Ladies, combine meditation with your yoga practice and soon your stress levels will wash away.
If you care about your health and wellness, you probably know meditation can help clear your mind and reduce stress and anxiety. However, you may not know that a mindfulness meditation practice can actually benefit women more.
The Facts, Please
In a study conducted by Brown University, women who meditate three times a week show greater decreases in emotions like guilt or irritability than men. Moreover, women had greater increases in mindfulness and self-compassion. In addition, meditation kept women from blowing negative feelings out of proportion.[1] In a response to stress, author, Rahil Rojiani, points out that women tend to go down a rabbit hole and fixate. Men find ways to be distracted. This may be why women have more anxiety and depression. Rojaini believes meditation can help women decrease negative emotions.
Medical and wellness experts agree that chronic stress can cause your body to release cortisol, the stress hormone. Unfortunately, cortisol can cause serious health problems ranging from high blood pressure to decreased immunity and cognitive function. Because women are often more stressed than men, they can experience greater results from meditation. It’s as simple as saying, “Ohm!”
Multi-tasking can hurt
Here’s another spoiler alert–ha! Women have a lot of distractions and responsibilities. We may work and care for children at the same time. We may care for an aging relative or parent. If we are stay-at-home-moms, we’re charged with being a full-time parent, chauffeur, camp counselor, chef and overall domestic goddess. According to a study in the Journal of Neuroscience[2], people who consistently practice meditation can improve mental focus and quiet brain activity.
Protection Against Disease
Women are often the primary care givers of children and aging adults. And that means more exposure to colds, viruses and a range of contagious diseases. In addition, a strong immune system can help fight against more serious disease, such as breast cancer. In a study conducted at the Infanta Cristina Hospital, Transcendental Meditation increased the level of cells that fight off viruses and bacteria.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Relief
Last but not least: meditation seems to also influence what goes on in your gut. Women suffer much more than men from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Mindfulness meditation can help reduce IBS symptoms, such as chronic abdominal pain and irregular bowel habits. A study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology showed that meditation helped reduce the mental problems associated with IBS. This is good news for the 10 to 15% of women who suffer from this disease.
[1] Yoga Journal, “Study Suggests Women Benefit More from Mindfulness Meditation Than Men Do,” Jennifer D’Angelo Friedman, May 2017
[2] Psychology Today, Brain Scans Show How Meditation Improves Mental Focus, Joshua Gowin, PhD, April 2012
[3] American Journal of Gastroenterology 2011
Yoga an everyday ritual
Yoga centers are packed with sun salutations and daily mantras. Instruction is intentionally set to activate your body in a heart centered way as well as align chakras. It begs the participant to focus on a mantra throughout the practice. Students set intentions for the day or the week and promotes introspection.
Yoga comes in many flavors; hot, power, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Hatha and prenatal yoga – and that’s just the beginning. Most Western yoga derives from Hatha. It consists of asanas (physical yoga postures) and pranayamas (breathing exercises), and this handy guide from Yoga Journal has wonderful information.