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Recent scientific studies have discovered what most practitioners of meditation already know – that a daily mindfulness practice actually changes your perspective and encourages feelings of positivity that help cope with stress. Brain scans have shown that areas of the brain responsible for well-being actually increase in density with regular daily meditation.

In the practice of meditation, the breath is a foundational tool used for creating the ability to generate feelings of calm, peace, bliss and joy.

Follow Your Breath Into The Present Moment

When distracting thoughts race through your mind as you meditate, bringing your attention to your breath allows you to let them go. It is your breath that brings you to the present moment and that creates a conscious connection between your body, your heart and your mind.

As you pay attention to your breath in a meditation, here are some of the ways you are affecting your health and your personal growth:

Breathe In – Body Awareness

With each cycle of breathing, you can become more attuned to your body’s messages. Do you notice sensations of warm or cool as you inhale? Does it feel like your breath is sticking in places? What you experience is the wisdom of your breath carrying healing to any areas that need it. Your breath can help you break through the blocks and normalize the energetic flow within you for optimum health.

 

Breathe In – Relaxation

With every conscious breath in and out, you can invite calm to prevail. A regular rhythm of mindfulness breathing demonstrates how you can release tension and stress both during your meditative practice and in your life when external events spark anxiety and reactive behaviours.

 

Breathe In – Insight and Inner Guidance

The breath awakens your inner wisdom, creativity, knowledge and clarity. As you breathe, feelings of inspiration and love may arise. This is your true nature being revealed to you.

 

Breathe In – Inner Peace

As you quiet your thoughts with the breath, contentment, happiness and inner peace have the freedom to emerge. Notice how this peace rides into your consciousness on your breath.

 

Breathe Out – Let Go of Negativity

Let the breath carry any negative feelings, troubling memories or disrupting thoughts away from you. Rather than focusing on them, allow them to be released through the breath as they surface.

 

Benefits of Meditation

Buddha was asked, “What have you gained from meditation?”

He replied, “Nothing! However, let me tell you what I have lost: anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear of old age and death.”

 

Meditation is a profound transformational exercise that offers limitless benefits if it is practiced regularly:

Physically: 

• Decreases respiration and heart rate; lowered oxygen consumption
• Increases blood flow
• Lowers blood pressure
• Decreases body tension and reduces headaches
• Enhances the immune system
• Speeds healing after surgery

 

Mentally:

• Increases the ability to concentrate and focus
• Accelerates memory retention and learning
• Calms mental activity and stimulates intuition
• Reduces anxiety and promotes inner peace
• Builds self-confidence.

 

Spiritually:

• Promotes greater reverence and connection to life
• Develops the ability to move with the ebb and flow of life’s challenges
• Grows self-awareness and compassion for others and self
• Accesses your natural state of happiness and peace
• Heals the unlimited sadness of feeling separate from God
• Sparks clarity, aha moments and a re-connection with your Divine nature
• Releases judgmental attitudes, encourages a kinder, softer worldview
• Helps uncover the integrity and spaciousness of your inner truth

 

Breath Awareness in Meditation

Your breath is the precision tool that opens you to deeply listen to your mind, body and spirit. Following your breath’s inner journey can show you the places within you that are lacking attention, need healing, and want love. It is the thread that can sew together a deeper realisation of the presence of God, the truth of your own Divinity and how you are an intimate and vital part of the Universal aliveness.

 

Visit www.johnstamoulos.com to find out more about the healing power of your breath through the powerful process of Breathwork.