Health Benefits of Meditation

Mind is All

Have you been curious about meditation, but ruled it out because it seemed like a waste of time? Meditation delivers excellent health benefits at a bargain price; it’s free. The following health benefits are all attributed to regular meditation practice.

Meditation is an excellent stress-buster. The average American reports feeling stressed much of the time, and yet meditation is available to all. Even as little as fifteen minutes of meditation will lower your body’s level of cortisol. What’s cortisol? Your body produces cordisol as part of its fight or flight response, but too much of this hormone can cause a host of negative health problems.

Meditation protects your heart. When you practice meditation, your blood pressure naturally lowers and your heart rates slows. Meditation is good for your immune system and your body's ability to repair itself; the Mayo Clinic recommends meditation for all cancer patients as part of a wellness program.

Meditation sharpens the mind and makes you feel good. When studied, monks who meditated regularly were found to have more activity between neurons and synapses than those who did not meditate. The monks also had larger hippocampuses, the piece of your brain that makes you feel good. In general, people who practice meditation see improvement in mental focus.

What is a good way to start meditating? Commit a time frame, like fifteen minutes every day, to your practice. Find a comfortable place to sit (where it is quiet), set a timer, and close your eyes. Focus on a single word and repeatedly guide your mind back to that thought. Distracting thoughts will try to dissuade you, but you will ignore those thoughts and return to the one chosen word. Do not move or open your eyes until your timer goes off. Add minutes to your meditation sessions until you find the perfect session length to meet your needs.