Using Meditation During the Holidays can help give you a break from holiday stress, helps you slow down from the fast pace of the season, helps you appreciate the little things, and can boost your mood.

Meditation is a wonderful way to heal your mind and your soul. It relaxes your body, clears your mind, and makes you feel like your stress and worry is melting away. 

Everyone needs this type of mental break, especially during stressful times like the holidays,and especially for those of us with autoimmune disease. Here is where you can get some guided meditations for free.

I also adore the Daily Yoga App. They offer a free version and a paid version which both offer meditations.

Why You Should Consider Using Meditation During the Holidays

You Get a Break From Holiday Stress

Many people experience a lot of stress during the holidays, instead of finding joy from it. You might be stressed about finances since you feel you have lots of gifts to buy or a lot of money to throw on parties, or the stress might come from being so busy and struggling with getting everything done on time. 

Whatever the cause is, meditation can really help you to start experiencing relief from that stress. Try to make it a regular thing where you meditate at least once a day, especially on the more stressful days.

You Can Slow Down From the Fast-Paced Holiday Season

Another thing that people often struggle with during the holidays is being super busy. Holidays tend to be fast-paced, even if you have time off from work or school. 

There is a lot to do, from planning elaborate holiday meals, to working on your hosting duties, going shopping, running errands, making crafts with kids, and trying to do your regular chores and responsibilities in the middle of all of it. 

With meditation, you are able to slow down for those moments and re-group your mind.

Here is my favorite white noise gadget which drowns out the outside world and helps  my meditation practice become more focused. (It also helps me get a good night’s sleep!)

Using Meditation During the Holidays can Help You Appreciate the Little Things

You want to appreciate the small things in life, which meditation can definitely help you with. Even if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on gifts this year, you will be able to focus more on the small things that give you joy. 

Through meditation, you can refocus your mind towards being appreciative for what you do have.

Meditation Helps Even Out Your Mood

Anxiety, depression, overwhelm, and even grief are also common during the holidays. Meditation doesn’t just help with your stress, but has been shown in studies to help with depression and panic attacks as well. 

If you tend to get nervous when spending a lot of time around family, then meditation will certainly be helpful for you. It can also help with blue or monotone moods. If you tend to feel extra blue or blah over the holidays, try meditating on a regular basis and see how it helps you. 

Of course, talk to your functional doctor about your anxiety and depression to see how they can  help you manage your mental health.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is the practice of getting into a safe space, calming your mind, and releasing all the stress and tension, letting it leave your body. It should be done in a quiet space with no interruptions, where you can let go of all the things worrying you. 

I like to tell my family, “Momma needs some ME-TIME” and generally they give me some time and space to get my meditation on.

Here are some different ways you can benefit from Using Meditation During the Holidays:

It Helps to Reduce Stress

Stress is something everyone deals with, but some experience higher amounts of stress than others. When you are going through stress, it can affect your mental and physical health, as well as be a trigger for autoimmune flare ups (learn about autoimmune risks in women here) , so it is important to try to reduce it as much as possible. 

Meditation is a healthy and natural way to reduce your stress and also help to prevent it in the future. You learn to relax and enter a state of total serenity, where all those small things nagging at you just melt away.

Read how to Stress-Proof the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol here.

Diffusing During Meditation

I love using an essential oil diffuser with certain oils that help pinpoint my goal and mediation focus for the day. Currently I have a small one but want to upgrade to this Asakuki essential oil diffuser that my health coach friend recommended to me!

Pure lavender essential oil promotes calmness and communication

A combo of peppermint and rosemary oil increases focus (plus, aromatic rosemary has a piney, lovely holiday feel to it)

Jasmine oil (which you can find in this beautiful floral oils set) boosts optimism, confidence, and creativity

Using Meditation During the Holidays Increases Your Ability to Concentrate More

Stress isn’t the only way your mind and mental state will be improved with meditation; it is also great at improving your concentration. When you begin to meditate, you are going to train your mind to learn how to focus properly without distraction, tune other things and negative thoughts out, and even help with your memory capacity. 

Meditation is often not easy to do in the beginning because you may be constantly trying to think of other things, but with practice you should be able to use it not just for meditation sessions, but even during other moments of acute stress or overwhelm as well.

There Are Physical Benefits

While many people like to think about all the emotional and mental benefits of meditation, don’t forget that there are also quite a few physical advantages as well. For example, when you meditate, it can really help to lower your blood pressure, particularly when you are stressed and that is causing it to rise. 

Meditation also helps to reduce blood lactate, which can keep away acute stress attacks, decreases pain from tension like headaches, neck pain, and toothaches, and is even excellent for giving your immune system a natural boost. You may also notice that you have more energy when you start meditating.

Do you use meditation, mindfulness, or other practices to help keep you calm and holiday on? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Using Meditation During the Holidays to Goosefraba…

Try not to feel rushed or like you are under a lot of pressure to get meditation right the first time, especially during the holidays. 

As mentioned, it is something that takes patience and practice. You will eventually get the hang of clearing your mind (and become accepting of when it is not clear, rolling with your thoughts as they come and go), and help yourself to  stop all of those negative, nagging thoughts that can put a damper on what you really yearn to be doing right now – enjoying the festivities and the season.

How’s Your Meditation Game?

Do you use meditation, mindfulness, or other practices to help keep you calm and holiday on? I’d love to hear in the comments!