The Magic of Meditation on the Mind

We all know that breathing is ESSENTIAL to life. Lucky for us, our body does this involuntarily, so that we don’t have to use our mental energy to think about getting the oxygen that our body needs, every second of every day. When we DO give ourselves the time and space to think about our breath, what we are really doing is meditating. Meditation and breathing go hand and hand, and BOTH are required for optimal health. Therefore, meditation is just as essential to life.

The practice of meditation is often overlooked and underutilized. At the surface it may look like a waste of time or that an individual who is meditating is simply sitting there, doing nothing. On a MUCH deeper level, however, it is exercising the mind and creating a relaxation response throughout the entire body.

Today, as a whole, our society is living in a chronic stress-state. We’re continuously breathing in short and shallow breaths, which is not only inefficient, but also inhibits our nervous system and cellular function. Our autonomous nervous system is governed by the subconscious; in other words, we cannot instruct it. It is what keeps our heart beating and our blood pumping. This autonomous nervous system is made of two branches: the sympathetic nervous system (“red-zone”), which is responsible for the fight or flight response, and the parasympathetic nervous system (“green-zone”), which is responsible for the rest and digest response.

When we constantly take those quick and empty breaths, we inform the body to produce the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which in turn activates the red-zone and leaves us living in the flight or flight response. While this response is important as a survival mechanism, it it not intended to be utilized 24/7. When this happens, as it does today, our bodies never have the time to relax, repair, or enter into that rest and digest state of the parasympathetic nervous system.

So HOW can we engage this part of the nervous system and go from the red-zone to the green-zone? With our BREATH.

The green-zone is activated by diaphragmatic breathing — those long, slow and restorative exhalations. The diaphragm is the muscle located beneath your heart. When you inhale, ideally, your belly rises and the diaphragm lowers or contracts, creating space for your lungs to fill up. When you exhale, the belly contracts and the diaphragm rises back up. Breathing diaphragmatically is the equivalent to giving your heart a massage with every breath that you take.

When we don’t engage the diaphragm, we tend to breathe with our secondary respiratory muscles, leaving both our breath disconnected to the heart, and our belly and diaphragm locked in place. As a result, this disengagement can cause shoulder tension and neck issues, as well as many heart problems.

The key to avoiding this is to activate the relaxation response through daily MEDITATION.

“Prana” refers to the “life force” of the universe. Breath and prana move together; they are one in the same. When you meditate, prana leads, while the mind follows. Meditation relies on the mind-body connection and can actually change brain function, making us more resilient and capable of handling various challenges, while also increasing positive emotions and immune system function. It also helps to reduce our cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone associated with weight gain, pro-inflammatory responses and cell aging.

Mindfulness actually has the power to change our gene expression, promoting anti-inflammatory genes through epigenetics. With meditation we are not only changing the function of the brain, but we’re also changing the structure and building new connections in the brain (similar to building new muscle tissue). In just 8 weeks, there is a noticeable increase in the density of the prefrontal cortex that takes place, the region responsible for decision making capacity, emotional regulation and attention span, BUT there is also a decreased density in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for stress.

Mindfulness, therefore, primes our brain to be kinder, more present, flexible, happier, better equipped to evaluate different circumstances and make better decisions. Basic mindfulness practice, as exercised in DAILY meditation, stimulates the relaxation response and hacks at the root causes of disease, promoting a state of well-being in our lives.

Even 5-10 minutes a day is better than 45 minutes 2 times a week. Find times to punctuate your day with meditation and start a daily practice for yourself, that works FOR and WITH you. If you don’t know where to start simply sit still, close your eyes and watch your breath. Notice and observe your breathing, focus on any sensations that arise, take deep inhales and exhales and watch how they move throughout your body. Your mind WILL wander, so, as it does, simply acknowledge the wandering and bring your attention back, redirecting your focus to your breath.

INHALE. EXHALE.

Xx,

Leah Kutsch

P.S. Keeping IIN Touch