I Finally Started Meditating 1 Year Ago After Years of Procrastination

For a little over a year ago, I started meditating. It's helped me get calmer, more relaxed, and I slept better than the years before.

Years ago, my uncle told me about his meditation experiences and told me to try it to make myself feel more relaxed. When I was around 12–13 years old, I didn't see the long-term effects, and to be fair; I wasn't patient enough to try it properly.

But now, about almost a decade later, I finally started trying it out on my own.

My meditation technique looks like this: I lay or sit on my couch or bed and close my eyes. That's everything, and it differs a lot from what my uncle once told me to do.

He explained meditation to me as "not thinking about anything." That didn't work for me, so I tried other things last year.

Getting Started with Meditation

I rolled into meditating mainly due to the covid pandemic raging worldwide. I noticed many people on the internet getting more into this, and I found it fascinating. I listened to some podcasts about spirituality and mental wellbeing that helped me get through a challenging period.

Then I remembered the things my uncle told me about meditation and tried it again. I still couldn't do it. So I found alternatives.

I read some pieces on music meditation where you listen to some tones over and over again and sit and think about things. After a few seconds, these tones freaked me out, so that wasn't for me.

Then I found a technique that described meditation as follows:

"breath in through your nose and out through your mouth; visualize your breath entering and exiting your body."

So I started trying that, and it turned out that it would calm me. Whenever I got frustrated or stressed, I meditated for a while, bringing back the cool in me.

Since then, I have meditated at least once a day for a minimum of 5 minutes.

The Results After One Year

I can't consider myself a meditation expert, but I have experience now. After one year of meditating, I realized I could control my own body more than I knew I could before.

My physical and mental health improved as a result of meditation. As you learn to be all of these things, it also makes you calmer and more patient.

I used to get mad at everything that happened to me in the past, and still, not everything will be easy, but I noticed a difference in my approach. I stay calmer than I used to do, and I think that's a positive effect for myself and the people around me. And when I can't stay calm in certain situations, I try to breathe in and out according to the technique I use to get more relaxed—most of the time, that works perfectly.

Then there’s sleep, which is another side effect of meditation. I was unable to sleep for an extended amount of time, and I used to stay up late or roll about in bed to try to get some rest.

I have found it simpler to fall asleep now that I know how to meditate. Meditation makes me feel weary, and after a few minutes, all of my thoughts begin to flow away, and I easily fall asleep.

Takeaways

If you are suffering from mental health concerns, are having trouble sleeping, or are just interested in becoming more spiritual, I suggest researching which meditation practice is ideal for you.

There's no perfect formula for every person; you have to do it yourself. That's the beauty of meditation, it can work for everybody, but you have to find a way to make it work for yourself.

Originally Published on Medium via Better Humans