20 Benefits of Meditation | Meaning and Benefits

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Meditation is a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts, similar to the way that fitness is an approach to training the body.

Meditation can be defined as a set of techniques that are intended to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention.

Meditation establishes a secure connection between our internal and external worlds. It awakens the body and benefits all aspects of the conscious and subconscious layers of the mind. 

The practice is usually done individually, in a still seated position, and with eyes closed.

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind.With regular work and patience these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energised states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.

Meditation is relaxation.Regular practice of meditation has a profound impact on the core three areas of our existence - physical, mental, and spiritual.

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION :

The popularity of meditation is increasing as more people discover its benefits.following are some benefits of meditation.

 

1. Reduce Stress and Anxiety :

Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation.Meditation is incredibly effective at reducing stress and anxiety. Obsessing about the past or future can often lead to unhappiness. When we are fully immersed in the present moment, we are content. We can only control what’s happening now – which is why there is no reason to be caught up in the past or fixate on the future.Less stress translates to less anxiety.

It also reduced symptoms of anxiety disorders, such as phobias, social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and panic attacks.

Our life is always in the now. Meditation is the anchor to help you stay there. This is the key to reducing stress, gaining control over your anxiety, and ultimately living a more stress-free and happy life.

2. Promotes Emotional Health :

Some forms of meditation can also lead to an improved self-image and more positive outlook on life.Another controlled study compared electrical activity between the brains of people who practiced mindfulness meditation and the brains of others who did not.

Those who meditated showed measurable changes in activity in areas related to positive thinking and optimism.Some forms of meditation can improve depression and create a more positive outlook on life. Research shows that maintaining an ongoing habit of meditation may help you maintain these benefits long term.

Mindfulness meditation increases your psychological functioning and in the process improves your sense of well-being. It increase quality of life when practiced regularly.

3. Meditation improves focus :

Research shows that meditation improves cognition and increases your ability to perform tasks requiring focus. 

4. Meditation enhances empathy :

The deep state of flow that meditation induces builds social connectedness and make us more affectionate and amicable as a person.Loving-kindness or compassion meditation fires neural connections to brain sites that regulate positive emotions like empathy and kindness. 

5. Meditation improves relationships :

Meditation has been shown to better your ability to relate to others.It improves your ability to empathize, and it hones your ability to pick up on cues indicating how others are feeling. Meditation also increases your emotional stability, making you less likely to be influenced by any negative people in your life.

6. Meditation makes you more creative :

 Meditation increases your creativity, according to various studies. It’s no wonder that famous creatives like David Lynch,Yoko Onoand Marina Abramović make meditation a major part of their life.

7. Meditation increases attention by inducing a state of flow :

Mindful awareness comes naturally to us when we meditate, and we reach ‘flow’ state where our mind is in complete harmony with itself. 

8. Meditation improves cognition :

Studies have revealed that both transcendent and mindful meditation practices improve the brain’s problem-solving and decision-making strategies, which can bring a desirable shift in our professional life.

Researchers agree that an excellent way for professionals to increase the likelihood of success is to keep meditation practice as a part of their daily routine. 

9.Meditation improves memory :

Research has shown that it improves your ability to memorize things and to store and consolidate new information.

10.Meditation helps people overcome addictions :

One of the most beautiful effects of meditation is that it can help people overcome powerful addictions. One fascinating study found that Vipassana meditation can be incredibly effective at helping people overcoming alcohol and drug related addictions, and similar effects have been found for various types of meditation.

11. Emotional Intelligence :

Regular meditation helps us recognize our emotions as fleeting, but also allows us the chance to sit with them instead of avoiding or being afraid of facing our emotions.

 

Through the ability to sit with your thoughts, you can work through emotions instead of continuing to ignore or repress them. As a result, you deepen your emotional intelligence and ability to recognize and work through emotional issues as they arise, which impacts your relationships and mind state in a positive way.

12. Greater Sense of Self-Awareness :

Meditation allows us to mentally take inventory of our bodies.Through this greater sense of self-awareness, we cultivate present moment awareness which allows us to remain present, grounded, and focused in all aspects and every moment of our lives.

13.Increased immunity :

Meditation boost lymphocytes, those natural killer cells that improve the immune system. Consequently, the subjects demonstrated better resistance to viruses and tumors.

14. Better sleep :

Meditation practice helps the body learn to relax, a benefit that continues when it’s time to hit the hay. It also trains the mind to settle the attention on an object such as the breath and allow other thoughts and emotions to float by like clouds on a pleasant day. There are also guided meditations that are designed to promote sleep. 

15. Meditation helps you find “flow” :

Flow is the rare state where the human mind is operating in complete harmony with itself, when you reach a challenge perfectly suited to your abilities. Meditation can help you reach this amazing state of mind, according to some fascinating research.

16. Meditation reduces physical and emotional pain :

Perhaps the most amazing benefit of meditation is that it has the capability to reduce mental and physical pain.That’s a pretty incredibly scientific finding.

17.Less bothered by little things :

 

It is the nature of the mind to magnify small things into serious problems. Meditation helps us detach. We learn to live in the here and now, rather than worrying about the past or future. We do not worry about meaningless things, but see the bigger picture.

18.Lowered blood pressure :

Another benefit for people who practice meditation for health reasons is that mindfulness meditation has been shown to help control blood pressure.Experts believe that meditation reduces the body’s responsiveness to cortisol and other stress hormones, which is similar to how blood pressure reducing medications work. It’s one of meditation’s great health blessings.

19. Meditation improves cardiovascular health :

Researchers have found that both mindfulness and Transcendental Meditation improve your cardiovascular health and reduce your risk of heart disease

20. You Can Meditate Anywhere :

People practice many different forms of meditation, most of which don't require specialized equipment or space. You can practice with just a few minutes daily.

If you want to start meditating, try choosing a form of meditation based on what you want to get out of it.