self-care tools have definitely helped make my head a safer place to be, and what a blessing that is; to not be afraid of my own thoughts. There can be real physical and mental benefits that come from meditation, whether you’re listening to subliminals like this one, or frequencies like this, mantras, and so much more. I personally like listening to different frequencies and sometimes subliminals. This helps to program the parts of my brain I don’t use to have a more positive affect on my daily life and thought patterns. I’ll insert this article that explains the benefits of listening to frequencies and binaural beats during a meditation.
Meditation is never one thing; I practice it all the time. It doesn’t have to mean I’m always sitting in lotus position with my hands posed and ready to receive the gifts of the universe through my subconscious. Sometimes it means putting intention into movement, like exercise and breathing. Sometimes it’s just taking time with intention in every task I do, like the more mundane act of washing the dishes. Anything can become meditation with an added sense of mindfulness.
I encourage you to explore all the ways meditative acts can help your mental health, but start small. You might consider next time you do the dishes, think about the action and intention of cleansing, purifying, and appreciating. Maybe start with your skin care at the end of the night, feeling your hands on your face gently massaging the products in, how radical it is to put our self-love into an intentioned action.
Happy meditating! All my love,
-Cairo