Meditation is a practice that has really taken the world by storm over the last few years.
Many people are adopting this technique and carrying out regular meditation to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
It’s said to improve mental focus, reduce stress and even improve cardiac health and these benefits have become more widely known in recent years.
The great thing about meditation is that it can be done almost anywhere but practicing mediation in a hot tub can have additional benefits. One of the best things about hot tubs is that they have the ability to relax your body and therefore can significantly aid the meditation process.
If you want to try hot tub mediation here are our top tips to ensuring you get the most out of it.
Temperature
Firstly, it’s important to check that your hot tub is set to a comfortable temperature and that the jets are off, so the water is calm.
It’s easy to overheat in a hot tub and if you’re going to be spending 10-15 minutes in their meditating you want to ensure that you’re not going to get too hot.
Position
Properly positioning your body is essential when it comes to meditating. If possible, you should sit cross-legged with your spine completely straight and your chin tilted slight forwards. Place your hands on your thighs with either your palms up or down and close your eyes and feel the buoyancy of your body. This will make the position more comfortable.
Breathing
Focus attention on your breathing, your breaths should be slow and you should allow your tummy to rise and fall with each breath. Count your breaths starting with one on the inhale and two on the exhale until you reach 10. Repeat this breathing exercise at least five times maintaining your focus as much as possible throughout.
Focus
Meditating requires you to focus on the present and this mean eliminating all distractions. Ensure that your phone is muted or turned off, your family know not to disturb you and that there’s no background noise. This way you can focus solely on acquiring inner peace.
Don’t worry about losing focus though as it can be hard to maintain a level of focus for the period of time. Whilst you’re learning to meditate it is likely that you’ll lose focus, allow these thoughts to happen and then gently refocus your mind.
Music
Something that can improve your focus is soothing music. Smooth jazz or music that only has instrumentation will help to improve your focus and help you relax. Heavy music with lyrics is likely to be a distraction so if you do decide to use music make sure that it’s calming.
Apps
There are lots of mobile apps available that are dedicated to meditation so if you need some help when you’re starting out have a look at what’s on offer on the app stores. These apps can provide you with a fantastic guide if you’re practicing meditation for the first time but they are also great for experienced meditators as well.