Top 10 Benefits of Meditation for the Body and Mind

Introduction

The very mention of the word meditation takes us to a different level of thought and perception. Contrary to what many of us believe, meditation does not mean becoming a new human being altogether, you do become a better individual by practicing meditation. It is an assortment of techniques that focus on helping you gain an elevated sense of awareness. So, when you meditate, you do not forcefully cut off from your identity or your thoughts. You eventually learn to observe and understand them the way they are. So, meditation is a skill that helps you be comfortable in your mind, a tough task indeed. However, with the right guidance, you can be there for sure.

Benefits of Meditation for Physical and Mental Well-Being

With millions of thoughts floating around, our mind could be a real eerie place sometimes. Therefore, it might take a little longer to train your mind and be comfortable with it. However, all you need is to keep practicing. If you make meditation and mindfulness a part of your everyday life, you’ll see how it impacts your mind, body, and soul. The feeling of relaxation you get from meditation helps you with several issues. It helps in lowering blood pressure, improving metabolism and heart rate.

Know more about The Hidden Power Of Gratitude

Top 10 Benefits of Meditation

There are many mental and physical benefits for meditation. It helps you increase your awareness, sense of calm, clarity in vision, compassion, and focus. Many studies have shown that meditation can also help you deal with the most predominant issues like depression, stress, and anxiety. Besides psychological benefits, you are also likely to experience a world of physical benefits too.

Studies suggest that when your mind and body are relaxed, your body stops producing stress hormones. According to research conducted by the University of California, cortisol levels are on the lower side in people who practice meditation.

Another study by Harvard University indicates that meditation not only weakens the genes related to causing inflammation in the body, but it can also encourage the genes involved with the stability of DNA.

Let us take a look at the top 10 benefits for meditation.

Meditation reduces stress

Most people develop an interest in meditation after learning that it helps in reducing stress. Yes, meditation does help with stress reduction. When you are stressed, there is a rise in the level of the stress hormone called cortisol. This, in turn, can lead to many other health concerns, including the production of cytokines (inflammatory chemicals), the elevation of blood pressure, sleep disruption, stress, and depression.

Studies also suggest that practicing meditation can also help with improving a number of stress-induced conditions. It includes IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and fibromyalgia, among others.

Meditation improves emotional health

Needless to say, but meditation can work wonders on your emotional health. It makes us more capable of fighting negative thoughts and emotions that might overpower us otherwise. Moreover, that is not it. Meditation can actually rewire your brain and make it attract more positive thoughts.

According to research, it has been found that the gray matter of your brain (the region responsible for problem-solving and emotion management) happens to increase when you practice meditation regularly. Moreover, the amygdala ( a group of cells located at the bottom of the brain), the region that controls how we get afraid or get stressed, shrinks when you meditate daily.

Meditation increases self-awareness 

 

When it comes to becoming self-aware, all you need to do is stop thinking. And, meditation can work like magic in this context. However, if traditional meditation is not your cup of tea, it’s perfectly fine. Besides sitting cross-legged, there are many other ways of practicing meditation and calming your mind down. It includes walking, gardening, listening to music, taking deep breaths, and sitting while doing nothing. When you make meditation a part of your life, you not only tend to become self-aware, but you also work towards improving your overall health and well-being.

Meditation helps with age-induced memory loss

When you meditate regularly, you happen to become more focused. This, in turn, helps in improving the clarity of mind and memory. So, if you are suffering from age-induced memory loss, meditation can also help you counter it. However, you should remember one thing that nothing magical is going to happen overnight. You will need to keep practicing until it becomes a habit.

Kirtan Kriya, a meditation technique, is a combination of mantra and repetitious movement of the fingers. It is mainly done to make your thoughts more focused. According to various studies, Kirtan Kriya has shown improvements in age-associated memory loss.

Read more about Top Meditation Techniques You Can Easily Learn

Meditation improves sleep

Lack of sleep or insomnia is a universal problem. Almost every individual suffers from it at some point in time. Did you know – according to a study, meditation can also help with improving insomnia? Yes, once you can meditate well, you can keep the racing thoughts in control helping you with a sound sleep. And as meditation relaxes your body while releasing the stress and anxiety, you tend to achieve a peaceful state of mind. All of these factors allow you to sleep well. So, practice meditation, stay calm and sleep like a baby.

Meditation can help control pain

Pain is an uncomfortable sensation that is directly connected to your central nervous system. And when subjected to stressful situations, your perception of pain is likely to be on the higher side. According to some studies, including meditation in your daily life can help you control this annoying sensation to a great extent. As per trusted sources, meditation can help reduce and control pain and improve the overall quality of life.

Whether you meditate or not, the cause’s of a given pain should be the same. However, when you meditate, your ability to manage and fight pain is more likely to increase, making you feel less pain.

Meditation can keep your blood pressure in control

If your blood pressure is high consistently, it can affect your heart and make it weak. Besides, there are many other health complications of high blood pressure, including stroke and heart attack. According to various studies, it has been proven that meditation can actually help in lowering blood pressure. So, how does it work? Meditation helps in relaxing your nerves that work in coordination with your heart, thus protecting your heart from possible threats.

Meditation increases creativity

Creativity is not limited to ideas. So, when you meditate, you are in a full state of awareness. You are most likely to create situations that will allow you to move effortlessly through life, from one scenario to the other, with a relaxed state of mind. When you are enjoying this mindfulness level, you get to access and get into the sense of direction and purpose with ease and poise. When you meditate, you can create anything. That is what creativity means. So, are you ready to create?

Meditation increases productivity

What is the productivity weapon you swear by? Your monthly planner or a handy time-management application? Understandably, not many of you will think of meditation as a productivity tool. It was basically not made as one, either. However, it surprisingly helps in doing so with much efficiency. You should not forget that no matter how cutting-edge any particular technology may be, it cannot help you leverage an inch of it if you do it half-heartedly. Meditation will help you get more clarity and focus and increase your efficiency while increasing your productivity.

Meditation can help you get rid of addictions

Meditation helps you in developing mental discipline, awareness, and self-control. All of these can help you avoid dependencies on certain objects and substances. When you know that a certain substance is addictive, and you should stay away from it for your mental and physical well-being, you are most likely to avoid it. According to many studies, meditation can help you learn how to redirect your attention and control your impulsiveness. Besides addiction to substances, meditation can also help you control your food cravings. So, if you are on a weight loss regime, it can also help you greatly.

Benefits of Online Guided Meditation

What do you mean by guided meditation? As the name suggests, it is a form of meditation where a teacher or guru would guide your meditation sessions. It can be either in person or virtual/online through audio, video, or audio-video classes.

When you are getting started with meditation for the first time, having a teacher or trainer by your side can help you understand the basics of practicing meditation. No matter whichever skill you want to learn, having expert assistance is crucial. However, when it comes to traversing through the elaborateness and innuendos of your mind, having a guide is imperative.

In an online guided meditation program, a guide or a narrator will reveal your brain’s dynamics and how it is likely to respond to meditation. He or she will also elaborate on the techniques of meditation. Your teacher will also help you understand how you can integrate these meditation techniques into your daily life for a better perspective.