Meditation Deep Dive
Erin Evans, M.Ed., LPCA, NCC
Meditation is among the most misunderstood of the integrative tools due to several myths that discourage people from attempting it in the first place. To illustrate this point, mentally raise your hand if you have ever thought, said, or heard the following statements:
During meditation, you try to make your mind go blank. I could just never do that.
You must sit around for long periods of time to meditate. I don’t have time for that.
It requires total silence and stillness. I couldn’t stand that.
It will make me weak or lose my edge. I can’t afford that right now.
If I’m not immediately relaxed and focused, I’m doing it wrong.
How many you recognized doesn’t precisely matter. Believing just one of them can be enough to prevent someone from trying it or persisting in the practice.
What Meditation Actually Is
In practice, meditation is quite unlike of the myths that surround it. At its most basic level, meditation is the practice of developing present-moment awareness and strengthening concentration on the present. During the process, we select an object of focus and see if we can notice when our attention drifts. Once we catch ourselves, we gently bring our focus back to the selected object. The main point of it is to practice coming back to present without judgment. This means it’s perfectly ok if the mind wanders. Each time we catch it and come back, we strengthen our ability to refocus and reduce our negative reactions. Furthermore, this can be practiced in a many different environments for any length of time. One could sit in silence for 30 minutes if they wanted to, or one could practice for just one minute while drinking their morning coffee or showering. There is a significant amount of freedom to work it into life at the times and in the ways that work best for each person. Keep reading to see the additional styles available.
Meditation Styles and Benefits
There are many schools of meditation, like Vipassana, Transcendental, Zen, etc. Here at Scottsville Counseling Center, we focus more on practices that support our clients’ needs. Below is a list of common practices and the benefits they lend to the pursuit of wellness.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness develops the basic skills of building present-moment awareness, noting without judgment or reaction, and restoring focus as needed. It typically draws on a combination of the five senses. The participant can choose from various objects of focus, including: the breath, a candle, movements like walking or yoga, food textures, and flavors, sounds or music, and sources in nature. It can help build insight into thought patterns, improves awareness and concentration, reduce impulsiveness and judgment, and even support pain management.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation helps the body through releasing the tension we consciously and unconsciously carry through our days. It guides the participant through tensing and releasing the major muscle groups until the whole body has relaxed. For those who do not enjoy the tensing and releasing, a comparable practice is “autogenic training,” which also leaves the body feeling heavy, warm, and relaxed. Both can help greatly with anxiety, pain, and difficulty falling asleep.
Loving-kindness
Loving-kindness, also called Metta Meditation, fosters an attitude of love and kindness towards the self and others. During this practice, one repeats a series of positive wishes like “May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be peaceful and at ease.” On each utterance, the participant sends the wishes to a different person. It often progresses from offering them to the self to a loved one to a stranger, to an enemy, and to the greater world. Altogether, it often helps with depression and anger management.
Guided Imagery
Guided imagery involves building a mental image that helps generate the feelings someone needs in each moment. For example, someone may conjure and focus in on the image of a mountain in changing seasons to build a sense of groundedness, strength, and resilience. If someone has difficulty with racing thoughts, they may imagine placing each thought on a leaf floating down a stream. For stress or anxiety, someone may visualize a safe, comforting place they can think about for a few minutes. The practice is very flexible in that each participant can identify what they need and cultivate a personalized image.
Mantra/Affirmation
Mantras and affirmations are short phrases that a participant repeats to themselves over the course of their meditation. Affirmations tend to be positive “I am” statements while mantras can be any phrase that offers what the meditator needs. An affirmation may be “I am calm and capable” while a mantra may be “Everything I need is already within me.” Both can help with self-esteem, depression, anxiety, anger, trauma, and more.
Additional Benefits
Aside from the benefits mentioned above, a consistent meditation practice can have the following effects:
Lowered blood pressure and risk of heart disease
Improved digestion
Greater immune system functioning
Easier sleep
Increased ability to manage pain
Decreased impulsivity
Reduced unpleasant emotions
Expanded positive emotions
Meet Our Meditation Teacher
Erin Evans teaches our meditation classes at the Wellness Studio and on Zoom. She is formally trained in Vipassana meditation but incorporates a variety of approaches into her practice. Here is her story:
I began meditating during my junior year of high school. Significant difficulty falling and staying asleep prompted me to run a Google search, which delivered a guided progressive muscle relaxation video from YouTube. The video was just very relaxing at first, but I noticed that I fell asleep more quickly the longer I listened, and I slept more deeply on the nights I played it. Eventually, I didn’t need the video, and I could run myself through the practice to fall asleep or to relax during the day.
My practice evolved when I reached undergrad. I found the app InsightTimer through the recommendation of a mentor, and I began to occasionally experiment with other styles. Then, I took my first class with Dr. Lacretia Dye during my last semester. She started each class with 5-10 minutes of mindfulness, and I became hooked. For such a short amount of time to practice, it greatly helped me settle from the day, become more present for class, go into the rest of my day with more peace, and learn to relate to myself and my experiences with much more compassion. I continued in Dr. Dye’s classes through my counseling master’s program, and her regular mindfulness lessons helped deepen my own practice.
Now, I meditate in some capacity daily. Typically I sprinkle mindful moments throughout my whole day—noticing everything I can about my coffee, catching myself on autopilot while driving and coming back to observe the scenery, scanning my body for tension and releasing it, offering mantras or loving-kindness in the face of big emotions, etc. Formal practices occur at least 4 times per week, often in the morning or evening at a special meditation space I have created. I also still use the app InsightTimer to continue growing and for support when my mind is extra busy or latched on to something.
Overall, meditation is a very valuable tool to me due to its versatile and easily accessible nature. I love helping people overcome the myths, find the practices that match their preferences and what they need, and gain the benefits it has to offer.”
To take a class with Erin, check out our weekly offerings and sign up here. All levels are welcome, and questions can be directed to [email protected]