The weather changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Birds are chirping, and trees are starting to bud. We open our windows to get fresh air and sunlight. As winter fades, spring is a great season to clean your home.

Winter is a time for solitude, reflection, and decreased physical activity. Winter can be brutal for many reasons, including the “winter blues,” Seasonal Affective disorder, or other diagnosable conditions.

Spring is more than a time to clean your house and remove the stove. It’s also an excellent opportunity to spring-clean your health.

SPRING CLEANING YOUR MIND

Your mind can think in two main ways when it comes to behavior. The first includes all the daily actions that you do automatically without thinking. Consider how deliberate a child is when getting dressed and brushing their teeth. Each of us will become more automated with the actions we repeat, which makes brain resources more accessible for other things.

Intentional actions are different from our automatic behaviors. Attention must be paid to what we do with focus, direction, and direction. These habits are expensive for the brain. It can be hard to break habits because of this contrast between intentional and automatic. You must be more intentional about what is automatic to create new patterns.

Spring cleaning your mind is a chance to take a step back and reflect on your work this winter. What thoughts, habits, and behaviors have become automatic in your quest for wellness? How can you make your Wellness Plan more supportive of what you find?

MEDITATION

Awakening your behaviour and knowing that your actions aren’t helping you achieve your goals is the first step towards making meaningful, positive changes. Then, focus on your behavior and develop the control and concentration necessary for positive change. Meditation can help you develop these skills or enhance them.

Meditation is a popular topic that has become more accessible and commonplace. However, it can be challenging to define. Meditation is an intentional, self-directed practice that allows you to focus on a specific object, idea, or action without judging, analyzing, or having expectations.

Do you want to bring wellness into your life? Get more information through our Certified Wellness Coach Course.

Meditation can have many benefits, including improving your mood, connecting with others, improving your immune system, reducing stress levels, improving your ability to concentrate and focus, shifting your relationship towards pain, and increasing your optimism and overall health.

SPRING CLEAN YOURSELF-CARE

It is common to refer to the mind and body separately. Your mind is a part of you as a whole person. Your mind is not the only thing you need to clean. What happens in your gut, muscles and skin can affect your mind, thoughts, and outlook. Taking care of yourself can significantly improve your overall health and mental well-being.

Your foundational needs are the first step to spring cleaning your self-care. Your mental health and well-being will be built by ensuring that you meet your basic needs for food, movement and water, as well as for safety and security.

Take a moment to reflect on the following questions in order to Spring Clean your self-care.

What is your body’s need to thrive? What is the foundation of your physical well-being?

What foundational physical needs are being met currently? Which are they?

What can I do to use my strengths and ensure that my physical needs are met

In what area of my life do you need support or guidance?

SUMMARY

Your wellness journey is about the pursuit of “mental and physical well-being.” This requires taking a step back, assessing what is working and what isn’t, and tweaking the process.

A spring cleaning is a successful way to organize your thoughts and learn from them. When you spring clean, your mind will find time to journal, talk with a friend, or to seek out a coach to help you in your quest for wellness, wholeness and well-being.

You want to know more about how you can incorporate wellness into your daily life? You can find more information at NASM’s Certified Wellbeing Coach course.

CITATIONS

Barbara, F., Michael, C. A., Kimberly, C. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Lives are built from open hearts: Positive emotions that are induced by loving-kindness meditation can lead to the development of personal resources. Journal of personality psychology and social psychology 95(5): 1045.

Cardoso, R., de Souza, E., Camano, L., & Leite, J. R. (2004). A functional definition of meditation in health. Brain Research Protocols 14, 58-60.

Carter, O. L., Presti, D. E., Callistemon, C., Ungerer, Y., Liu, G. B., & Pettigrew, J. D. (2005). Meditation reduces the intensity of perceptual rivalry among Tibetan Buddhist monks. Current Biology, 15(11), pp. R412-R413.

Chan, D., & Woollacott, M. (2007). The Effects of meditation experience on attentional focus: Does executive or orientation network efficiency improve? The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 651-657.

Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F., . . . Sheridan, J. (2003). Mindfulness Meditation can produce changes in brain and immune function. Psychosomatic Medicine, 564-570.

Fjorback, L. O., & Walach, H. (2012). Meditation-Based Therapies: A Systematic Review and Some Critical Observations. Religions, 1-18.

Kok, B., & Singer, T. (2017). Phenomenological Fingerprints from Four Meditations: Differential state Changes in effect and Mind-Wandering, Metacognition and Interoception before and after daily practice over 9 months of training. Mindfulness, 218-231.

Kok, B., & Fredrickson, B. (2016). Spirals upwards of the heart: The potential for positive emotions and social connection is predicted by autonomic flexibility. This index, which is indexed using vagal tone, can reciprocally and prospectively forecast positive emotions. Biological Psychology 85(3): 240.

Jo, H.-G., Schmidt, S., Inacker, E., Markowiak, M., & Hinterberger, T. (2016). Meditation and attention: A controlled trial on meditation and attention. International Journal of Psychophysiology 33-39.

Monk-Turner, E. (2003). Experimental findings on the benefits of meditation. The Social Science Journal, 40(3): 465-470.

Pascoe, M. C., Thompson, D. R., Jenkins, Z. M., & Ski, C. F. (2017). Mindfulness mediates physiological stress markers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research 95, 156–178.

Shapiro, S., Schwartz, G. E., & Bonner, G. (1998). Mindfulness-based stress reduction has effects on pre-medical and medical students. Journal of behavioral medicine 21(6): 581-599.

Sauer-Zavala, S. E., Walsh, E. C., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., & Lykins, E. L. (2013). Comparing Mindfulness-Based Interventions Strategies: Differential Effects on Sitting Meditation, Body Scan and Mindful Yoga Mindfulness, 3, 383-388.

Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., & Gross, J. J. (2008). Loving-Kindness Meditation increases social connectedness Emotion, 720-724.

Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Rcard, M., & Singer, T. (2014). Differential pattern in functional brain plasticity following compassion and empathy training. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(6): 873-879.