Benefits of Meditating
Scientifically does meditation do anything? Here are some of the physical and mental benefits of meditation:
- Increased brain activity in regions that decrease anxiety and depression, along with increased pain tolerance
- Improved memory, self-awareness and goal setting
- Increased activity in the region of the brain responsible for empathy
- Reduced negative mood, tensions, sadness and anger
- Grey matter in the brain becomes denser in areas associated with learning, memory procession and emotion regulation. Conversely the amygdala section of the brain responsible for the perception of emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness and stress, has decreased grey matter
- Decrease in blood pressure and improvement of heart function
- Increases immune function.
How to Meditate
There are many misconceptions about how to meditate and what you should be doing to see results. Here are some guidelines around how to mediate:
- Get comfortable: Whether its sitting cross-legged, lying down or sitting on the couch
- Inhale and exhale deeply at least 5 times
- Try to let your thoughts, feelings and whatever emotions you are experiencing flow through your mind until the mind becomes quieter
- Simply focus your attention on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. If your mind wanders, return your focus back to your breath
- Meditation comes in many forms, you can be meditating while you’re on a walk or just before you fall asleep. Throughout your day you can try to remain in a constant state of peace and self-awareness.
“Problems or successes, they are all the results of our own actions. Karma. The philosophy of action is that no one else is the giver of peace or happiness. One’s own karma, one’s own actions are responsible to bring either happiness or success or whatever,” said Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
“Modern psychology has pointed to the need of educating people to use a much larger portion of the mind. Transcendental meditation fulfils this need. Transcendental meditation is something that can be defined as a means to do what one wants to do in a better way, a right way, for maximum results,” explains Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.