Looking after our entire bodies is important for several different reasons. Physical health plays an important role in helping us wake up each morning with the energy and vitality needed to move, stay active, and make the most of our day. A healthy mind is important for happiness and our relationships with others. Fortunately, what’s good and helpful for our bodies is usually beneficial for our minds and skin too. These three areas are intertwined, and in a similar way, if we mistreat one, the other two will be negatively impacted as a result. In this article, we will discuss the best habit for your mind, body and skin.

Meditation & Yoga

If you’re someone who enjoys a wholesome lifestyle, meditation is the perfect place to begin. The history of meditation goes back hundreds of years and is now backed by scientific benefits that prove its effectiveness on our physical and mental wellbeing. Meditation is often associated with yoga – an ancient practice that aligns the mind, body and soul using physical poses and breathing exercises. The two can be used together or individually, but for the most physical and mental benefits, try practising them interchangeably. Let’s break down both practices and understand a little bit more about how they both work.

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Meditation

In the most popular practices, meditation involves sitting in a quiet space and spending time focusing on the breath – without distractions. There are historical theories about how you should sit, what time of day you should practice, and how long for, but ultimately the key to meditation is breathing. Many people mistakenly think that during the practice you should complete affirmations or think deeply upon your thoughts and emotions during that time. In fact, you should use this time to think about nothing. Of course, when you tell yourself not to think of anything, your brain does quite the opposite. This is where focusing on the breath comes in.

Practice following each inhalation and exhalation, making sure to breathe as you naturally would. Then, if you notice your brain wandering to random thoughts and feelings, pay attention to this and casually move your attention to your breath once again. In your first couple of sessions, it might feel as if your brain frequently gets distracted. Don’t be alarmed by this – it’s completely natural. In fact, this is exactly what needs to happen for you to practice controlling your attention.

The ultimate goal with meditation – which can take up to a few years to achieve – is to become the master of your own attention. When meditating, you naturally focus on the present moment – something that’s difficult to do in everyday life. After consistent practice of meditation, you will be capable of controlling your attention in any situation you need to, for example in an uncomfortable environment where you feel anxious.

Yoga

Now that we’ve discussed how meditation supports a strong and resilient mind, let’s look at how yoga can boost our wellbeing. Compared to other sports, yoga is considered to be a low-intensity form of exercise, which is why it can be hugely advantageous to our physical health.

However, a key benefit of practising yoga is improved flexibility. Unless you’re someone who trains in gymnastics or dance, likely that your flexibility is rarely trained in your day-to-day life. In yoga, you will be encouraged to stretch a variety of different muscles in the body, and hold these stretches for a number of minutes. Improving flexibility helps to lubricate joints in the human body, making everyday movement easier and preventing problems like osteoporosis.

As well as improving flexibility, yoga also improves the health and efficiency of our internal organs – such as the heart. Because controlled breathing and gentle exercise are involved in the practice, our blood pressure can be significantly lowered, which helps to reduce inflammation due to stress.

How Meditation and Yoga Improve The Skin

You might be thinking, what do meditation and yoga have to do with improving the health of the skin? Firstly, both practices help us to manage stress better. Naturally, when we’re less stressed, our hormone levels improve, and we see our skin’s health improve. Additionally, controlled breathing during meditation and yoga can help improve blood circulation, which plays an important role in maintaining healthy-looking skin. Beyond these physical practices, individuals looking to adopt a more mindful lifestyle may also make other lifestyle changes that reflect similar values and principles. For example, by investing in cruelty-free beauty brands, like REFY Beauty who create vegan beauty products like lip gloss and lip liners, individuals can support healthy-looking skin while making more mindful and conscious choices that align with a positive lifestyle.

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