9 Ways To Develop A Positive Mental Attitude

acquiring a positive mental attitude

9 Ways To Develop A Positive Mental Attitude

Have you ever wondered about the personality of those having a positive mental attitude? How they maintain a positive outlook no matter what, how they seem so magnetic to those around them, and how they never give up no matter how hopeless things may seem…

Do you wonder what’s the unknown truth behind this? Is a strong mental attitude something that can be taught, or does it come naturally? 

The truth is that everyone can adopt a more positive mental attitude. It is not an innate trait. 

Developing a positive mental attitude can improve one’s mood, relationships, and work and life satisfaction. Also, having a happy mindset influences physical health as well. 

All of this adds up to a robust case for the impact of a confident frame of mind. Let’s take a look at how to acquire a positive mindset and how to maintain that frame of mind. So, read on!

What actually do we call a positive mental attitude?

Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich” put out the idea of a positive mental attitude for the first time in 1937. The author never actually uses the phrase itself. He uses it as a philosophy that contends maintaining a positive outlook throughout one’s life will help one achieve more success.

A positive mental attitude (PMA) is a mindset that encourages us to look for the good in any situation. To express our deepest values and beliefs without hesitation and to appreciate the joy of little things in life.

How can we acquire a strong mental attitude?

acquiring a positive mental attitude

The practice of developing a cheerful attitude may initially require effort on your part, but it will pay off in plentiful ways throughout your life. So, keep on reading if you want to acquire them. 

1. Accept your negative thoughts

It is not humanly possible to experience happy feelings all the time. You should not judge yourself for experiencing bad emotions; instead, give yourself permission to feel them as they arise.

Even the occasional onset of negative ideas and sensations might be viewed in a good light. For instance, facing struggle strengthens character, so not only it allows us to better assist those who may one day find themselves in a similar position, but it also helps us to face our struggles more easily.

2. Believe in yourself with confidence!

Keeping a positive frame of mind requires you to have faith in yourself, confidence in your abilities, and the realization that you are the only person who can limit your potential. Your mind must be kept clear of all negativity at all times.

3. Just enjoy the now

In order to acquire positive mental thinking, free yourself from the chains of the past and the doubts of the future. When things aren’t going as planned, it’s already tricky to keep your mind on the present moment. 

You can’t solve your problems by living in the past or worrying about the future. That’s why trying to enjoy the present might make you feel like smiling is an impossible task. To have a good frame of mind, we must first disconnect from past and future thoughts. 

There is a right time for everything. Neither the past nor the future can be altered, so why bother trying to stop it? Both the next minute and the next decade hold equal mystery. No one knows what will happen next minute. So why should we worry?

acquiring positive mental thinking

Thinking about the past and the future all the time keeps you from living in the present moment and appreciating what is happening right now. Solving the issues you’re facing right now is always a good idea. The most important things are the immediate actions you are taking.

4. Participate in things you enjoy

Seeking out pleasant experiences can help you think more positively. Put your energy into improving the positive aspects of your life and avoiding the unpleasant ones. Get into the habit of listening to podcasts on uplifting topics. Create an upbeat playlist of all of your favorite tracks. Escape indoors and enjoy nature. Attend gatherings you have confidence in your enjoyment of. If you have a lot of happy experiences under your belt, you can always look back on them when times get tough.

5. Every day, give yourself a little care

To keep going forward with a positive mindset, you must take a step back and reward yourself with something nice. 

Developing a positive mental attitude begins with adopting positive behaviors. Doing things on your own or with your spouse that help you declutter your brain and make room for the optimistic ideas you need, such as eating well, exercising, doing yoga or meditation, or simply walking outside for fresh air.

meditate to maintain a positive mental attitude

Taking these breaks will help you maintain a more upbeat attitude while you’re putting in long hours at the workplace.

6. Play some tunes that make you feel better

Listening to music now is not just entertainment. A study found that it may even improve health. Here is how! 

Research has proven that music can trigger the feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin in the brain. Also, there is evidence that music also lessens stress hormones. 

The more dopamine released in your body, the happier you feel, and the more you feel happiness, the stronger your mental attitude will be.

7. Grow a heart of appreciation

Try to treat yourself with kindness. Start your journey toward a more optimistic outlook. Instead of being tough on yourself, try adopting a growth mentality. Having a growth mentality means that you thrive on challenges and consider failure as a springboard for progress and strengthening your abilities rather than as a way to define yourself.

Feeling grateful for what you have can serve as a foundation for a good outlook. For every gloomy thought that enters your head throughout the day, instead of hurting yourself, use it as a prompt to think of something positive.   

Here are some examples. Instead of “I’ve never done anything like this before, I can’t do it,” → think, “This is a chance to learn something new”. And, instead of “This is not going to work,” → think, “I’ll do my best to make it work!”. You can find more examples on our Samavira Instagram profile.

8. Create your own "gratitude" notebook

Why not start each day by reminding yourself that you have so much to be thankful for?

Keeping a daily gratitude notebook is a great practice for maintaining optimism. A daily practice of writing down a few things for which you are grateful. They can range from minor occurrences, like spotting a cute dog on the way to work, to major ones, like landing your dream job. They can be longer-term, like having a loving family, or temporary, like buying a large cappuccino for yourself that day.

It’s up to you to write whatever you want. The important thing is that you are making an effort to maintain a gratitude mindset daily. You may change your viewpoint for the better by retraining your brain to focus on the positive aspects of your life.

9. Practice Meditation and Mindfulness

There will be times when the mountain seems impassable, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be climbed. The mental strength you gain from reaching the peak will serve you well in the face of other trials down the road. You can count on meditation and mindfulness to be there for you anytime you’re in a tough spot. They are the most effective natural methods to help your brain deal with it – no matter what. 

Although it has many, one of the perks of meditation is that it can help you see how temporary our thoughts and experiences really are. If you have hope that whatever happens, it will eventually pass, then you can take comfort in the knowledge that every low will eventually be met by a high. As a result, you’ll be able to ponder with greater calm and satisfaction.

In A Nutshell

Still reading? Now, we guess you must be interested in developing a strong mental attitude, right? 

We hope that after reading this article, a new, optimistic outlook on life is within your reach now. It’s possible that this will make you happier in your professional life, making you more productive and able to deal with setbacks with grace.

So it’s the right time to know a new you! More encouraging, more optimistic, and more confident.

Your Next Step

Want to start your meditation journey to increase the levels of mindfulness in your life?

Sign up for our free live-guided wellness sessions!

Sign up here

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Meditation And The Brain: What Do We Know So Far?

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The 4 Main Meditation Types That Exist In The World

Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

The 4 Main Meditation Types That Exist In The World

Meditation is ever-growing in popularity. Over time, it has developed into a wide array of different meditation styles and different meditation techniques, while most of us are unaware of how many actually exist ‘out there’ these days. We’d like to bring back some of the ancient knowledge around meditation. In this article we lay out the 4 main meditation types, so you can learn more about the origin of some of the most known meditation practices that still exist to date.

Dhammakaya Meditation

Dhammakaya meditation, originating in Thailand, is probably the most original and purest form of meditation surviving in the history of meditation. “Dhamma” means “pure nature”, while “Kaya” refers to the “layers of the body” in the ancient Pali language. Put together, “Dhammakaya” means the “body of enlightenment”. Dhammakaya meditation is also called “The Middle Way Meditation” and you will understand why when you keep on reading.

Dhammakaya meditation focuses on calmness, which is believed to lead to insight as an inherent result. In Dhammakaya meditation various techniques are used with one main focus: ‘dropping into the center’. Meditation techniques are seen as merely tools and are supposed to be let go of once they’re not needed anymore.

The center is seen as the home of mind, the most natural place for the mind to be – where the mind can be fully still. In Dhammakaya it is believed that the center of our body is where the mind comes from when we are born, and goes back to when we die.

The location of the center is 2 fingers’ width above the navel, inside the middle of your body. If you were to split your body in half, horizontally and vertically, the center would be located in the middle of the middle – hence the name “The Middle Way Meditation”.

Dhammakaya meditation Types center of the body

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Observe your breathing
  • Gently guide your mind to the center of your body by following the air flow past the 7 bases of the mind: the nostrils, the bridge of the nose, middle of the head, roof of the mouth, throat, behind the navel and (back up to) the center located 2 fingers’ width above the navel
  • If you like, you can recite a mantra at the center of your body, and/or visualize an object at the center of your body to help keep your mind centered
  • Once the mantra and/or object are fading away, let them go – this means you don’t need the tools anymore to keep your mind centered
Dhammakaya meditation 7 bases of the mind

Vipassana Meditation

The term Vipassana means “seeing things as they really are” and is therefore also called “Insight Meditation”. Vipassana meditation originated in Myanmar (Birma) and refers to one of the oldest Buddhist meditation practices used for enhancing mindfulness of our state of being.

Though interchangeably used with Mindfulness meditation, Vipassana is more specific. The purpose of Vipassana meditation is to achieve a higher level of awareness of your bodily sensations.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Observe your breathing without changing your breath. Feel the sensation of the breath inside your nose and touching your nostrils
  • Scan your body from head to feet, and from feet to head. Observe all sensations of your body with equanimity (neutrality)
  • Accept everything that you observe as it is – thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Do not crave more of the pleasant sensations, and do not create aversion against the unpleasant sensations
  • Deepen the layers of the bodyscan more and more, until you can feel the sensations of the inside layer of your skin, your organs, and your spine
  • Ensure to take enough time before you advance with the next step(s) mentioned above

Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental meditation or TM originates from India. TM focuses on ‘relaxed awareness’. Transcendental meditation uses a technique that allows you to settle your mind and helps to avoid distracting thoughts. You require a specific mantra to recite during the meditation practice. You will receive this mantra from your teacher, which will be a “meaningless vibration” word, and which will help you start your journey. Because the mantra needs to be received from your teacher, it is said you cannot start with Transcendental meditation by yourself.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Repeat the mantra given to you by your teacher silently in your head
  • Do not think about your breathing
  • Allow your thoughts to float by
Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

Zen Meditation

Zen meditation, also known as Zazen, originates from the area of Japan, Tibet and China. Zen meditation focuses on calmness and being in the here and now, while trying to think of nothing, and without being judgemental when thoughts do arise. This is done by letting every emotion or thought pass by without engaging with them.

In Zen meditation, you meditate to concentrate, introspect or simply sit and let the emotions and thoughts pass by. Some Zen meditation experts meditate with their eyes wide open, though gazing is not allowed. If you’re a beginner, it’s recommended to start with your eyes closed. Observe your breath and notice any of the sensations inside, outside, or on your body.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Breathe through the nose
  • Follow the breath, one inhalation and one exhalation at a time
  • Each time a thought arises, don’t follow the thought and return to the breath

So – that was a lot of information, wasn’t it! Let’s sum it all up once more:

Type
Zen meditation
Vipassana meditation
Transcendental meditation
Dhammakaya meditation
Origin
Tibet / China / Japan
Myanmar (Birma)
India
Thailand
Focus
Being calm & in here and now
Awareness / Insight
Relaxed awareness
Calm → insight
Main technique
Breath observation
Bodyscan
Mantra
Centering technique

Wondering where to start?

As you can see, there are many different meditation types and different meditation techniques. And in this article we’ve only talked about the 4 main meditation types!

Remember, none of these meditation techniques are inherently good or bad. Paths are different, but the destination is the same. All meditation techniques help you to expand your consciousness, increase your awareness levels, reduce stress, open your mind to endless possibilities, and much more. However, to unlock these benefits, it is important to use a meditation technique that really works for you.

We don’t believe in a one-size-fits all approach. None of us are the same, so neither should our meditation practice be. Therefore, our trainings teach all the different meditation techniques that exist, to help you create your personalized meditation style so you can develop a practice that really works for you!

Whether you’re a beginner meditator, or have already been meditating for a while – finding that perfect “meditation formula” will help you deepen your practice.

This does not only shorten your journey, but also helps you to reap the benefits of meditation more powerfully.

Join us to develop your own personalized meditation style!

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7 Ways Meditation Increases Creativity

7 Ways Meditation Increases Creativity

Meditation is a great tool to boost creativity as it supports all the elements needed to surface creativity within you. The added advantage of “Meditation and Creativity” comes with confirmed results for calmness, peace, and emotional balance. You may wonder – how does meditation help boost creativity? In this article we list 7 ways in which meditation helps to stir up your creativity. Enjoy!

Where does your creativity come from?

Contrary to popular belief, creative people don’t have one side of the brain more active than the other. The creative process involves communication of the entire brain and several brain’s regions are lit up whenever imagination and creative thinking are required.

That’s exactly where meditation for creativity can play a crucial role: your creativity comes from within – and meditation strengthens your connection with self. In stillness, you learn to reconnect with the sensations in your body and with all the emotions and feelings that arise. Observing these emotions allows you to find your authentic voice which makes it easier for you to express yourself through your creativity.

You may find inspiration in a variety of ways such as appreciating art, connecting yourself to nature, intentionally looking for beauty around you, observing beautifully designed buildings in the city, or simply connecting with self while practicing meditation for creativity. Meditation and creativity are tightly connected. So let’s dive in the 7 ways that meditation helps you to unleash your creative genius!

1. Meditation allows you to be more intuitive

Meditation allows you to be more intuitive
The more you listen to the sensations in your body, the more you will awake your intuitive self. Your intuition is your authentic voice speaking. When choosing meditation for creativity, you will fine-tune your authentic voice, thus becoming more intuitive. This way meditation and creativity can help to strengthen each other.

2. Meditation enhances your observation skills

A Dutch psychologist, Matthijs Baas, conducted a series of studies in 2014 on mindfulness skills used during meditation that could potentially enhance our creative process.

His studies demonstrated that during meditation our enhanced ability to observe internal phenomena in our body, such as our sensations and feelings, as well as the ability to perceive external stimuli like sounds and smell, can be considered the one skill you need to develop that is the strongest indicator of your creative success. This makes creativity one of the proven benefits of meditation.

As mentioned earlier, you can get inspired in a million different ways, but you do need to have great observation skills to be able to perceive the beauty around you in the first place.

3. Meditation improves your working memory

meditation improves your working memory
Enhanced working memory is another effect of having great observation skills. Dr. Matthijs Baas’ studies also concluded that when you meditate and become a great observer, your cognitive flexibility increases. And, your short-term working memory improves as well – which is a highly necessary part of the brain during a creative process. Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can temporarily hold information.

4. Meditation allows you to become more open to experiences

One more reason why it is great to practice meditation for creativity is that you will likely open yourself up to new experiences. The more you become a better observer, the more you see new opportunities ahead of you, and the more open to new experiences you will be. As a result, this helps to become more creative.

5. Meditation teaches you to be non-judgmental

As you develop your self-awareness and learn to embrace all sensations that arise during a meditation session, you become more and more accepting of yourself and the world around you. With practice and time, you end up developing one superpower in which you observe everything but judge nothing. That alone will allow you to express your creativity in a much more expansive way.

6. Meditation trains you to be less strict

Once you set aside intentional time to practice meditation, you will notice that as you become more open to experiences, you also allow yourself to be less strict with your creations. You start exploring new and different ways to express your full creativity.

7. Meditation teaches you to accept vulnerability

Meditation teaches you to accept vulnerability
Creativity and vulnerability always need to go hand in hand so that your creation can spark emotion in whoever appreciates it. Through meditation for creativity, you learn to embrace all your emotions instead of wanting to hide them. Being vulnerable and accepting all parts of your being are unique characteristics that will be reflected in anything that you create.
When you choose to meditate, you are not just choosing a relaxing and calming activity, you are deliberately opening the doors to your most authentic voice and welcoming it to guide you in all creative endeavors you decide for. In this article we have explored how meditation and creativity are connected, and why creativity is one of the many proven benefits of meditation. So, are you ready to unleash those creative powers within you?

Next steps

If you’d like to boost your creativity further, here’s a meditation that will help you do just that!

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6 Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness

6 Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness

6 Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the ability to be in tune with your senses, manage all issues with patience, not be overwhelmed by one’s surroundings, be in the present moment, control your emotions and let go of distractions.

The term “Mindfulness”, which comes from the Sanskrit word “Smrti”, literally translates to “that which is remembered”. Mindfulness is the practice of being more aware and awake in every moment of life and acknowledging feelings and emotions without judgment.

Mindfulness is the opposite of forgetfulness. Mindfulness makes us happier, allows us to experience our lives more fully and decreases depression, anxiety, stress and anger.

6 Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness

The Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius once said: “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.” Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the condition of happiness that is already present in our lives.

Mindful awareness has three key features:

  • Purpose: Keep only your goal in your mind
  • Presence: Fully engage with your attention in the present moment
  • Acceptance: Being non-judgmental towards whatever arises in the moment

By practicing mindfulness in the right way, you will be able to get a lot of benefits in your daily life. In this article we will dive deeper into the 6 main benefits of mindfulness.

1) Reduced Rumination

One of the main benefits of mindfulness is the decrease of rumination. Rumination means thinking about the same thing over and over again, especially about what has happened before. Let’s use an anecdote. When a buffalo eats food, it continues to chew even after eating. In the same way, we humans continue to think about an event after it happened, which is often of no use. 

In principle, what is done, is done. Mindfulness helps to reduce overthinking, moving on from the past, and consciously living every moment of life. Several studies have shown that mindfulness helps to reduce rumination.

In one study, Chambers et al. (2008) asked 20 novice meditators to participate in a 10-day intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. After the retreat, the meditation group reported significantly higher levels of being mindful compared to the control group.

2) Reduced Stress and Health Issues

Stress Related Health Issues

Many studies show that practicing mindfulness reduces stress. Stress means being stuck with one thing at an extreme level until it is resolved. Stress is the harmful result of various elements such as overthinking, being over-emotional if no plan is effective, and feeling overwhelmed by everything. Stress is the root of many diseases. 

Mindfulness practice helps to control emotions and overthinking, reduces stress, and prevents a variety of diseases. Chronic stress is a significant problem for many adults, which can contribute to a variety of health problems, including an increased risk of depression and anxiety. According to the American Psychological Association, mindfulness can be helpful for soothing feelings of anxiety and stress.

In 2010, Hoffman et al. conducted a meta-analysis of 39 studies that explored the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The researchers concluded that mindfulness-based therapy may be useful in altering affective and cognitive processes that are underlying in multiple clinical issues. 

3) Increased Working Memory

Working memory relates to temporal memory. Temporal memory refers to the small things that we do, like when we call someone and forget why we called, when we get water and forget who we were supposed to give it to, or when we put something somewhere and forget where we put it. Mindfulness has the great potential to boost your memory. 

Do you also sometimes wonder where you left your keys? Or walked to the kitchen, only to realize you forgot what you wanted to do there? Such moments of forgetfulness are caused by proactive interference – where older memories interfere with your ability to access newer ones.

In a 2019 study, participants received four weeks of mindfulness training. Memory tests indicated that the participants showed great reductions in proactive interference, which resulted in improvements in their short-term memory.

4) Elevated Focus

Another important benefit of mindfulness is the increase in focus. Mindfulness practice strengthens our mind and makes our work more effective by making us more aware of the present. 

Nowadays, for many people, their mind cannot concentrate on one thing for a long time anymore. For example, when watching videos on YouTube, many of us prefer to watch videos that are short in duration. Blog articles have a TL;DR section for those that can’t put up with long reading times anymore.

The mind of a human being cannot always tolerate one thing for long and often wants a change, which causes us to regularly lose focus. In other situations our mind may be thinking about different things at the same time, due to which our mind is divided and our focus on the main task is reduced. Mindfulness helps to sharpen our focus and do everything that we do with full awareness.

5) Softened Emotional Reactions

Anything that is different from our feelings or thoughts can make us psychologically emotional and prompt us to stop immediately. Practicing mindfulness can help us to not allow something to overwhelm our nerves, and to control our emotions. It can help to allow emotions to be present, without judgment. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy”, “anger”, “frustration”. Accept the presence of the emotions without judgment and let them go.

6) Improved Relationships

Last, but certainly not least, let’s look into the way mindfulness can benefit our relationships. Understanding each other is essential for lasting relationships. It is said that if you really want to understand someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That is, put yourself in the place of others so that if you understand their perspective better, many complications arising in relationships can be prevented.

Improved Relationships

The practice of mindfulness can help to create empathy thoughts that can strengthen relationships. Every interaction between you and your partner is an opportunity for mutual appreciation and togetherness. However, when tensions are high and one or both partners are not mindful of their emotions, their words, and their energy, their interactions promote the opposite of togetherness: weakening the trust, connection, and deep intimacy you both yearn for. 

One of the mechanisms through which we can improve our relationships occurs through mindfulness’ ability to improve executive control, which refers to a “broad collection of higher-order cognitive functions that allow individuals to flexibly regulate their thoughts and actions in the service of adaptive, goal-directed behavior” (Frontiers).

Mindfulness practice helps to shift unconscious behaviors that impact your relationships. Since many of your behaviors and responses in relationships are conditioned and habitual, shifting them in positive ways takes more than conscious effort.

Your Next Step

Want to start your meditation journey to increase the levels of mindfulness in your life?

Sign up for our free live-guided wellness sessions!

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Meditation And The Brain: What Do We Know So Far?

March 21, 2023 / Manicharan / No Comments
Meditation And The Brain: What Do We Know So Far? Meditation is a technique that’s been practiced for thousands of years, it can be dated as far back as 5000
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acquiring a positive mental attitude

9 Ways To Develop A Positive Mental Attitude

February 21, 2023 / Lauren / 2 Comments
9 Ways To Develop A Positive Mental Attitude Have you ever wondered about the personality of those having a positive mental attitude? How they maintain a positive outlook no matter
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Buddhism, Enlightenment and Simplicity – An Interview with A Monk Part 2

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Negative self beliefs, positive thinking and compassion – An Interview with A Monk

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The Journey Of Dealing With Negative Thoughts

Negative Thoughts

The Journey Of Dealing With Negative Thoughts

There is a distinction between what happens to us, how we think about what happens to us, and how we behave as a result. We then need to see whether our thinking and behavior are either making things more difficult for us, or if they are actually helping us. 

Meditation assists us in looking for something that is present outside of our consciousness. In a sense, it broadens our awareness to welcome new thinking and new actions that don’t always seem clear at the beginning, but which can be life-changing once mastered.

Negative Thoughts

Our Thoughts

Our brain is constantly active. Some of the thoughts of our brain are positive, while some others are negative. Our thoughts often come to us without any intervention from our end. They simply seem to be there and remain there, even when they are causing us considerable distress. Often, we wish they would release their hold on us.

Our typical response when it comes to negative thoughts is that we cannot eliminate our negative thinking no matter how hard we try. We don’t just see them as negative thoughts, but as realities and truths. It may even lead you to think that there is nothing you can do to make yourself feel better.

Our thoughts have a significant impact on the way we feel and what we are capable of doing. Negative thoughts such as ‘I feel terrible’ or ‘I cannot do this’ can increase your anxiety and unhappiness. While some of your thoughts may be based on realities, a lot of them are not – they are merely guesses and assumptions of what might or might not happen to us in life. It is as if you have a radio in your head that you cannot turn off. These negative thoughts persist when you try to block them.

Try It For Yourself

Picture a pink flamingo in your mind. It is an elegant bird that probably fills your head with a nice picture. Now, tell yourself that if you can spend 1 minute without thinking of a pink flamingo, something wonderful will happen.

Get ready.
So, what happened?

You probably tried hard to keep any thoughts of flamingos out of your mind. However, this likely proved to be very challenging. This is because what we resist, persists.

Recognizing Negative Thoughts

Every thought or belief that hinders you from achieving your goals is negative.
One of the difficulties with recognizing negative thoughts is that they are good at appearing as rational truths. As a result, we seldom challenge them and simply go along with their mental chatter. In addition, when someone asks what is going on in our mind that is causing us to feel unhappy or anxious, we often respond along the lines of ‘I’m not thinking anything significant’.

A reason for this can be that our emotions have taken over and we feel overwhelmed by feelings like anxiety, panic, and depression. Plus, these emotions may also be accompanied by physical symptoms like stomach or headaches, tiredness, and general tension.

This is where meditation may be able to help you. Building a regular meditation practice can help you weaken and eliminate even the strongest negative thoughts and beliefs and the side effects that come with them.

Awareness Is The First Step

We rarely give much consideration to our thoughts and beliefs, even when they are activated. Realizing the power of long-held beliefs over present thinking patterns is very important in awakening ourselves to a more realistic and optimistic way of looking at life.

Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

To start reducing the impact that negative thoughts have on us, we first need to become aware of these thoughts. In turn, we can try to understand why these thoughts are negative. Check in with your thoughts periodically as you go about your day. Is your thinking positive and constructive right now, or is it just endless rumination that serves no real purpose? Practice this “pause & reflect” regularly.

Don’t try to analyze or eliminate your thoughts. Simply acknowledge that your chatterbox is active and you will begin to have a real awareness of how time-wasting and negative most of what passes through your mind is.
Meditation helps you to become more aware of your feelings and emotions. And once you become more aware of your feelings and emotions and can identify them explicitly, you can begin to regulate them.

Regulating your emotions means you can manage your emotions to be appropriate to a scenario, rather than being inappropriate. It simply means being able to correctly pinpoint your emotions and evaluate their appropriateness to the circumstance. Keeping your emotions in check can help to prevent feeling regrets that you did not manage a situation as you would have liked.

Managing your emotions is an exceptional tool to assist you to stay calm and productive in a crisis, rather than becoming too emotional, as well as standing your ground in the face of adversity rather than running for refuge.

Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

Meditation helps to enhance your emotional intelligence. Through meditation, you will begin to examine our approach to life events, and you may notice there is a negative pattern you were previously unaware of.

Meditation also helps to become more mindful. Mindfulness helps you to become calmly aware of the present moment in a thoughtful and non-judgmental way. It also helps to deal with managing our cognitive bias – which is that the way we look at something depends on our mood. We are often so focused on this negative thinking bias that we forget to be aware of the present moment, of what is around us – such as the coffee we have just drunk or the tree we have just passed. 

Bringing yourself into the consciousness of your surroundings, both visually and through listening, will reduce your negative thinking and concentrate your attention on the serenity of the present moment. That is also the primary goal of meditation itself.

Mindfulness isn’t a problem-solving technique. It truly is just a way of being. It will enhance your awareness, help you relax, create a calmer mind, and reduce pain. In the being-state, you will be courageous enough to truthfully look at our thoughts. That which we resist persists, so we cannot block our thoughts, but we can learn to stand back and observe them without being overwhelmed by them. It allows us to evaluate them better. It will give you chances to appreciate them for what they are: just thoughts, not truths.

Samavira Meditation

Samavira is a global meditation community full of like-minded meditators that welcomes everyone interested in meditation. Samavira has beginner-friendly resources along with in-depth training that helps you design your own meditation style. Get started by signing up on our website today! You can also follow us on Instagram @samavira.meditation for daily inspiration. 

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5 Stress Management Techniques To Relieve Stress Instantly

5 Stress Management Techniques To Relieve Stress Instantly

Stress. We all experience it in our life. We all know what it feels like. But what is it, exactly?

According to MedLinePlus, stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health.

There are various stress management techniques. This article mentions the main 5 techniques to relieve stress.

“Fake it until you make it.” There’s more truth and value in this than you may think!

Stress and the Body

When we are stressed, our whole body responds. Our heartbeat becomes faster, we can’t breathe properly, and our thinking becomes clouded. It’s as if we need all our energy to relieve the stress we’re going through.

This leads to a vicious cycle, because our body always listens and responds to what’s going on. So due to this physical response when we’re stressed, our body becomes even more stressed. It’s a vicious cycle, but the cycle can be broken with enough determination and willpower.

Stress and the Brain

There are two main brain parts associated with stress. The first is the amygdala, which is associated with stress, fear and anxiety. The second brain part associated with stress is the prefrontal cortex. When we’re stressed, there is an increase of blood flow to the amygdala, which becomes activated. Because of this, the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with executive functions in our brain, does not have enough blood to function properly anymore – hence the cloudy thinking. This means we are not able to think straight and clearly anymore.

We cannot avoid stress – we have stressors in everyday life. However, we can learn how to deal with stress. The trick here is to transmute stress and release it from your body and from your nervous system. There are various stress management techniques, and we’ll mention the 5 main techniques in this article. These techniques will help you to build resilience, perform better and show up in the world like the rockstar that you are.

Five Ways To Relieve Stress

1. Take deep breaths

The first technique is to take deep breaths, starting from all the way in your belly. When we are stressed, we usually start breathing high up in our chest, which triggers our stress levels even further. Breathing from the abdomen allows more oxygen to enter your body, thus giving your lungs more air and room to breathe. Deep breathing activates the vagus nerve, which is a nerve that runs from the neck down through the diaphragm. The vagus nerve then sends a signal to your brain to lower your heart rate. And as we talked about, your body always listens and responds. So as your heart rate lowers, your body also calms down and relaxes again.

5 Stress Management Techniques To Relieve Stress Instantly

There are numerous breathing exercises that you can try, such as Box Breathing, Mindfulness Breathing, Alternate Nostril Breathing, or Belly Breathing. All of them can help with stress relief, so practice some of these techniques and see what works best for you.

2. Movement

By movement, we mean any form of movement. Movement instantly reduces stress levels from your body as well – and this can be anything. You can go to the gym and work out hard. You can go walking. You can go stretch it out. You can go running – it doesn’t matter. Movement reduces stress.

When you are stressed, it takes up a lot of your energy to maintain that feeling. Movement gets rid of that excess energy to help you calm down. Exercise is a great way for stress relief as it takes your mind off the situation, plus – it helps you stay in shape!

3. Laughing

The third technique is laughing, and “fake it until you make it” really works here. Your body responds to everything literally. This means that you can trick your body and brain into feeling better. When you put on a YouTube video that’s very funny and you laugh, even if you don’t mean it, your body takes this literally. Your body then responds to the movement and action of laughing and sends a signal to your brain to release the happy hormone called serotonin.

Fake it until you make it now has a whole new meaning: laugh until you feel better.

If you’re feeling upset, turn on a comedy show or just contact a funny friend or family member. There are also plenty of funny jokes out there to take you right out of your funk!

4. Posture

Improving Your Posture
Along the same lines as the laughing technique, you can adjust your posture to relieve stress. When you improve your posture, stand up straight, turn your shoulders back, open your chest, put up your head a little bit (not too much, you don’t want to look cocky!) your body sends a signal to your brain again. That thought of ‘oh, my posture is good, I’m activated, open, and welcoming, I must feel good, right?!’ once again triggers the release of hormones that make you feel better.

There’s a study that was conducted, where people who were depressed were asked to start playing badminton. You know badminton, like tennis, right? You may wonder, what does this have to do with each other?

Well, when you’re depressed or not feeling good, you often look down to the ground and start shrinking. When you’re consciously playing a sport like badminton, you always look up, because you have to find the shuttle to play it back to your opponent. So these studies showed once again that ‘fake it until you make it’ helped to make people feel better.

5. Meditation

Another one of the main stress management techniques is meditation. Meditation doesn’t just help with stress relief in the moment; it also helps very well to prevent stress. Meditation in the long run, especially when practiced on a daily level, helps to reduce activity in the amygdala. As we mentioned earlier, the amygdala is associated with fear, stress and anxiety. When the amygdala is calm, the mind and the body are calm as well.

Reducing Stress Through Meditation
Besides decreasing activity in the amygdala, meditation also helps to increase activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with the brain’s executive functions. So this means that meditation helps to relieve stress and anxiety levels, while increasing clear thinking, productivity, focus, et cetera. Daily meditation therefore not only helps to relieve stress levels, but also helps prevent you from falling into the stress trap.

We hope you enjoyed reading about the 5 main stress management techniques that you can use for stress relief. What’s even more powerful than using these techniques separately, is using different techniques together. You got this!

Here’s a free Meditation Toolkit for you!

Would you like to start or deepen your meditation journey right away? Here’s a free Meditation Toolkit to help you build a consistent, long-term practice that you love! 

Meditation Toolkit
meditation-toolkit

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5 Meditation Techniques For Better Sleep

5 Meditation Techniques for Better Sleep

5 Meditation Techniques For Better Sleep

Do you suffer from insomnia and always wake up in the middle of the night? Instead, do you want to have deep sleep and wake up fresh and calm? Worldwide, between 35 and 50 percent of adults report having insomnia symptoms. Insomnia is real but so is sleep meditation. You deserve to have a good night’s sleep and so this article is for you. Before delving deep into the techniques of sleep meditation, let us explain to you what sleep meditation is. Sleep meditation is a technique for calming your mind and relaxing your body before going to bed.

5 Meditation Techniques for Better Sleep

Meditation and Sleep

Now, you might have asked yourself how meditation improves sleep. Well, meditation can increase melatonin (the sleep hormone), increase serotonin (precursor of melatonin), slow down your heart rate, decrease blood pressure, and finally, it can activate parts of the brain that control sleep. To prove this, researchers examined how mindfulness meditation affected 49 adults with moderate sleep issues in a 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine Trusted Source. The participants were randomly assigned to sleep meditation for 6 weeks. The meditation group had fewer insomnia symptoms and less daytime fatigue at the end of the study.

Are you ready to go through this journey with us? If so, place a tall glass of water and other nighttime preparations on your bedside table. Once you have settled into bed, you can start your meditation and unwind your entire body. You do not need to put up any bells and whistles for bedtime meditation; you are just taking a few minutes to connect with your feelings, thoughts, body, and perceptions. You finally fall asleep as your meditation comes to an end, spending the rest of the night allowing your body to recuperate.

You get out of bed with fresh insights, fresh goals, and a physique that can help you get through it all. Be gentle with yourself as you experiment with meditation for sleep. Just like anything else, meditation requires practice. Spend three to five minutes in meditation before going to sleep. Increase the duration to 15 to 20 minutes gradually over time. It will take time to learn how to quiet your mind. So, let us begin!

Visualization Meditation

Visualization is a popular sleep meditation technique that involves imagining yourself in a relaxing environment. If you find yourself lying awake at night, fighting anxious thoughts, this technique can help. You can find below the steps for better visualization meditation.

Visualization meditation
  1. Find a quiet, comfortable place to meditate without distractions.
  2. Allow your body to calm down in a relaxed, seated, or lying-down position.
  3. Clear your mind of all distracting thoughts and begin to visualize the object of your choice in your mind’s eye. You can also choose a mantra to guide your practice.
  4. Bring your attention to your breath after you have cleared your mind. Concentrate on a gentle inhalation through the nose and exhalation through the mouth.
  5. Then, return your attention to the imagery or mantra while maintaining the flow and pace of your breath.
  6. Visualize the image as you inhale. Feel the good feelings or intention of your picture or intention as you exhale.

Mindful Breathing Meditation

The idea is to simply pay attention to your breathing, its natural rhythm and flow, as well as how it feels on each inhale and exhale. Focusing on the breath is especially beneficial because it acts as an anchor; something you can return to at any time if you begin to feel stressed or carried away by negative emotions. And here are some steps to follow that would help you:

  1. Get rid of all distractions in your room, including your phone. Place yourself in a comfortable position.
  2. Concentrate on your breathing. Inhale for 10 counts, and then exhale for 10 counts. Exhale slowly for 10 counts. Repeat 5 times more.
  3.  Inhale and tense your muscles. Exhale after a brief pause. Repeat 5 times more.
  4. Take note of your breathing and body. If a body part feels tense, deliberately relax it.
  5. When a thought arises; slowly return your attention to your breathing.

Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is when someone else walks you through each step of the meditation process. They might tell you to breathe or relax your body in a specific way. They may also ask you to visualize images or sounds. This method is also referred to as guided imagery. Now, a question has popped into your mind: “How is guided meditation done?” Well, you can follow these steps.

Guided Meditation
  1. Choose a recording. Dim the light on your phone or other devices where you’re listening to the guided meditation.
  2. Begin the recording. Lie down in bed and take slow, deep breaths.
  3. Pay attention to the guide’s voice. If your thoughts wander, gradually bring them back to the recording and yourself.

Body Scan Meditation

Body scan meditation involves focusing on each part of your body. The goal is to become more aware of your physical sensations, such as tension and pain. The act of concentrating promotes relaxation, which can aid with sleep. Embrace the following steps to have better sleep.

  1. Get rid of all distractions in your room, including your phone. Place yourself in a comfortable position.
  2. Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths. Take note of your body’s weight on the bed.
  3. Concentrate on your face. Relax the muscles in your jaw, eyes, and face.
  4. Move your attention to your neck and shoulders. They should unwind.
  5. Continue down your body, ending with your fingers and arms. Proceed to the stomach, back, hips, legs, and feet. Take note of how each part feels.
  6. If your mind wanders, gradually return your attention to your body. If desired, repeat in the opposite direction, from your feet to your head.

Sound Meditation

Sound Meditation

Play some soothing sleep meditation music before you go to bed, which can effectively reduce stress and lull you to sleep. The best part is there is plenty of soothing music on YouTube or Spotify that you can choose from.

Here's a Guided Meditation for Sleep

Here is a guided meditation that will help you fall asleep in those moments when you’re lying in bed wide awake. Have a good night! Zzz…

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The Top 5 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Enhances Learning and Cognitive Health

The five ways Mindfulness Meditation enhances

The Top 5 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Enhances Learning and Cognitive Health

As most of us know, mindfulness meditation benefits are plentiful. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the understanding of mindfulness meditation. We’ll also explore the five ways in which mindfulness meditation enhances your learning and cognitive health.

Before we start, let’s define what mindfulness meditation is exactly. It is one of the most popular types of meditation and has been practiced for centuries. During mindfulness meditation, we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings and focus on the present moment without any judgment. It is a state of active observation of our internal emotions and our external environment. It has become a popular tool for improving one’s quality of life.

Mindfulness meditation can help improve learning and cognition in several ways. But many of us don’t even know what cognitive health is. It refers to our ability to think, learn and remember things.

The five ways Mindfulness Meditation enhances

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison looked at how meditation and cognition are related and how mindfulness meditation can help improve learning and cognitive health. These findings are being published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Overall, the team found that people who practice mindfulness meditation showed “enhanced learning from positive emotional experiences and improved cognitive control.” 

This article will explore the many ways that practicing mindfulness meditation can improve cognitive health and learning abilities. It will also explore how it is currently being applied in various populations and environments. Here we present to you five mindfulness meditation benefits related to learning and cognitive health. Take some time to read this article and get started on your journey to a more mindful lifestyle today.

1. Strengthened Memory

Mindfulness meditation enhances our ability to learn new information. You may be happy to hear that mindfulness meditation is the most effective natural method for enhancing both long-term and short-term memory. This effect persists over time.

People who are mindful can generally store new information better than those who go through life less mindfully. It is because mindfulness meditation helps you remember information better, given you pay attention to what is occurring in your life.

According to a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, people who received mindfulness meditation training were also better at retrieving information than those who did not receive mindfulness meditation training.

Another study found that mindfulness meditation helps to increase the density of the hippocampus. These results were published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that is important for both short-term and long-term memory. It refers to the fact that mindfulness meditation not only positively affects the human mind, but also plays a vital role in enhancing memory.

2. Improved Metacognitive Awareness

Metacognition refers to the awareness and knowledge of one’s thought processes.

Over the last few years, there has been an increased interest in the relationship between mindfulness and metacognition. Metacognition plays a vital role in all learning and life experiences. Beyond learning, when we gain awareness of our mental states, we begin to answer important questions:

How do I live a happy life?

How do I become a decent human being?

How do I feel good about myself?

It allows us to take a step back and observe the contents of our minds. Mindfulness is an essential step in the metacognitive process of monitoring, evaluating, and regulating the cognitive aspect of the learning process. When we are trying to learn something new, we can then gain insights into our progress and the way other individuals learn by thinking about our learning.

Improved-Metacognitive-Awareness

Metacognition allows us to understand what we are doing when learning something new. People who are aware of their thoughts and feelings are more likely to make better decisions and alter their actions accordingly. This is why mindfulness is also used in clinical psychology treatment. It assists patients in recognizing their thinking, feeling, and acting so they can concentrate on what is critical to them at any given moment.

3. Increased Attention

Another mindfulness meditation benefit is an increase in attention span and concentration levels.

Due to too many distractions our minds are often scattered, which causes us to become unfocused. Mindfulness meditation can help us to improve and increase their focus and concentration, even when we are usually faced with complex tasks or situations. It helps to keep us focused on one thing instead of overwhelming us. It also allows us to remain calm and clear-headed.

Mindfulness meditation also helps us to focus on the present moment. It improves our attentiveness. When we are practicing mindfulness meditation practice, then we are more likely to pay attention to our surroundings. It also enhances our ability to respond with attention if something occurs that requires immediate action. (Like the next phase of a project).

4. Boosted Retention 

Over the last years, the study of retention has gained much attention. There are several factors that influence our retention rates. For example, a lack of self-efficacy, social support, distractions, and a lack of growth mindset all make retention difficult. 

Studies examined the impacts of mindfulness meditation on knowledge retention. It is an incredibly effective tool to regulate mental chatter and improve concentration and memory.

Mindfulness meditation helps improve our ability to concentrate. This way, we stay focused for extended periods of time by reducing stress and anxiety levels in our bodies. It also helps to boost memory retention by increasing blood flow through our brains. Increased blood flow makes it easier for neurotransmitters to reach their receptors on neurons.

In addition, research has shown that mindfulness meditation techniques increase our dopamine levels. A rush of dopamine improves our memory, focus, and problem-solving abilities.

5. Enhanced Executive Functions

Enhanced Executive Functions

Among the many mindfulness meditation benefits, another plus is that it enhances executive functions. Executive functioning skills include planning, organization, working memory, initiation, task-monitoring, self-monitoring and emotional control. The brain needs an executive function system to process with effectiveness. Executive functions also allow us to change our behavior. By comparing current behavior with an ideal desired outcome, we can change our mood.

Mindfulness improves executive functioning by helping to control incoming information. Everyone has their share of unavoidable chaos and craziness during a typical day. It can often lead to feelings of disorganization and overwhelm. Enhancing executive functions through mindfulness practice helps us to manage incoming information better. This way it allows us to lessen some of the negative impacts of a chaotic environment or busy day.

Executive function also refers to the ability to think about problems before they occur and plan according to them. It includes planning for the future by ignoring distractions. It means that executive functions help us make good decisions when trying to remember things, organize ourselves into groups or teams, or plan for tomorrow’s workday. In other words, mindfulness meditation and cognition help with executive functions by helping you ignore distractions while focusing on tasks instead of getting caught up.

Final words

Mindfulness meditation can offer several benefits to those who practice it on a regular basis. The improvements to cognitive health and learning are just some of the advantages of this powerful practice.

Sometimes, throughout the day, pausing and conducting a mini check-in is advised.

Take a moment and ask yourself one or several of these questions:

Am I living mindful or mindless?

What is the rhythm of my life right now? 

Too fast, too slow? 

Smooth, regular? 

Happy, unhappy? 

Only you can answer for yourself.

We hope you enjoyed this article on the relationship between mindfulness meditation and cognition. We know how frustrating it can be to rush through life without stopping to notice much of what’s happening around us.

Here’s a beautiful quote to take with you today:

“Meditation is the way for nourishing and blossoming the divine within you.” – Amit Ray

Here's a free Meditation Toolkit for you!

Would you like to continue exploring the benefits of mindfulness meditation in practice? Here’s a free Meditation Toolkit to help you build a consistent, long-term practice that you love!

Meditation Toolkit
meditation-toolkit

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How To Boost Creativity Through Meditation

How To Boost Creativity Through Meditation

How To Boost Creativity Through Meditation

Meditation is a great tool to boost creativity as it supports all the elements needed to surface creativity within you. The added advantage of “Creativity Meditation” comes with confirmed results for calmness, peace, and emotional balance. The article demystifies the process that would ultimately lead you to download creative ideas during meditation and after that. So brace yourself to learn the code and bring creative ideas to your mind. Don’t forget to apply these tips to get the most out of your meditation for creativity.

Introduction

Technology has brought us to the level where everyone needs a natural unlimited resource for creativity. Whether you’re a business owner, freelance worker, or have been laid off recently, you need uniqueness in your work.  Your presence here is no magic. The search engine knows one of your interests in “meditation”, “creativity”, or “meditation for creativity”. If you land on this article, this shows your interest and willingness to learn about meditation for creativity. 

How To Boost Creativity Through Meditation

Creativity is not a passive process. Sitting on your relaxing chair and waiting for the lost inspiration to come to your mind will never work. You need to create a fertile space in your mind to welcome new ideas. The term “Creative Meditation” may sound weird to most of you. In fact, creative meditation is one of the least discussed topics on the internet. Despite the fact that meditation is widely used and misunderstood as a tool to bring calmness only, you will learn in this article how you can use it to boost your creativity.

What is Creativity?

Creativity, for most of us, is about creating something that has never existed. That’s wrong. Creativity is the process of building, accumulating or rearranging ideas into reality from the given divine resources. These resources can be tangible or intangible. A tangible source could be the building where an architect gets an idea for his next structure. On the other hand, an example of an intangible resource could be a poet who feels the air and transforms it into a long insightful poetic sequence.

The Oxford languages dictionary defines creativity as: “Using imagination or original ideas for something”. When we are imagining, we are using our resources to create a new reality. Miracles happen when the 5 senses and the mind are used in coherence. This requires focus and deliberation. Meditation can help in bringing focus, deliberation, and eventually carve out creativity.

What is Creativity

This may sound quite intriguing when someone claims to be creative by using meditation. Unlike visualization, imagining a brand new thought may seem like a fool’s paradise. But that’s not the end, let’s learn some of the basics first. We all live in an environment with available resources to create more things. These things are stored in our minds so that we don’t have to check their availability again. Like, you know how to make an omelet and where the eggs are in your house.  A little tweak in the recipe for an omelet and you come up with the worst or the best taste. That’s a little example of creation through the mind. Let’s learn it more deeply.

How to Create Images

Imagination is where creativity sprouts. You can’t track the exact starting point of imagination, but you know that all great inventions have a direct relation to the imagination. All the inventors have something in common: the time they spent with themselves.  As Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

Einstein, Edison, and Nikola Tesla all had dedicated laboratories or study rooms where they contemplated their extraordinary inventions. Even contemporary inventors like Bill Gates spent more than 16 years before he came up with Microsoft. Their solitude was purposeful. They knew it because they were able to create something never seen before. You may call it a mathematical formula, an electrical wire, a Direct/Alternating Current, a computer program, or software. These all were a series of related images or memories that were turned into reality.

Accumulating related images that make sense is easy when you have a proper environment. Once you have it, you will download the desired images from the unlimited universe. Here, environment means artificial surroundings that are aligned with your desired results. In other words, it’s nothing but Creativity.  

How to Create Images

The best part about creativity is that it allows you to dive into your favorite time of space to pick and choose your ingredients. This is the same as when a professional chef goes to the supermarket and finds the most suitable, fresh, and healthy ingredients to cook. But it’s really an art to find out your favorites. For that, you need to practice the art of creativity after learning how to meditate.

Brainwave States

As you have read before about imagination and how you can create desired images through meditation, let’s discuss brainwaves. While meditating, you slow down your brainwave frequency. You are not wide awake and do not act the way you do in your usual life. Some of you might feel sleepy. This is because the brainwaves are slowed down. 

If you understand brainwaves, you can easily influence their activity to achieve creativity.  Brainwaves are electrical impulses in the brain. These electrical impulses govern our behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. Brainwaves are responsible for the strong communication between neurons.  As they’re synchronized, electrical pulses with different wavelengths and frequencies are generated all the time. For example, your brain radiates different waves when you are sleeping, and different ones when you are running.

To record brain activity a device known as EEG (electroencephalogram) is used.  Researchers believed for so long that there are 4 main brainwaves. These are Beta (13 to 25 Hz), Alpha (8 to 12 Hz), Theta (4 to 7 Hz), and Delta (1 to 3 Hz), which represent different states between deep sleep and being wide awake. But when the brain activity of an experienced meditator is recorded, researchers have found another brainwave with a high frequency and relatively shorter wavelength. This wavelength has a lot to do with your creativity.  Gamma (>25 Hz), however, ‌has the highest frequency among all brainwaves. You can call it a Creative Meditation state. 

When you are in the Gamma state, your brain will be:

  • Receptive to your current state
  • Happier than at other levels
  • A source of ideas
  • Experiencing better concentration levels
  • Able to learn more things easily

The state of Gamma is actually the state of Creative Meditation which can be deliberately achieved at any time.

Brainwave-States-delta-theta-alpha-beta-gamma
Brainwave States

How to Achieve Creativity

To achieve a creative state of mind, you need to master creative meditation. The term “meditation” is often misinterpreted. The true sense of meditation has been explored by those who have experienced the state of bliss. When scientists first discovered Gamma brain activity, they experimented with monks (who have spent decades meditating). It was discovered that a monk can handle stress better than any other person. For a meditator, it’s easier to achieve a gamma state and get hold of it as long as he or she wants.

Seeds of meditation sprouts into fruits of creativity when you meditate daily. The beauty of meditation is that you can do it by yourself and every experience is different from the other. So you have a lot more to create that has never been seen or experienced before. Every word you learn and every image you see is influenced by the preconceived ideas you have gathered from your environment. With time, you become what has been taught by your environment. Almost every good and bad of life has been injected by society.

Meditation is often done with closed eyes. This is to awaken possibilities and let your imagination go wild. This opens doors to experience the natural and feel the world inside you. A meditator knows himself or herself better. Only that way can they understand the outer world better as well.

“Meditation starts with your eyes closed and ends with your mind opened.” Unknown

When your brain activity is at a slower pace, you tend to be in harmony with the world. Nothing in this universe moves aimlessly. Everything is in rhythm and shape. When you try to achieve the divine pace, you’ll likely find:

  • Peace in chaos (being able to be in ‘the eye of the storm’)
  • Harmony when relationships are disengaged and
  • Solutions to your problems

That is how creativity in meditation solves your pertinent problems.

How to develop out-of-the-box thinking

How-to-develop-out-of-the-box-thinking

The universe is not in a hurry, and neither is your body. To grasp creativity, you need to ponder. This requires much attention to detail. You experience a much slower breathing rate during meditation. Nothing in the universe is running, but moving at a steady pace. Our daily life problems have disconnected us from the very art of breathing. Shallow breathing leads to physical & mental issues. Whether you’re a regular meditator or just found your interest in it, your guide will help you maintain your breathing patterns. Just let go in and out naturally.

Another way to instill out-of-box thinking is to let your mind free from structures like buildings and shopping malls. Take some time out in the garden or any scenic environment. That is how you can nurture your eyes and mind with refreshing images. Natural fragrances create a mesmerizing effect on your senses. Walking on grass can stimulate your vital hormones. And when you meditate in a refreshing environment, it spurs creativity within you. Creative meditation acts as a tool to create extraordinary happenings. The more you get into it, the more you enjoy it.

Final Words: How to Bring Creativity to Meditation

Meditation is a great tool to boost your creativity as it supports all the elements needed to surface creativity within you. Use these tips to get the most out of your meditation for creativity. Find a mentor, guide, or teacher to help develop or deepen your meditation practice. If you are a regular meditator, you need a path to achieve certain goals through meditation. There is no perfection in meditation, so keep learning. There is no bad or worse creation, so don’t think about speeding up the process in less time. Only time and practice can take you to the next level.

If you’d like to boost your creativity further, here’s a meditation that will help you do just that!

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