Motion Beats Meditation?
Learning about and practicing meditation and mindfulness has been a crucial piece to my healing these last three years. After getting sick, I found myself with a brain and mind that didn't work the way it used to work because of hormone imbalance, my adrenals not working right, toxins, neurotransmitters, and central nervous system issues to name just a few. If I wanted to heal, I was going to learn how to calm the brain and my mind. Period. Am I perfect at mindfulness and always maintaining a calm mind now? No. But I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was before I was sick. Prior to me becoming sick, I had never meditated in my life, nor did I know how healing it is for the brain and body.
Meditation is calming and focusing the brain. Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment, while calmly allowing and accepting your thoughts, feelings and emotions. I will talk more about mindfulness in another blog post titled R.A.I.N. - which is an acronym for: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Non-Attachment.
I recently read an Instagram post by someone that said this....
"Motion beats meditation.
Get started if you want to succeed."
This person thought they were motivating others to achieve great success with these words. Highly motivating, right?!
I've actually learned otherwise, and this is why this post caught my eye. I thought about this interesting misconception shared by many, that the practice of meditation somehow implies laziness, or idleness. It's quite the contrary.
Here is a short list of some of the benefits of meditation:
creates a strong, highly trained mind
lowers the stress hormone cortisol
improved mental focus
healing for your adrenal glands - which is in turn healing for just about everything in your body
improves mood
boosts serotonin
improved sleep
improves the overall physical health of your body
activates your parasympathetic nervous system - which is the calming and de-stressing part of your nervous system
Dr. Romie Mushtaq - Western Medicine, Eastern Wisdom
I was introduced to my friend Dr. Romie Mushtaq over a year ago. Dr. Romie and Marc met when they gave their Tedx talks in Fargo last year, and as a result, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Dr. Romie.
She combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine. She is a Western trained neurologist, an integrative medical doctor, a yoga teacher and mindfulness expert. She knows her stuff. She has helped me in my healing journey with some wise words of wisdom and meditation training.
Romie says this about the "stress-for-success" mindset that I discussed previously and taking time during your day to meditate:
Stress for Success?
"As a physician entrepreneur, I was initially using the "work-to-death" mindset which was programmed in my brain working in our traditional healthcare system. Physicians are not alone in "working-to-death". My clients now include successful lawyers, corporate executives, and business owners are all working a similar stress-for-success mentality."
I would personally add mothers to this 'stress-for-success' list as well. I know many moms who think they have to go nonstop, never taking time for themselves in order to feel successful and like they're being a 'good mom'. That's what 'good moms' do right? You give all your time and energy to your kids and others, which equates success. I was guilty of this. I neglected my own self care and felt that I was in a constant state of rushing and busyness.
Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that giving a lot of time and energy to your kids is a bad thing. I was a teacher before I had children and then chose to stay home and raise my children because that's the 'choice' I made. I love children! That's where my heart is and I love serving and taking care of my children! But....I didn't ever take time for myself on a routine basis. Key word: routine. It doesn't matter if you have one child or four. Always take a little time to care for yourself every day, rejuvenate your body and mind, and to just relax or meditate. You'll probably have to schedule it in! I know how hard it is to find the time. It is that important though. When you take the time to care for yourself regularly, you will find that you'll be a better mother in return.
Self-care is not selfish!
When you know better, you do better!
Dr. Romie goes on to say, "It is possible to retrain our minds to understand that success does not correlate with how stressed out and busy we make ourselves. I spent the last quarter bringing my mindfulness techniques into my business. The result is that I am sleeping better, the number of personal clients I am counseling has grown, and I am flourishing sharing my message on stages across the United States."
I highly encourage you to learn the techniques of meditation. I will share another blog post devoted specifically to that! It's not hard, and it's not some crazy chanting that people think it is! You can do it for as little as a couple of minutes to as long as you want really. If I'm short on time, I try just a quick 5 minute meditation. If I have a little more time, I try for around 20-30 minutes.
Meditation is just calming the brain and the mind - centering and focusing - which in turn makes you healthier and even more productive! It's a win- win.
Here is a link to Dr. Romie's full article.
And I would add to that title...success in LIFE.
You can find her website at brainbodybeauty.com.
"Western Medicine and Eastern Wisdom. Happy Brain - Happy Life."
I love her and think she is amazing - and I think you will love her too!
You can also click here for a list of the supplements that I take and recommend to help the brain to calm and de-stress.
In hope and healing,
Deanna
