We’ve all heard that meditating is supposed to relax and balance ourselves and it should be practiced the same way that you blink or breathe-all the time. Meditating is a practice that helps you achieve higher consciousness. It can rewire our brains entirely. It’s been known to ward off health issues and prepare people to handle more in their lives. It is a way to control your emotions. But do we really know how it works?
- Gamma State: (30 – 100Hz) This is the state of hyperactivity and active learning. Gamma state is the most opportune time to retain information. This is why educators often have audiences jumping up and down or dancing around — to increase the likelihood of permanent assimilation of information. If over stimulated, it can lead to anxiety.Beta State: (13 – 30Hz) Where we function for most of the day, beta state is associated with the alert mind state of the prefrontal cortex. This is a state of the “working” or “thinking mind” — analytical, planning, assessing and categorizing.3. Alpha State: (9 – 13Hz) Brain waves start to slow down out of thinking mind. We feel more calm, peaceful and grounded. We often find ourselves in an “alpha state” after a yoga class, a walk in the woods, a pleasurable sexual encounter or during any activity that helps relax the body and mind. We are lucid, reflective, have a slightly diffused awareness. The hemispheres of the brain are more balanced (neural integration).
4. Theta State: (4 – 8Hz) We are able to begin meditation. This is the point where the verbal/thinking mind transitions to the meditative/visual mind. We begin to move from the planning mind to a deeper state of awareness (often felt as drowsy), with stronger intuition, more capacity for wholeness and complicated problem solving. The theta state is associated visualization.
5. Delta State: (1-3 Hz) Tibetan monks that have been meditating for decades can reach this in an alert, wakened phase, but most of us reach this final state during deep, dreamless sleep.
Bullet points taken from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-turner/how-meditation-works_b_4702629.html
Meditation has been proven to preserve the aging brain and improve memory. It also has shown to increase focus in people and decrease mind-wandering. Mind-wandering can be signs of unhappiness or focusing on the past or future too much. By toning this down by meditation you will start to see things more clearly in present time. Meditation can also have the same effects that medication have on anxiety or depression. It can rewire your brain and increase happy hormones like dopamine or serotonin. Meditation has also shown progress with helping addiction. Meditation “decouples” cravings from the actual act of consuming or doing whatever you are craving.
As you can see, meditation only has positive benefits. It is important that we take care of our minds just the same way we should take care of our bodies. Our minds control every aspect of our lives and if we have an unhealthy mindset, we have an unhealthy life. By making simple changes like meditating or using sound healing, we can bring positive energy back into our lives and raise our vibrations.