The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

• People who are more mindful are less likely to experience psychological distress, including depression and anxiety. They are less neurotic, more extroverted and report greater well-being and life satisfaction.
• People who are more mindful have greater awareness, understanding and acceptance of their emotions, and recover from bad moods more quickly.
• People who are more mindful have less frequent negative thoughts and are more able to let them go when they arise.
• People who are more mindful have higher, more stable self-esteem that is less dependent on external factors.
• People who are more mindful enjoy more satisfying relationships, are better at communicating and are less troubled by relationship conflict, as well as less likely to think negatively of their partners as a result of conflict.
• Mindfulness is correlated with emotional intelligence, which itself has been associated with good social skills, ability to cooperate and ability to see another person’s perspective.
• People who are mindful are also less likely to react defensively or aggressively when they feel threatened. Mindfulness seems to increase self-awareness, and is associated with greater vitality.
• Being more mindful is linked with higher success in reaching academic and personal goals.
• Practicing meditation has repeatedly been shown to improve people’s attention, as well as improve job performance, productivity and satisfaction, and to enable better relationships with colleagues, resulting in a reduction of work-related stress.
• People who are mindful feel more in control of their behavior and are more able to override or change internal thoughts and feelings and resist acting on impulse.
• Meditation practices more generally have been shown to increase blood flow, reduce blood pressure and protect people at risk of developing hypertension; they have also been shown to reduce the risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease, and to reduce the severity of cardiovascular disease when it does arise.
• People who meditate have fewer hospital admissions for heart disease, cancer and infectious diseases, and visit their doctor half as often as people who don’t meditate.
• Mindfulness can reduce addictive behavior, and meditation practices generally have been found to help reduce use of illegal drugs, prescribed medication, alcohol and caffeine.

Meditation Benefits

The Mind-Blowing Science of How Meditation Rewires Your Brain

At first, I couldn’t believe that a simple daily meditation practice affected my life so powerfully. So, I started doing research and devoured all of the scientific studies on meditation that I could find. I was amazed at what I found – it turns out meditation can transform nearly every area of your life.

Here are fourteen scientifically proven ways meditation rewires your brain for happiness, peace and success.

1: Meditation reduces stress

Feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders? Meditation is incredibly effective at reducing stress and anxiety. One study found that mindfulness and zen type meditations significantly reduce stress when practiced over a period of three months. Another study revealed that meditation literally reduces the density of brain tissue associated with anxiety and worrying. If you want your stress levels to plummet, meditation may be the answer.

2: Meditation increases your sense of well-being

Want to fill your life with happiness and energy? Mindfulness meditation increases your psychological functioning and in the process improves your sense of well-being. Yoga and tai chi have been found to do this also – according to studies, they have significant therapeutic effects and increase quality of life when practiced regularly.

3: Meditation increases your sense of connectedness and empathy

Feeling a little disconnected from those around you? Try compassion meditation. Lovingkindess meditation (sometimes called Metta) is a compassion-based meditation that enhances brain areas associated with mental processing and empathy. It also increases your sense of social connectedness. Not a hugging person? You just might become one after trying metta!

4: Meditation improves focus

Would you love to add razor-edge focus to your life? Research shows that meditation improves cognition and increases your ability to perform tasks requiring focus. One study tested a variety of different meditation types, including Transcendental Meditation, Vipassana, Tibetan Buddhist Meditation, Sufi Meditation and Hindu Meditation, and found that they all improve focus by varying degrees. I used to think coffee was the best way to get focused – now I just meditate.

5: Meditation improves relationships

Want to strengthen your relationships? Meditation has been shown to better your ability to relate to others. How? 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

Ever feel like you could use some more inspiration? Meditation increases your creativity, according to various studies.

7: Meditation improves memory

Whether you want to become a memory champion or you simply want to remember the name of that guy who works down the hall, meditation can help. Research has shown that it improves your ability to memorize things and to store and consolidate new information.

8: Meditation improve your ability to make decisions

There’s a reason high powered executives turn to meditation to help them do their jobs better. Studies have found that both mindfulness meditation and Transcendental Meditation help you make better decisions by improving the functioning of your brain’s decision-making centers. If you want to start cultivating your inner executive, give meditation a try.

9: Meditation helps people overcome addictions

Do you know someone who has struggled with addiction? 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.

10: Meditation improves cardiovascular health

Want to get some of the benefits of exercise by sitting in one place? Researchers have found that both mindfulness and Transcendental Meditation improve your cardiovascular health and reduce your risk of heart disease.

11: Meditation enhances your immune system

Do you get sick more often than you would like? Believe it or not, a variety of different types of meditation, from mindfulness to yoga, have been shown to strengthen the human immune system and make you more resistant to viruses and infections. Take that, cold season.

12: Meditation helps you find “flow”

Have you ever felt totally, utterly absorbed in the moment? Maybe you were playing a sport or painting a picture, and the world around you just seemed to vanish. This is called “flow,” and is a 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.

13: Meditation reduces physical and emotional pain (better than morphine)

Perhaps the most amazing benefit of meditation is that it has the capability to reduce mental and physical pain better than morphine. Yep, you read that right. That’s a pretty incredibly scientific finding.

14: Meditation takes you towards enlightenment?

Traditionally, the goal of meditation is to reach Enlightenment, or a state of perfect happiness and understanding. Can you reach enlightenment by meditating? Who’s to say? Many people say yes, although science still doesn’t have an answer.

Meditation

Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress

Meditation can wipe away the day's stress, bringing with it inner peace. See how you can easily learn to practice meditation whenever you need it most.

If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending even a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace.

Anyone can practice meditation. It's simple and inexpensive, and it doesn't require any special equipment.

And you can practice meditation wherever you are — whether you're out for a walk, riding the bus, waiting at the doctor's office or even in the middle of a difficult business meeting.

Understanding meditation

Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Meditation originally was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction.

Meditation is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation produces a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind.

During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.

Benefits of meditation

Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health.

And these benefits don't end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and may improve certain medical conditions.

Meditation and emotional well-being

When you meditate, you clear away the information overload that builds up every day and contributes to your stress.

The emotional benefits of meditation can include:

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations
• Building skills to manage your stress
• Increasing self-awareness
• Focusing on the present
• Reducing negative emotions

Meditation and illness

Meditation might also be useful if you have a medical condition, especially one that may be worsened by stress.

While a growing body of scientific research supports the health benefits of meditation, some researchers believe it's not yet possible to draw conclusions about the possible benefits of meditation.

With that in mind, some research suggests that meditation may help people manage symptoms of conditions such as:

• Anxiety disorders
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Depression
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Pain
• Sleep problems

Be sure to talk to your health care provider about the pros and cons of using meditation if you have any of these conditions or other health problems. In some cases, meditation can worsen symptoms associated with certain mental and physical health conditions.

Meditation isn't a replacement for traditional medical treatment. But it may be a useful addition to your other treatment.

Types of meditation

Meditation is an umbrella term for the many ways to a relaxed state of being. There are many types of meditation and relaxation techniques that have meditation components. All share the same goal of achieving inner peace.

Ways to meditate can include:

• Guided meditation. Sometimes called guided imagery or visualization, with this method of meditation you form mental images of places or situations you find relaxing.You try to use as many senses as possible, such as smells, sights, sounds and textures. You may be led through this process by a guide or teacher.
• Mantra meditation. In this type of meditation, you silently repeat a calming word, thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts.
• Mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation is based on being mindful, or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment.In mindfulness meditation, you broaden your conscious awareness. You focus on what you experience during meditation, such as the flow of your breath. You can observe your thoughts and emotions, but let them pass without judgment.
• Qi gong. This practice generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance. Qi gong (CHEE-gung) is part of traditional Chinese medicine.
• Tai chi. This is a form of gentle Chinese martial arts. In tai chi (TIE-CHEE), you perform a self-paced series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner while practicing deep breathing.
• Transcendental meditation. Transcendental meditation is a simple, natural technique. In transcendental meditation, you silently repeat a personally assigned mantra, such as a word, sound or phrase, in a specific way. This form of meditation allows your body to settle into a state of profound rest and relaxation and your mind to achieve a state of inner peace, without needing to use concentration or effort.
• Yoga. You perform a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises to promote a more flexible body and a calm mind. As you move through poses that require balance and concentration, you're encouraged to focus less on your busy day and more on the moment

Buddhist Meditation

Great religious traditions invariably begin with one person's  direct experience.  Buddha, who was born in about 560 BC, was a man who investigated his own mind and eventually attained spiritual awakening, or understanding of his own real nature.  Buddha is not considered a god to be worshipped.  Rather, he was a man who taught that the experiences and realizations that he found through meditation are available to everyone.

The main teaching of the Buddha is that human beings are unhappy because they do not understand their own real identity and potential. From birth, we are taught who we are, how to act and what to think.  We come to believe that we are this limited identity.  In meditation, our thoughts, which invariably center around this small sense of self are quieted.  We can discover that this sense of small self is a limiting concept.  This understanding brings great peace, lightness, joy and understanding.

  What is Meditation?

In general, meditation is a way to quiet the mind.  However, "meditation" is a very general term.  There are many practices which could be referred to as meditation and all the major religions include some meditative practices. "Buddhist meditation" is also a general term, as there are a multitude of meditation schools and techniques which come out of the various Buddhist traditions. Meditation can also be practiced without religious overtones (e.g., one can meditate with no religious beliefs in mind or one can be a practicing Christian or Jew and employ meditation techniques extracted from Buddhism).

Benefits of meditation include relaxation and stress control, control of blood pressure, pain management, facilitation of psychotherapy and enhanced immune function. These benefits come about chiefly through effects on the autonomic nervous system.  In a sentence, the "fight or flight" reaction of the sympathetic nervous system is controlled  by the relaxation response of the parasympathetic nervous system.  Meditation has also been used through the centuries as a path to self understanding and the most profound and direct spiritual experience.

TWO BASIC TECHNIQUES USED IN MEDITATION

Even though there are hundreds of types of meditation, if examined closely, all techniques fall into one of two categories:

1. Concentration, in which the mind focuses on a mental object (e.g., looking at a candle flame, counting or noticing one's breaths with eye's closed, reciting a chant or mantra with one's mind on the sound, or visualizing certain processes in the body, like the flow of energy).

2. Mindfulness, (sometimes referred to as awareness) in which the mind observes itself (e.g., sitting in meditation or doing a simple task while noticing when one hears a sound, feels a sensation or has a thought arise, without following the thought and becoming distracted).

Taoist Meditation

Taoist meditation builds upon the foundational work of standing and Outer Dissolving, which employs the process of “ice-to-water” and “water-to-gas” to release deeply bound tension and/or contractions in the body and its qi. The ice-to-water phase initiates the release by producing deep relaxation in any specific blockage in the body (i.e. any tight, tense or contracted part of the body and/or its qi energy). The water-to-gas phase completes the release by expanding the energy of the blockage outside the body, where it is neutralised.

In meditation, which uses the Inner Dissolving process, the ice-to-water phase is very similar to although deeper than what is practised in Outer Dissolving. The second phase in Inner Dissolving is “water-to-space”. This is where the softened, relaxed energy from the ice-to-water phase is released internally into the depths of your being. This methodology allows for full resolution of not only the physical and energetic content of the blockage, but also any emotional, mental or spiritual content. This is achieved by following any blockage progressively deeper, right down to the tip of its roots.

How to Meditate: Becoming Present

To begin, you must learn to sit well. You must not shut down the optimal circulation of blood and chi, or you will simply drift off to sleep, space out, or compromise the functioning of your body and mind. In other words, you will create the opposite of what you are trying to achieve: presence, focus and higher spiritual functioning.

Once you have sufficiently developed your “seat” for meditation, the focus shifts to becoming present. The ability to be present is what allows you to live in the moment, and feel what is happening to and around you.

Presence accomplishes three important goals for meditation, which can lead to a healthy and peaceful life. Presence:

• Prevents the mind from wandering through past experiences or making future plans or projects, so you can remain in the here and now;
• Develops awareness, focus and concentration;
• Through the first two phases of development, enables cultivation of deep relaxation through the ice-to-water phase of the Dissolving process.

Ice-to-water is a metaphor used to release any and all specific points of tension you find in your body into a state of deep relaxation. Whole-body breathing aids the ice-to-water phase by both developing a general state of relaxation and generating more energy, which the mind can harness to increase focus and presence. Together, these techniques produce the specific state of being required to commence the exploration of what is deep inside of you.

If you choose to begin this journey, the first port of call is to begin releasing all that binds your body, mind and qi–especially any negative emotions, such as anger, greed, anxiety and fear. Without this initial clearing phase, it is quite impossible to delve deeper into the more subtle aspects of yourself, including opening to your true spiritual path.

Why Meditate for Spiritual Development?

The deeper and more subtle aspects of ourselves are rooted in our subconscious mind, which is the undercurrent that creates both our conscious awareness and subconscious decisions. These deeper aspects of ourselves are largely the result of our conditioning: that is what we were exposed to as we grew from a baby into an adult. Equally, our conditioning affects how we react to the world around us: that is our behaviour, or what each of us contributes to the world, for better or worse.

From a spiritual perspective, we are fully responsible for both that which we put out and what comes our way in life. That is to say what comes to us is the direct or indirect result of that which we put out. From a Taoist point of view, first we must work to clean up our own karma, and if we are lucky enough to achieve reasonable results, we can then apply our effort to helping with the karma of our family, friends, other living beings, social groups, countries, species and the planet.

Everybody has repeating patterns in their lives–experiences that come up time and time again. Many of these experiences are undesirable and most people would like nothing more than to get rid of them! We would like our lives to change for the better, but often times find it incredibly difficult to implement positive change. This is because what binds us to these repeating patterns goes deeper than the conscious mind. Although some people resign themselves to believing that “this is just the way life is”, life can be so much more than only being stuck in a rut of one form or another.

If you develop the techniques associated with the first stage of meditation, you can apply your skill set to developing the second through the water-to-space process of Dissolving, and thereby release your conditioning, negative behaviour patterns and free your spirit. It’s a pragmatic methodology that has been employed for millennia to help people deal with the darkest aspects of their being and become truly free or unbound.

However, if you rush ahead or skip steps, then the desired results from more advanced and lofty meditation practices can remain little more than a hope, mental projection or fleeting moments of personal satisfaction. This is why it is so important to commit to working on the techniques of the first stage of meditation, and seek the guidance and support you need to make your dreams a reality–whatever they may be.