MIDLAND, Texas — We've all heard of folks wanting to step up their fitness and save more money for a New Year's resolution, but this year people are vowing to look more inward and focus on their mental health with meditation.
“It is a tool you have to be able to quiet kind of a chatter of the mind and the constant thoughts of the day so that you can really listen to yourself, to your surroundings; a lot of people look at it as a tool to kind of escape from the world but I like to use it as a tool to be in the world. The more that we can kind of drown out the noise of our lives the more they were able to actually be in it without being neurotic chaotic reactionary," said Kasie Lunson, Owner of Dharma Art in Midland.
But besides stress relief, meditating is proven to help with so much more..
“Anxiety relief. That’s a big one because it means that you’re thinking about the future. Depression is this-you thinking about the past and meditation puts you in the present moment where both those goes away for a moment," said Lunson.
Not to mention it helps with enhancing self-awareness, helping control physical pain, reducing blood pressure, lengthening your attention span, reducing age-related memory loss, fighting addictions, generating kindness and improving sleep.
“My family has a lot of illness which who doesn’t nowadays. But I come from a family of redheads and they all have skin cancer and you know this and that so I really started watching my health around 18," said Lunson.
And whether your inspiration is anything like Kasie’s, she says it’s an outlet people of all dynamics and age groups are increasingly starting to dive into.
“You’ll see older generations, people in mechanical and oil. People are looking for something that they can’t quite find anywhere else," said Lunson.
Many commonly mistake the tool as just whipping out a mat and practicing deep breathing, but there’s so many different ways to do it.
From burning sage, astrology and healing stones to countless yoga options like Mindfulness, Spiritual, Mantra and Yoga, the options just don’t seem to end.
Lunson however, specializes in Kundalini yoga.
“We do a lot of different things in Kundalini in fact it’s funny to watch new people come into the class and their eyes get real big and they’re like ‘what are you doing?’ and before you know it they’re doing it too. It’s releasing and fun all of the things we do are kind of what children do like wiggling and moving about all silly doing different things with the body but also the sounds that we make," said Lunson.
In a world full of distractions, something has to give. Although self-care can often times be frowned upon, it’s still proven to be one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Not to mention how accessible it really is.
“Something you don’t really have to pay for you do this at home every day it’s something that doesn’t take a lot of effort you spend 5 to 10 minutes a day meditate for your body. No matter what kind of meditation you’re doing, you’re going to feel a lot better," said Lunson.
Whether it’s pulling up a meditation YouTube video at home and unwinding, or spending money on a class, meditating 5 to 10 minutes a day is something highly considered by countless health experts.
“We kind of have to pay the price of that if we’re only focused hours and not concerned with our emotions we will face and problems blockage and because of it and so it makes sense to me that people are looking for something else," said Lunson.
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