What???? How can meditation, being still and not moving, be possibly helpful on your journey to weight-loss? Isn’t being too sedentary our number one problem of growing bigger and bigger every year? I know it might sound a bit contra productive, but please hear me out. I am usually not one to tell you to stay seated on your beautiful rear side for too long, but rather make my points to encourage you to get moving. However, there are exceptions to this. And finding your inner peace and calm through meditation is definitely one of them.
Here are my 2 reasons why and how meditation can be a powerful tool on your journey to feeling and looking your best while boosting your empowered weight loss journey at the same time:
- Meditation promotes Mindfulness
The more apt we are at using mindfulness in all, or most areas of our life, the less vulnerable we are in terms of other stuff. With ‘other stuff’ I am referring to stress piling up way beyond our heads leading to shooting high cortisol levels and other hormonal imbalances. Those rocketing high stress hormones of course reflect on our poor bodies, mainly on our mid-section, increased inflammatory response as well as upregulated appetite. But there is more I am addressing here when I say ‘stuff’: I am also talking about eating for emotional reasons such as boredom, frustration, anger, sadness, pleasure or unfulfilled needs. The more you sit down and meet quietly with yourself, one inhale and exhale at a time, the more you become aware of what is truly going on inside of you. Of what you need to fill your life with purpose, love and connection. And what you need to let go off to make this happen. This awareness can empower you on a mental, emotional but also very physical level and help you to touch base again with your inner body wisdom that is your cues of hunger, appetite, fullness and satiety. It can empower you to return to your knowing intuition of how much and which foods are right for your unique body to thrive and out-glow itself. Finding this connection with yourself again can make all the difference between overeating, binge-eating and nurturing yourself with healthy-licious wholefoods. On a mental and emotional level, packing your life with meaning and love might mean that there is no need for you to fill it and yourself with junk (foods) any more. I don’t know about you, but in my world, there is no more empowering way of weight loss than letting go of unwanted habits that don’t serve you anymore and keep you from transforming into the best version of yourself! Are you with me on this?
- Meditation promotes Happiness and Confidence
Both of these feelings are absolutely vital for you to follow through with your new life-changes and actually make them happen. They are also a crucial basis for withstanding all the many challenges life throws at you day in and day out in a self-compassionate manner. The less happy you feel within yourself, the more likely you are to soothe yourself in other, less empowering ways which then will stand in your way of sustained weight-loss. However, the more smiling your heart, the fiercer and more determined your mind, don’t you agree? When you feel good about yourself and the direction you are going, you are far less likely to give in to shortcuts that you know only will backfire at you eventually. With a heart that feels more content and open, there comes also newly won confidence and optimism. It all perpetuates itself, right? The more content you are with yourself, the more you are able to accept and love yourself which means you are more able to stick up for yourself, to believe in yourself, to go for your dreams, to be hopeful. And even on those days where everything seems to go wrong, you are much less likely to fall into the old trap of self-blame, criticism, negative self-talk, guilt and self-sabotage but will stay on your path of positive self-care. The fabulous news is that in addition to setting yourself up for a heart and mind that choose self-nurture over hurt, such positive attitudes and way of approaching your daily life and challenges, also decrease inflammation in the body and improve immunity. Guess what? The less busy your body is with fighting inflammation or keeping your body strong, the more energy it has to spend on less life-threatening issues such as allowing you to lose some weight. Total win-win situation. Meditation does not only equip you with the calm super power to but also promotes better health within every single one of your body’s cells which truly is the best starting point for successful weight-loss, don’t you agree?
So, to answer your question whether meditation has its rightful place in your sustained weight-loss journey despite it being so stationary – at least when viewed from a sheer physical-sitting-on-your-butt-kind-of-view because I am sure we both agree that when looked at from the inside, meditation is anything BUT static -: it is a total yesss from me!!! I am not saying that by sitting in your meditation pose those extra kilos you want to get rid of, will just fall off you. But I am saying that if you want to lose this extra weight you have been holding on to, shifting your focus from the out-to the inside can have tremendously healing effects. Doing so, might mean to switch from punishment, criticism, and negative self-talk followed by self-sabotage to a lovingly nurturing relationship with yourself and your body. A space where the healing powers of mindfulness, self-love and positivity can give you further reaching and way more satisfying results than anything else you might have tried before on your weight loss journey. And one day, as you come to sit down in this beautiful place of meditative warmth and breath, you might realise that at the end of the day feeling happy, calm and on the right path within yourself, feels much better than any dream, lean body ever could have made you feel. But how wonderful, if meditation can give you both!!!