How Can Meditation Get You In the Mood for Love?
The advent of apps like Calm and Headspace have without a doubt contributed to the meditation boom. Around 8% of the entire adult population in the United States meditates, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and more and more children are embracing this calming practise.
If you are single and you wish to make the most of your dating experience, you should perhaps include meditation sessions in your daily routine.
This millenary practise can calm you and make you a better date, enhancing your ability to focus and really "be" in the present moment.
Battling the Stress of a First Date
For many men new to the dating scene, going on a first date with someone they fancy can be stressful – so much so that they work themselves up into a state of panic, not allowing themselves to "let themselves go" and show their best self to their date.
Meditation can stop panic in its tracks, snapping the body out of "fight or flight" mode and enabling you to truly give yourself to the present moment and your date, instead of consistently worrying about failure.
A 2018 study by the US Army Research Laboratory found that meditation boosts heart rate variability, and helps people focus and concentrate. It curbs impulsiveness and impatience, thus making you a more empathetic date who is better able to show interest in the person you are dating.
Meditation vs Defensiveness
If your date uses language that is thick in irony, or tends to be blunt when expressing their opinion about you, it can certainly sting. Meditation can help reduce the "burn", with a 2018 University of Surrey study showing that it enables people to respond better to negative feedback.
This is one powerful reason why meditation for parents and children alike is recommended. We all have to deal with criticism and opinions we may not be in accordance with. However, when we value feedback as something that enables us to grow and enhance relationships, we become less reactive and more cooperational in our approach with partners and friends.
Medication Can Make You Smarter - and More Focused
Nothing is sexier than going on a date with someone who is really into you.
If you are a busy executive or you have plenty on your mind, however, it can be easy for your thoughts to wonder. Suddenly, you may find that you are asking your date a question they have already answered – which can make it seem like you have no interest in them at all.
A 2018 study by researchers at Trinity College Dublin found that breath-focused meditation hones your ability to pay attention. Controlled or pranayamic breathing (which is abdominal breathing involving long inhalation and an ever longer period of exhalation) helps the brain grow new connections. In essence, this type of meditation is “like a brain fertilizer,” say researchers, in that it affects the chemistry in the brain and sharpens your focus.
If you are worried about your next date, nip your stress in the bud with meditation.
This millenary practise is currently used in so many settings in which stress is an issue, but it also has an important role to play in your dating life. It can help you accept negative criticism less defensively, and help you focus more keenly on your date.
Considering that meditation can take just a few minutes a day and can be learned with apps like Calm, what exactly are you waiting for?
