Morning is considered the most productive, energetic and positive time of the day as one is usually fresh after a good night’s sleep.
Setting a morning routine not only helps you structure your day better but also contribute to your overall well-being. It’s true that the first thing you do after waking up can define the rest of your day.
Experts say checking phone or emails right early morning can trigger a stress response while a bit of self care at the start of the day could bring many benefits. While most of us have hectic routines, one doesn’t need more than 5-10 minutes to set the correct tone for the day and meditation can be one of the effective practices that may help you achieve that.
Meditation in the morning can serve multiple benefits and even science approves how the ancient practice not only helps keep stress away, set the right priorities but also chronic diseases at bay. An article published in National Library of Medicine explains the myriad benefits of process of meditation including stress reduction, decreased anxiety, decreased depression, reduction in pain, improved memory, and increased efficiency.
Kohli says meditation is usually feared as something too difficult to do or that which requires effort and time but it’s the easiest and one can do it as soon as one wakes up, even in the bed.
Explaining the benefits of morning meditation, the yoga expert says: “morning meditation is one of the healthiest ways to start your day. The benefits are immense some of them being a mood boost, improved focus and productivity and lower levels of stress and anxiety later in the day. A short 2-5 min meditation can actually help define the rest of your day and if your practise it regularly, your life.”
“The moment you wake up is the perfect time to meditate as your brain waves are still in alpha frequency, a state where you have access to reprogramming your subconscious mind. Imagine being able to actually have control over how your day will look like? It’s a very empowering feeling. When you meditate in the am, you actually go much deeper into the mind state and are able to create more peace and happiness,” she adds.
Here are some other morning meditation benefits:
1. Boosts your mood: Meditation is known to release hormones that enhance emotions of joy, optimism and contentment.
2. Enhances your awareness: Meditation helps you actually become aware of your emotions. You can choose how you want to feel and that is powerful. The increased self-awareness and abundance of clarity will help you navigate your day with skill and ease.
3. Reduces worry and calms the mind: Meditations bring a deeper sense of calm and help eliminate habitual patterns. The monkey mind thoughts are controlled and you have a better control of your daily habits.
4. Prevents stress and anxiety: Meditation stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which has a variety of healing benefits. It slows the heart and breathing rate. It lowers levels of cortisol and boosts the blood flow.
5. More productivity: Regardless of what you have to tackle through the day, a morning routine helps you with a greater control over how you respond to temptations and emotional impulses. you can take on tasks with enthusiasm and energy allowing you to finish quickly and efficiently. With greater energy and clarity comes an invaluable sense of work satisfaction.
6. Improves concentration and focus: When you clear your mind, you make space for what serves you. When I say clear, it simply means being able to look at the thoughts that add value, choose those while letting go of thoughts that do not.
7. Boosts overall health and wellbeing: It can help reduce migraines and headaches, studies have proven. Yoga aids in high BP and improve insomnia. Through meditation you can even bolster your immune system and reduce physical pain.
8. Increases kindness and compassion: As the stress levels are reduced with a consistent meditation practice your sense of emotional awareness is enhanced. Through increased compassion and kindness, you can experience more positive experiences and engage with others from a proactive rather than reactive state of mind.
“Scientifically-proven studies show that reverse ageing, manifestation and other energy patterns can be tapped into by meditation. For beginners, all you need to do is sit, noticing your breath for 2-5 minutes when you wake up. You can also put your right hand on your heart and the left on the belly and try belly breathing with eyes closed. If thoughts come, let them, and it’s the brain’s function, just keep focusing back on your breath,” says Manisha Kohli giving tips on how to meditate.