Benefits Of Meditation: Relaxation, Stress Reduction And Beyond

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Benefits Of Meditation: Relaxation, Stress Reduction And Beyond

How Meditation Can Make You Happier?

Meditation For Relaxation-- And Beyond

Photo: Ervin Bacik

We generally start meditation for relaxation and stress reduction; but meditation goes much beyond that. In this article we will narrate some of the benefits of meditation on the mind, body and spirit.

It is a sign of our times, which places so much emphasis on work, and more work, that we have to find thousand reasons for taking up something which asks us to do exactly the opposite. How can sitting idle, doing nothing, and trying to still my mind bring about some important changes in my life, I may wonder.

It may do well to remember for a moment that brain is the hub of all activity. It makes a lot of sense to gain mastery over it, when more and more of it appears to be slipping out of our control—what with increased instances of anxiety, depression, ADD and other psychological conditions in our societies.

"From the brain and the brain alone arise our pleasures, joys, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains and griefs" ~~ Hippocrates

However, meditation has slowly, but surely entered into the mainstream consciousness of our society. With solid research having been done on the benefits of meditation, particularly, the Transcendental Meditation, the positive effects of meditation on physical and mental health are beyond any doubt. These days hospitals advice patients to practice meditation for reducing pain, schools teach meditation to their students and corporate send their executives to learn it: meditation has undoubtedly become very much a part of our lives. And, mind you, it's not a fad any more.

You may start practicing meditation for relaxation and stress reduction, but these are not the only visible benefits.

Meditation Helps Reduce Pain

Stress makes you more reactive to pain. If you are naturally inclined to be more stressed you will experience more pain than the person who is resistant to stress. Regular meditation makes you more resilient, your stress levels are lowered, and consequently you feel less pain. Practicing meditation can help one deal better with tension headaches, backaches. It will gradually reduce one's dependence on pain killers.

Meditation does not act like analgesic, but raises your physiological and psychological thresholds of experiencing pain. When you regularly practice meditation for relaxation stress levels get reduced; it decreases the possibility of occurrence of pain and also helps in actually reducing, and in some cases, eliminating pain altogether.

Lowers Blood Pressure, Strengthens Heart

Studies published in journals of American Heart Association have shown that meditation is able to bring down blood pressure in hypertensive patients, as much as the drugs are able to do it, albeit, without the negative side affects and with increased balance in mind, body and spirit of the practitioner.

Dr. Herbert Schnieder, an authority on hypertension, stress and heart diseases, says that Transcendental meditation reduces most of the risk factors that contribute to hypertension and other coronary diseases.

Stress leads to high blood pressure, thickening of the arteries, increased cholesterol, and most of the other conditions that lead to heart diseases. When you start practicing meditation for relaxation, stress hormones get reduced, cholesterol levels are controlled, thickening of arteries gets reduced, and also, smoking can be stopped --- all of which naturally leads to a healthy heart.

Positive Effects On Depression

It has been seen that regular practice of meditation leads to an increased sense of balance in your mind and body. If you have become lethargic, you tend to gain your energy levels, and conversely, if you have become hyper-active, your activity come down to healthy levels. Meditation has a positive impact on moods and helps alleviate depression.

In some cases meditation has helped people get completely cured of their depression, and in all cases, it certainly leads to a sense of well being, and hence reduced depression. With regular practice of meditation, people can reduce their dependence on anti-depressants. However, one should always take the guidance of an expert health professional.

Rewire The Brain To Reduce Stress

When you are practicing meditation for relaxation and stress reduction, you might not be aware that you are doing much more than that - you are modifying the way your mind works - and you are making yourself a stronger person - psychologically speaking.

Most of the stress in our societies is created due to social conflicts that lead to anxiety and fear. We keep on pondering over our insecurities and fears, and suddenly all this pressure is blurted out in one unguarded moment, breaking many hearts and spoiling important relations. Meditation increases co-ordination between different parts of the brain and helps it get more organized, which stops one from reacting on impulse. One is able to control one's reactions, and gets sufficient time to make decisions. This means increased harmony and decreased depression in one's life.

Cortisol, a chemical released during periods of prolonged stress, damages an area of the brain called hippocampus. This region, which deals with emotions and consolidation of memories, is actually a mass of neurons each having multiple connections with other neurons. Periods of stress reduce neuron density and cause excessive damage to the existing connections. This affects your memory, decision making capability and other cognitive functions of the brain.

Meditation reverses this deterioration and does much more -

It assists in actually increasing neuron density and other grey matter,and,
During meditation there is marked increase in gamma waves, suggesting lots of brain activity.

Dr. William Davidson, a distinguished scientist, studied some monks (sent to him from India by Dalai Lama for the purpose), and found that during meditation the development of the brain is observed more on the left prefrontal cortex, which is associated with positive thoughts, happiness and contentment. Dr. Davidson says, "What we found is that the trained mind, or brain, is physically different from the untrained one."

Meditation Helps In ADD

Photo: Tosaporn Boonyarangkul

In a study conducted by Maharishi University of Management on school children suffering from ADHD, remarkable improvement was observed after they started practicing meditation. After for three months of meditation, there was fifty percent reduction in stress and anxiety and a marked improvement in symptoms of ADHD. There was improvement in other aspects of children's personality as well—for example, in memory, behavior and organization.

Earlier these same children were showing a lack of organization and high stress levels. After practicing meditation for relaxation for some time (3 months or more), these children got a sense of perspective and were better able to control their lives. Meditation, of course, also reduced their stress levels, which is naturally high in children suffering with ADHD.

More encouragingly, a study of their brains showed more development in areas associated with motor skills, attention and distractibility. But meditation brings about observable changes, if it is practiced for fairly long periods—you need perseverance and patience, but are amply rewarded later on.

Meditation For Better Health and Long Life

Companies like Discovery in Silver Springs and Discovery in Bathesda, both in USA, encourage their employees to get training in Yoga and meditation, all expenses paid by the company. These companies feel that it reduces stress and maintains good emotional, mental and physical health in their employees, ultimately reducing health care costs for the companies.

TM is believed to increase the longevity by 25 per cent. It increases the chances for a long life by decreasing blood pressure, reducing stress hormones, and changes in behavioral factors like smoking and drug abuse.

Learn Meditation For Relaxation

Nearly 10 million people practice meditation in the USA alone, in one form or another. There is nothing like a personal coach, if you have available one near about your place. But, if that is not the case, there are many renowned authorities who have made available meditation resources on the web.

You can take advantage of these resources to learn and practice meditation for relaxation, peace of mind or spiritual growth, or whatever else you want to gain, at your own pace. Some of these teach how various methods of meditation, while some take advantage of latest advances in audio technology to help you reach deep meditative states without your having to actually learn the technique.