Even in retirement life, our day to day activities can be something that we need to take a moment to step back from and just breathe. There are some serious mental and physical health benefits that come with making this a daily practice at your Oakville senior residence.
How Do I Meditate in My Retirement Residence in Oakville?
The answer is different for everyone, but it’s important to also understand what meditation is as well. So, what is meditation, exactly? For a lot of people, the stereotypical image of a monk sitting in a temple with their eyes closed comes to mind. That kind of stereotype can keep you from feeling like it’s something you can do. In reality, it’s something that can be done almost anywhere by anyone, including you in your Oakville senior residence. Meditation is the practice of sitting with your own thoughts and letting your mind become calm and quiet on its own terms.
Everyone’s way of getting to that “calm and quiet” state is different, but there are some ways that are more effective for a larger amount of people:
- Don’t meditate when you’re tired and try to avoid doing so near bed. While you shouldn’t fall asleep while you meditate, you should try to schedule the same way you would a nap.
- Find a comfortable chair and sit upright with your hands resting comfortably in the arms of the chair or on your lap.
- Close your eyes.
- Listen to the sounds you hear around you in your Oakville retirement residence. You don’t have to do anything with them. Just notice what you can and let your mind adjust to the background noise.
- Begin to breathe in slowly and focus on the breathing. Keep the breath in your lungs for a few seconds, however long feels comfortable. Then breathe out slowly, it should be a similar pace to how you breathed in.
- Once you feel your body relax a little, focus in on it a bit more. Start from your toes and take note mentally of what you feel in that area of the body, then work your way up from there all the way to your head.
- At this point, you focus more inward on your thoughts. You should not try to think of anything, but if a thought does come up, don’t try to push it away. Let yourself think about it and then let it go. As you do this more often, they should become less frequent.
- Continue until you feel it’s time to stop. Gently let your focus come back to your retirement residence in Oakville.
- If you’re having trouble on your own, we suggest a pre-recorded guided meditation.
The Benefits of Meditation
Once you start meditating, you should feel a difference, so if you’ve already started, some of this will sound familiar, but it may also have few things that surprise you about your meditation efforts in your retirement residence in Oakville:
- Enhanced Digestion: When you breathe deeply, you increase oxygen levels in your blood. This increase in oxygen helps your body function more smoothly.
- Improved Memory Recall: When you give your mind time to clear out the clutter and relax, studies have shown that it helps you maintain both long term and short-term memory.
- The Simple Joy of Relaxation: Taking time for yourself to relax and allow your brain to decompress is a great way to help yourself feel more relaxed in your day to day life at your Oakville retirement residence.
- Improves Immune System: When you meditate, it helps your body manage the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, in your body. Lower levels of cortisol help your immune system function at peak performance
- Helps with Chronic Pain: Studies have shown that meditating can even help reduce your daily aches and pains!
A Retirement Residence in Oakville Where You Can Relax
Environment is important to how we meditate! You can do it everywhere, but it helps when you live somewhere where you feel safe, happy, and cared for. At our Oakville senior residence, we prioritize our resident’s overall wellbeing along with their health with a person-centered approach to care. If you’re interested in seeing what we have to offer at Queens Avenue Retirement Residence, contact us to find out more.
