You may be thinking, “Meditation? How will that help me lose weight?” Believe it or not, meditation is one of the most effective ways to manage stress and anxiety. Regularly engaging in relaxation, like meditation, boosts your body’s natural ability to handle stress. When faces with stressful situations in life. like work deadlines, challenges changing your diet, and motivation to move your body, your body won’t go into panic mode! This is more important than diet or exercise itself – soul sustainers are integral to weight management.
So, in this blog post, we will discuss how meditation can help you lose weight.
What’s the Connection between Meditation and Weight Loss?
The key to understanding how meditation can help as a weight-loss hack is by realizing that our bodies go into “fight or flight” mode when stressed out. It is the state where our body releases cortisol, a stress hormone that signals the body to store fat instead of burning it. With the help of meditation, you’ll be able to lose weight and handle your anxiety more easily.
Another way meditation can help with weight loss is by promoting mindfulness. When you meditate, your mind becomes more aware of what’s happening inside it and around it – including physical sensations like hunger pangs or cravings for junk food. Forms of guided meditation or hypnotherapy, like BodyMind Bridge, can create connections between your more aware state of mind (beta waves) and your relaxed state of mind (alpha waves).
How does the connection between awareness and relaxation help? When you are feeling stressed, instead of grabbing a bag of chips or cookies because you’re paying more attention to the need for comfort (yes, this is WHY you eat comfort food…well that and serotonin cascades), will be more likely to choose an food option that makes you feel good AND you know is health for you.
How to Meditate?
There are many different ways to meditate, but the most important thing is finding a method that works for you and that you want to keep doing. Here are some options for meditation that might work for you:
Breathing Meditation:
Sit comfortably and focus on your breath as it comes in, fills up your lungs, then goes out. Try for 30 seconds to one minute a day until you are comfortable with the practice. Then work your way up to as many minutes as you want (most people like 20 to 30 minutes to help them feel grounded all day).
Mindfulness Meditation:
This type of meditation focuses on being in the moment and accepting whatever is going on with you physically or emotionally without judging it. You can try mindfulness by taking deep breaths throughout each day and repeating the mantra “yup, that just happened” or “yes, I did the best I could.”
Guided Meditation:
If you find it difficult to focus on your own or are new to meditation, guided meditation can be a great way to start. There are many different recordings available online or through apps. I like these 2 options: Relax Lite with Andrew Johnson (LOVE his accent) or My Mind (5 minutes or less). I offer BodyMind Bridge, but I also have a few referral partners that can also help you. Check out individual services with Brandi Edinger Healing Arts or group services with Teresa Collett with Accountable Futures.
To Conclude
However, if you are still wondering if can meditation help with weight loss, the research proves this is a power adjunct to weight loss medicine. In many studies, participants were able to not only lose weight faster, but after treatment stopped they were more capable of keeping the weight off. Not only does it help you lose weight, but this study showed guided medication or hypnotherapy can actually change the physiological processes of your body!
When it comes to losing weight and sticking with your diet, you need all the mental support you can get from our weight loss clinic in Spokane! Fortunately, there are many ways to meditate for stress relief and mindfulness – so why not give one of them a try today? If you are interested in trying BodyMind Bridge, sign up for a FREE consultation today!
