How to Use Baoding Balls to Get the Most out of Meditation
A set of Baoding balls can be a great meditation accessory. This ancient Chinese tool helps reduce stress and enhance focus. Add it to your regular meditation to sleep better and enjoy less anxiety while also working on hand and wrist dexterity and strength.
Why Start a Meditation Practice?
Meditation is an ancient practice with many benefits now proven by science. Just one session can bring about benefits, but a regular, daily practice helps you get more out of it:
- Reduce stress
- Sleep better
- Cope with pain
- Lower blood pressure
- Improve mood and manage anxiety and depression
- Improve overall quality of life
Anyone can meditate. It’s a simple concept but does take some practice. One way to enhance your ability to meditate and get the most benefits is with meditation accessories, like Baoding balls.
What Are Baoding Balls?
Baoding balls are a set of two smooth metal balls designed to fit in the palm of one hand. They were invented in China and have been used there for hundreds of years. They are also known as exercise balls, Chinese health balls, and Chinese meditation balls.
Each of the balls in a set is the same size. But not all sets of Baoding balls are the same size. Beginners use smaller balls and work up to larger sizes, from about two inches in diameter to nearly four inches across.
How to Use Baoding Balls
Think of Baoding balls as stress balls. A western-style stress ball is typically soft. You squeeze it to relax or to calm anxious thoughts. To use Baoding balls, you move them around in one hand, pushing with the fingers and wrist, so they rotate around each other.
How Do Baoding Balls Enhance Meditation?
Evidence that Baoding balls provide benefits is largely anecdotal. Like a stress ball or fidget spinner, moving the balls in your hand helps you dissipate nervous energy. Some balls have bells inside that produce a gentle sound that many people find relaxing. People also report improved sleep, relaxed hands and wrists, and improved focus.
Combining Baoding balls benefits with meditation can enhance both. If you struggle to focus or release negative energy and racing thoughts when meditating, the movement of the balls can help.
Adding Baoding Balls to Meditation
If you want to try adding Baoding balls to your meditation practice, consider these tips:
- Practice the movement before using the balls with meditation. If you don’t have the hang of it, they’ll distract your focus.
- When you do meditate with the balls, focus on the movement or the sound if you have balls with bells in them.
- Let the movement and the sound take your mind away from the thoughts of the day.
- Don’t forget to breathe. Focusing on breathing is a typical way to focus and calm the mind during meditation. The balls shouldn’t distract you from this.
Baoding balls make a great companion for meditation, but they might not be right for everyone. Use them if they enhance your practice, not if they distract. If you like using the Baoding balls, you could experience improved sleep, less stress, and a calmer, more relaxed mind.
