What Is The Purpose Of Meditation? (Plus A Sample Meditation To Help Improve Your Mood)

What Is Meditation?

Simply put, meditation is the act of bringing your mind intentionally to the present moment. The purpose of meditation, which we’ll dig into more below, is to calm and focus the mind.

While there are so many different ways of meditating, and so many objects of focus, this is the most simple definition.

However, when you look at the details, you can see that the purpose of meditation goes far beyond what people have known in the past.

There Are Many Types Of Meditation

The five main types of meditation are mindfulness meditation, body scan, walking meditation, loving-kindness, and transcendental.

Mindfulness meditation is the act of bringing your mind to the present moment. You awaken your senses, focus on what you’re actually experiencing, and embrace your experience exactly as it is.

Body scan is a little more technical. You essentially move your awareness through your body, starting usually with the head and working your way to the feet. This is a great practice for those of us who are skeptical about meditation. It’s a way to connect more fully with your body, and keep your mind focussed.

Walking meditation is an opportunity to be more aware while you’re doing everyday activities. If you really ‘get into’ the walking meditation, you’ll notice things you never noticed before: the distribution of weight on your feet, how you move while you’re walking, things you do with your arms, how you carry your head. Further, you can notice more about your environment as well, depending on the object of your focus.

Loving-kindness meditation is a beautiful way to open your heart and have more compassion for your fellow humans. It’s a way of connecting to humanity, and connecting deeper with yourself a well.

Unlike mindfulness-based meditations, transcendental meditation is about having a single mantra, repeated silently. Where other meditations help to clear the mind and bring the attention back to the present moment, TM uses the mantra to enhance focus and align your mind with the positivity of what you’ve chosen to place your attention on.

What Is The Purpose Of Meditation?

The purpose of all of these meditations, with their various benefits, is to enhance your life. This is obviously a very broad objective, but there are so many different ways of addressing your mind and your focus, all of which can have a potent effect on your wellbeing in general.

With the mindfulness-based meditations, you’re connecting your mind to your body in a productive and positive way. You can unlock joy and creativity in this way, because your mind and body are intrinsically connected. Once you start to harness that connection, you can experience a deeper connection with yourself, more self awareness, and even reduce the suffering you experience in your day to day life.

How Does Meditation Affect Your Mood?

Meditation can decrease mood disturbances, anxiety, and even fatigue. It can even reduce behavioural anxiety to acute stress. If you’re in a snarly mood, there are meditations you can search online which will allow you to see the reasons behind what you’re experiencing.

From there, you can take steps to make yourself feel better, or even rest well knowing why you’ve found yourself in this mood, and congratulate yourself for being able to notice it.

How Does Meditation Affect Your Body

There are so many benefits of meditation on your body! It’s so encouraging that there’s a practice you can do with no drugs or anyone else which can have such incredible physiological benefits.

The purpose of meditation for your body includes reduced tension in your muscles, which can help with chronic pain and injuries. It can also lower your heart rate, especially in response to stress. This alone can have life-changing effects on a meditator.

Meditation can help to regulate metabolism, lower blood pressure, and improve breathing consistency. All of these benefits an have a profound effect on your overall health and wellbeing.

Here’s A Sample Meditation To Boost Your Mood

Next time you find yourself in a funk, try this meditation. Not only will it help you be more accepting of what’s going on in your life, but it will also help to make you feel better. The two are intricately connected.