Let's Meditate: The Benefits of Meditation

Running head: Benefits of Meditation

Let’s Meditate: The Benefits of Meditation

Let’s Meditate: The Benefits of Meditation

When most people think of meditation they picture someone sitting on a cushion that is placed on the floor with their legs crossed in a dark room with candles lit and making an “ommmm” sound for hours at a time. Although, this may be one form of meditation, meditation goes much deeper than this stereotypic scene. According to the Huffington Post (Gregoire, 2014) has been dubbed the “year of mindful living.” The mindful revolution of meditation seems to be spreading everywhere and there are more people than ever before embracing the physical and mental health benefits of meditation.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness either to realize some benefit or as in end in itself ("Meditation." Wikipedia

). There are five meditation styles for beginners who practice meditation.

Mindfulness meditation is one of the most well-known types of meditation. Mindfulness meditation focuses on being aware of the sounds and activities happening around you. You allow your mind to be fluid and just flow from one thought to the next, not really focusing on one particular thing.

Spiritual meditation is another type of meditation for those who regularly participate in prayer because it focuses on communicating with God. You must become calm and quiet and then begin to focus on a question or problem you might have. This type of meditation is relaxing and may also give you a rewarding feeling as well.

Another style of meditation is focused meditation. Focused meditation is for those who want to clear their mind of all thoughts that stresses them out. This is a great form of meditation because you can focus on a sound, object, mantra, or thought. The key to this form of meditation is to focus on one of these things and stay committed to that one thought or object. Having some relaxation music playing may help when practicing focused meditation.

Movement meditation can be extremely uplifting and relaxing at the same time. This form meditation involved sitting with your eyes closed, focused on breathing and trying different gentle, repetitive flowing movements. Instead of focusing on a sound, object, or thought, you just turn your attention to your movement.

Mantra meditation is the fifth meditation style for beginners. Mantras are words that are chanted loudly during meditation. The focus is one the sound that is being made. In yoga, the mantra ‘Om’ is regularly used since it delivers a deep vibration that makes it easy for the mind to concentrate on that particular sound.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation techniques promote relation, life forces, love, patience, generosity, forgiveness, and faith. The practice of meditation usually involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind. Meditation can benefit individuals physically, emotionally, and mentally. There are many studies being conducted about the effects and benefits of meditation.

Physical Benefits

Medical Care

Research has shown that meditation increases antibodies and enhances brain-function, in which both will strengthen the immune systems. Having a stronger immune system may result in you needing less medical care. A study published in the American Psychosomatic Society found that a short session in meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune functions. Not only can meditation allow for a stronger immune system, it can dramatically reduce your likelihood of chronic diseases, such arthritis, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. When you meditate, your clear your mind and as a result your nervous system creates a state that allows your body to rest in a condition conducive to cell regeneration. As your blood flow increases and your heart rate is reduced, your blood works harder and better at cleansing the body of pathogens, or things which cause chronic illnesses and autoimmune responses. If you do not currently suffer from chronic diseases, meditation can prevent diseases and give you greater health and energy. If you do suffer from an illness, do not worry, meditation can also be a benefit to help get your symptoms and your disease under control. Meditation is not a cure, but it helps alleviate pain and reduces the occurrence of chronic diseases. Rather than removing the pain from your body, meditation allows you to momentarily detach yourself from it. By gradually enhancing your power of concentration and visualization, you train your mind to focus away from distress, and focus toward the comfort, peace and happiness within you and your life. Meditation can be used for all types of pain relief, as meditation empowers the person to recognize pain, minimize its impact, and eliminate it all together.

Other medical benefits that meditation has on one’s health is the reduction of blood pressure, the curing of headaches and migraines, lowering cholesterol, helping with arthritis, and reducing hypertension. Also by meditating, you can reduce and control your responses to stress and boost your immune system against viral attackers. In addition, meditation helps seniors with their health. Deep breathing exercises encourage oxygen enrichment to the blood which helps the digestive functions in the elderly as well as heals the lungs and improves blood circulation. Meditation also causes increased alertness and the ability to interact with others and surroundings and may calm the mind and release stress that may be caused from end-of-life anxiety issues.

One great medical benefit of meditation is that it allows for you to cure naturally if you happen to become ill. Meditation never needs a prescription or a doctor’s approval to practice this natural form of healing.

Weight

Meditation has recently been used with dieting and exercise to help those seeking to lose weight. Meditation may support weight lost because it helps strengthen the minds so that people can control food cravings. Meditation is also known for reducing stress and stress has been known to cause weight gain, especially in the abdomen area. When stress is reduced and our minds become focused, binge-eating and boredom-eating are no longer a part of our daily lives. Those who are emotional eaters that tend to eat not out of hunger, but