Hi there!
If there was one practice that I'd recommend to anyone who wants to improve their health and overall quality of life, the answer is simple.
Meditate.
By now you've probably seen it recommended in major headlines, and that's because this millennia-old practice is now proven to be extremely beneficial to your mental and physical health. The ancients used it regularly to achieve a better sense of balance and control in their lives -- and to heal disease.
While it has many different forms, each with their own nuances, meditation is essentially all about creating and then maintaining an alert, but calm state of consciousness -- where the mind is aware while the body is relaxed. The key here is regular practice, ideally at the same time(s) each day, so that it becomes a routine, or a habit. Once you get to that point, the mind becomes a very powerful tool, and the body is better able to kick start its own natural ability to heal.
Mental Benefits
Since a large part of meditation is about controlling the mind, it's no surprise that many of the outcomes directly affect our mental state of being in a positive way.
First of all, it enhances your brain function. As a result, this leads to:
- increased mental strength and ability to focus
- better memory, better cognitive skills, and more creativity
the development of intuition - an overall sharper mind that does a better job of processing information, making decisions, solving problems, and ignoring distractions
Recent research from more than 160 different studies shows that meditation actually increases grey matter in the brain (in areas related to memory and thought) while also changing the brain in a way that has an overall positive effect on anxiety, stress, and depression.
Neuroplasticity from Meditation
Meditation actually alters the circuitry in the brain by changing the brain waves in the left prefrontal cortex -- essentially more gamma brain waves through the brain, which leads to more organized information. What's incredible is that researchers now believe these changes (from meditating) can be permanent, so even a small amount of regular meditation can have quite an impact.
And don't forget about the increased serotonin production. That's right, meditating actually can boost your mood, your behavior, and your general level of happiness.
Physical Benefits
If meditation has all these positive effects on the brain, it's only a natural extension for those benefits to translate to the physical body. It helps to manage your heart rate and breathing rate, and these positive results last for more than 6 months after each training period.
A Harvard Medical School study showed that meditating improves mitochondrial energy production and consumption, which effectively means more energy, a boosted immune system and a resilience to stress.
Other studies have shown that it reduces blood pressure, and helps to decrease the effects of inflammatory disorders as well as premenstrual syndrome, and menopausal symptoms.
Benefits in less time than a nightly news show...
Meditating for 30 minutes a day has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and Alzheimer's, and a UCLA study points to how meditation can help treat HIV, by stopping the decline of CD4 T-cells in patients.
Finally, more and more research is being conducted on how meditation may have positive effects on the length of telomeres, which affect how cells age -- that's right, it may even increase your lifespan!
Social Benefits
When you combine these benefits along with the fact that you are now regularly getting a better perspective and awareness of who you really are and how you function best, it'll come as no surprise that you will start to see your relationships improve as well. Why wouldn't they? You're in better physical condition, with a better mental state, and you're able to see yourself and those around you in a brand new light. Others will surely be able to see it too and be drawn to it.
Here's the thing about meditation -
You don't need to be a brain function expert or a neuroscientist in order to discover or confirm these positive effects. More importantly, you don't need to be a yogi, a swami, a shaman, or a monk (or spend as much time as they do meditating) in order for it to have a tremendous impact on your life, or alter it for the better. You just need to experience it yourself a few times and then you'll know why millions are embracing this powerful practice.
If you'd like to give meditation a try, here is a simple mantra meditation (with video) that my friend Yashoda shared on this blog:
https://www.thesacredscience.com/a-guided-mantra-meditation-to-soothe-you
Give it a shot and you'll begin to understand the value of this time-tested practice.
Here's to a relaxed and healthier mind, body, and spirit!
Though I usually practice more Mindfulness, I really wanted to write this article to motivate more people to meditate. For the articles that were mentioned, I have them saved on my external hardware or in a Chrome file.
More --- for Mindfulness, I recommend the Palouse free online course.
@regenerette thanks you for stopping by!