Meditative practices like sound healing, guided meditations, mindful movement, journaling and more help invite deeper self-reflection and self-awareness into our daily lives. Guided meditations and journaling, especially, create an “open-hearted space for discovery” as they teach us to simply observe and note our thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise. In our “surface life”, we constantly react to moments as they come. By cultivating an awareness of our inner world, we can pause from the busyness and delve deeper into the roots of our experience. This helps vastly improve our overall mental health.
When you’re first learning to meditate, guided meditations can be a great place to start as a qualified practitioner can guide you through the process of meditating. A teacher’s voice reminds you to bring your attention back to the present moment as you meditate and help you navigate different emotions and sensations. Our TRM masters share their wonderful tips on how guided meditation and journaling can help keep mental health issues at bay.
TRM Masters on How Guided Meditations Improve Mental Health
“When your mind is relaxed with the vibrations of breathing, allow all thoughts to breathe out instead of analyzing them. Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace, and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. The focus is always on the breath more than just sitting in meditation”. – Yin Yoga Expert, Sneha Desai.
“The nature of the mind is such that it’s always racing from one thought to another. The gaps between those thoughts are often missing. Guided meditation helps the mind to create those gaps. It’s this pause or gap that allows the mind to not react on an impulse. It starts to stimulate the Parasympathetic Nervous System which keeps the fight or flight response in check”. – Yoga Expert, Nishtha Bijlani.
“Meditation helps us stay grounded, focused, and maintain inner peace. Meditation heals from the inside out and helps give a sense of calm, peace, and balance. It’s also helpful for sleep and even chronic mental health challenges. The simple act of conscious breathing is a foundational healer.” – Spiritual Life Coach, Sanket Pai.
“Our mind is like an elusive animal to tame, with countless thoughts occurring with each passing minute sometimes. Meditation is a technique to still the mind. Meditation does not aim to clear all our thoughts but to teach us how to observe our thoughts as a spectator, without engaging in or judging. With time and a lot of practice, we will notice the thoughts reduce and more stillness prevail”. – Hatha Yoga Teacher, Pooja Nidadavolu.
“If you have the benefit of a seasoned teacher, a master who guides you through the process, then you’re able to just let go. You’re able to relax at a very deep level. It’s literally cellular healing that happens. You also feel that someone cares. Someone is holding space for you, so it’s a very nourishing experience to go through that. As we navigate the challenges of mental health in today’s world, this kind of support and energy can feel very, very healing and uplifting”. – Sound Healing & Life Mastery Expert, Vidisha Kaushal.
Journaling is an extension of meditation and works as a complementary practice. It gives our internal landscape a voice, giving us a chance to document our process, and reflect upon and release our thoughts. Sharing their insights on how journaling can be helpful, TRM masters expound on how the practice is important as a form of expression.
TRM Masters on How Journaling Can Help You Release Stress
“Journaling helps to declutter the overcrowded mind. It helps one to process suppressed thoughts and emotions. If they don’t find a release, they convert into a blockage. Journaling is a wonderful habit to maintain for good mental clarity and perspective”. – Yoga Expert, Nishtha Bijlani.
“The simple act of putting pen (or pencil) to paper can help one relax and get all the anxious thoughts out of the head. This helps create distance or separation (one can see himself/herself separate from the challenges) and thus can gain a deeper understanding of the causes of their own internal conflicts. Journaling also helps develop a deeper understanding of one’s reactions. Journaling is also a great way to channel one’s inner creative energy into expressing oneself”. – Spiritual Life Coach, Sanket Pai.
“Journaling can really help us declutter mentally. When we pour out all the clutter, the mental chaos, and the endless loops of negative thinking in a journal, then we make space for peace. We make space for healing, which obviously results in better mental health, in a state of mental well-being. It seems very simple, but this itself can be life transforming. – Sound Healing & Life Mastery Expert, Vidisha Kaushal.
“Through writing, you can organize your experiences into a sequence of events which gives you the opportunity to review those events from a distance and gain newer insights about yourself and the world. Thus, journaling helps us to manage anxiety, lower stress levels, cope with depression, overcome fears, boost mood, strengthen emotional functions, identify and address negative thoughts and build a habit of positive self-talk”. – Hatha Yoga Teacher, Pooja Nidadavolu.
By combining journaling and meditation, you can develop a greater understanding of your inner world. Incorporating these practices in your life isn’t time-consuming or elaborate. You just need to set aside 10-20 minutes each day to reap the benefits.
If you struggle with finding a master who can guide you through the practice of meditation or want to find a space to pen down your thoughts, download the ThinkRight.me app and begin your journey towards mindfulness.
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