My life changed when I started connecting with all the parts of my body and implemented a meditation habit. At that time, I was battling anxiety for a long time (since my high-school years).

One of the most challenging goals I had at that time was to quit anxiety medication, as I was never able to put it off for more than a month or two, making my symptoms worse, and having to go again to the doctor for a new prescription.

I like to think of anxiety as a natural emotion, that we all can learn to manage until it goes unnoticed or it disappears completely.

Every time we experienced anxiety, we are reinforcing the pattern, and the more we experience it, the more it digs a deeper groove into our brains.

Because the brain creates treats all behavior (including our habits) as different “grooves” or neural connections (whatever makes it easier to imagine it), and every time we follow that particular connection (we are repeating the habit/pattern), then it reinforces it.

I like to see meditation as a way to clean up those grooves and create new ones, healthier, calmer, and inner connected.

And believe me when I say It is possible because, after years of struggling, I could do it, and so can you.

Why meditation? And why it is the only true way to get rid of anxiety

There are a lot of ways to get into a meditative state.

You can do it by staring at space without really looking at nothing, you can do it by watching sea waves come and go while sitting on a beach, or you can do it by making music or writing like other people. There are many.

But the difference with sit meditation practice is that you are essentially exercising the muscle that manages your focus, your attention, without the need of something external to help attain this mental state.

If you have experienced a form of anxiety or overthinking, you know that our attention during anxiety peaks is really all over the place, and gets really difficult to concentrate, as our minds are racing and finding new concerns to worry about.

Meditation practice is simply the exercise of controlling our mental attention. Just that.

Someone would think that it sounds pretty vague and that it doesn’t mean much but on the contrary, it means EVERYTHING. Because wherever we put our attention, is what we become.

And this is even truer given our really crazy times we live in, where everything around us is demanding our attention (the media, our cellphones, Instagram/Facebook, people, our busy schedules, you get the point).

Having the skill to focus our minds on whatever we want to focus on, is priceless.

If there is something I need you to take from this mini-course, apart from what you may already know, is that meditation is THE way to get rid of anxiety and meds.

Let me show you some scientific studies about the benefits of meditation practice in the following video. There are a ton of studies out there, so it is a practice that is scientifically proven to increase health and reduce stress and anxiety disorders.

At the end of each video, there is one slide with the important takeaways for you to recap and remember what's important.

Scientific studies around meditation, some of them discussed:

Benefit 1: Stress Reduction

The sole act of meditating can reduce stress (and the Cortisol hormone presence in our bodies) instantly.

You just need 5 minutes of practice to experience this benefit, although practicing it daily is the game-changer.

"Depression and Anxiety - Wiley Online Library." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/da.21964

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Benefit 2: It changes our brain for the better

Meditation practice can shrink or expand certain parts of our brain involved in different processes, because it helps our brains recover its natural flexibility.

The changes it creates, has to do with how often we meditate and for how long in time.

"Meditation Health Benefits: What The Practice Does ... - HuffPost." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meditation-health-benefits_n_3178731.

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Benefit 3: It boosts your inmune system

When we meditate, a lot of different process happen in our bodies.

One of the process it affects and improves, is the inmmune function of the body.

It reduces the stress hormones that awaken our responses to health threats.

It increments our white blood cells count, improving our overall inmune system.

"Alterations in brain and immune function ... - NCBI - NIH." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12883106.

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Benefit 4: It prevents heart diseases

Meditation significantly reduces the adjusted blood pressure and insulin resistance components of the metabolic syndrome and has a positive impact on cardiac autonomic tone in subjects with stable, optimally managed Coronary Heart Disease.

"Effects of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental ...." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/410453.

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Benefit 5: It makes your brain younger, and reduces the amygdala size

The amygdala is the part of the brain that manages bad emotions like anxiety, fear, and aggression.

Not only that, but it maintains your brain in good condition, making it flexible and younger.

"50-year-olds can have the brains of 25-year-olds if they sit ...." https://www.businessinsider.com/neuroscience-50-year-olds-brains-of-25-year-olds-habit-2019-4?international=true&r=US&IR=T.

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Benefit 6: It reduces the inflammatory chemicals in the body (cytokines)

A study conducted in 2013, concluded that meditation can reduce the cytokines, which are chemicals present when people experience stress. They are a natural release response when the body is under stress.

They affect the mood and can lead to depression.

"Effect of meditation on neurophysiological changes in ... - NCBI." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24439650.

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Benefit 7: Beneficial for people with anxiety disorders

A long-term study about the benefits of meditation for people diagnosed with anxiety disorders improved their symptoms and kept the benefits of anxiety reduction even after a 3-year follow-up.

Scientists compared two groups of those who continued meditating (after the 8-week training on mindfulness meditation) with those that didn’t after the three years, and the gains in reduction were similar between the two groups.

"Three-year follow-up and clinical implications of a mindfulness ...." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016383439500025M.

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Benefit 8: It increases the well-being state of patients and improves their overall mental health

Two studies of mindfulness meditation found decreased depression in over 4,600 adults.

"Critical analysis of the efficacy of meditation ... - NCBI - NIH." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25591492.

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Benefit 9: Cancer patients find relief through dynamic meditation

Cancer patients found Tai-chi practice (a form of meditation in movement), improve their Health-related quality of life and self-esteem.

"(PDF) Tai Chi Chuan, health-related quality of life and self ...." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8129703_Tai_Chi_Chuan_health-related_quality_of_life_and_self-esteem_A_randomized_trial_with_breast_cancer_survivors.

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Benefit 10: Cortisol reduction and cardiovascular health improvement

Dispositional mindfulness predicts cortisol, cardiovascular, and psychological stress responses in adolescence get improved by mindfulness meditation practice.

Meditation practice then, it is backed-up with lots of studies on its benefits, so it is not some fairy tale, and it doesn’t have to do with religion either, although many ancient religions practiced it.

"Dispositional mindfulness predicts cortisol, cardiovascular ...." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453019304652.

Some of the excuses used when people are unable to meditate. Meditation as everything needs time and patience, with everyday practice, this becomes easier and with time, it develops a new meditation habit.

Please pay attention to these excuses and how you think about your meditation practice later on:

• “It takes a lot of practice”

• “It’s hard to find the time to do it”

• “It is too spiritual”

• “I’m not convinced it would work for me”

• “It doesn’t work”

• “It’s boring”

• “It’s hard to concentrate”

• “I fall asleep”

• “I lack the discipline”

• “I don’t believe it helps”

This is the method I have been using for a long time already. It is the easiest and most effective, as it relaxes your body fast and allows you to at the same time connect with each one of the muscle groups in your body.

Before getting into a meditative state, it is important to relax all the body so the energy flows and doesn't get stuck. The more you relax and concentrate, the best the outcome of the exercise.

Remember that for meditating you don't need any application, anything external like a headband or even music/sounds, everything extra just complicates the practice and makes you dependant, difficulting the application of the exercise in stressful situations.

If you have enjoyed this mini-course, but you find it difficult to implement the meditation practice as a habit, I have a long and complete course on the topic, in which I literally hand-hold you for 22 days, meditate with you, guide you and also discuss topics really important for meditation, health, and nutrition.

Why this course is different from other courses out there?

Other courses, apps, teachers treat meditation as a technique, and that's when it is not effective. Because techniques are used when you need them, or you have a problem for that technique to solve.

Meditation is a habit, an every-day habit. And to reach your full potential and the long-lasting benefits of meditation, you need to practice it every day.

The only way to effectively meditate every day is to create a new habit, that will enable true change in your life.

That's what this course is about. You can find it in the course section at https://thesuperhabits.thinkific.com/