Some Of The Benefits Of Meditation
Meditation has its origins in Eastern culture, but it has been practiced for centuries in cultures all over the world. Meditation refers to a large variety of practices and techniques and includes guided meditation, transcendental meditation and mindful meditation practice. Many different techniques can be used, such as the focus of the mind on certain objects or words, or on the breath. Sometimes a particular posture can be used but isn’t necessary. Let this be part of your beginners guide to meditation.
Meditation can be simple to learn, does not require special equipment, and can be done in almost any location. Meditation and yoga for stress relief can make a big impact. After only one session a person can experience stress reduction. It has been found by most researchers that only 20 minutes a day will produce long-term health benefits. The effects can be felt even with the practice of meditation for only 10 minutes a few days a week.
Psychological and physiological health can be improved by regularly practicing meditation. Meditation can induce the pattern of brainwaves to achieve the alpha state, which is the state of consciousness that encourages healing to take place. Meditation can be a way to relax, to promote mental clarity, to bring about psychological health, to assist in treating many different diseases and maladies, and for general health of mind and body.
It’s been found in studies that meditation activates the part of the brain that controls the autonomic nervous system, controlling the body functions like digestion and blood pressure. Stress has a powerful negative impact on these functions, so meditation can help relieve the causes of stress-related disease, like digestive disorders or heart conditions.
A study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine described 90 cancer patients who practiced mindful meditation for seven weeks. At the conclusion of this study, patients said they experienced less depression, confusion, anger or anxiety. They reported having more energy and fewer gastrointestinal or heart problems.
At the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, a group was studied whose members had meditated for four months. Researchers found reduced levels of cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone, and these people who had meditated reported they could better handle stress in their lives, which includes tips on dealing with anxiety and depression.
Research can help confirm some of what we know about, but there are obviously many benefits we can claim without research. Meditation offers benefits to almost everyone, and has no reported ill effects.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: alternative medicine, anxiety, health, meditation, Stress Relief, YogaRelated posts
Technorati Tags: alternative medicine, anxiety, health, meditation, Stress Relief, Yoga
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
| 
Email This Post
| 
Print This Post
| 
Subscribe to It!
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
and is filed under Alternative Remedies, Proven Health Remedies.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 24th, 2009 08:55
Thanks for this very interesting article. So beautifully written and presented. I have been doing TM myself for many years and can attest to the wonderful results it brings – clearer thinking, better health, getting on better with others and a an overall sense of well-being. I also love the fact that there is so much scientific research backing up the results. I highly recommend it.
Not all types of meditation provide the same level of results. One fascinating study compares TM with other types of meditation in its ability to reduce Trait Anxiety. The study clearly shows TM to be much more effective at reducing anxiety than anything else.
Another study on blood pressure showed TM more effective in lowering high blood pressure than other form of relaxation, and even more effective than medication.
I also love the fact that there is so much scientific research backing up the results. I highly recommend it.
July 24th, 2009 15:01
Thanks for your article. I practice Transcendental meditation and am very happy with the sense of relaxation and well being I get from practicing it, as well as the feeling of being well-rested, something I lacked for years.To find out more, I like this website: http://www.tm.org. ver y easy to read, I still like to go there to read, even though I already learned.
July 24th, 2009 16:43
I am a big fan of Transcendental Meditation. I have been practicing the TM technique for 19 years and only wish I had learned it earlier in my life. For me this simple practice just seems to dissolve stress, so I feel refreshed and renewed and energized, and I can do more of what I need to do and want to do. Before learning the TM technique I had tried to meditate using tapes and books and other less precise methods, which didn’t work for me at all. Learning TM from a qualified teacher was a whole different experience. You learn everything you need to know in order to meditate effortlessly and reap the greatest benefits. I believe that adding this practice to your daily routine is one of the best things you can do for your health and overall quality of life.
July 24th, 2009 23:15
We need to look carefully at what rigorous published peer-reviewed research is telling us. The overwhelming superiority of The Transcendental Meditation Technique has been verified by rigorous scientific research over and over again. There have been 350 peer-reviewed research studies were conducted on over 10,000 subjects who were practicing the TM technique. The majority of these studies compared TM to other practices or control groups. These studies included numerous randomized controlled trials, along with eight meta-analyses of 597 separate studies on the effects of meditation. The studies were conducted at Harvard Medical School, Yale Medical School, Stanford Medical School, University of PA, University of Kentucky, and more than 200 other independent institutions, and were done by 360 scientists from 29 countries. All total, over 30,0000 subjects (participating in TM, other techniques or controls) were involved in the hundreds of research studies on TM. My very best to everyone reading this.