Introduction

Everyone has one’s own definition of meditation and the purpose of doing meditation is different too. Some people meditate to get a good night’s sleep, some to get clarity, some do it to get mental peace, calmness, and tranquillity while some meditate to attain ‘nirvana’ or enlightenment.

Irrespective of the reason everyone has for meditating, it is an incontrovertible fact that meditation brings noticeable, lasting changes to our minds. After all, meditation is all about going beyond our mind using our mind.

Meditation had been revived and made popularized in the Indian subcontinent after ‘Budhha’, the enlightened soul, started teaching ‘Vipassana’ (seeing things as they really are) meditation techniques to his disciples after attaining enlightenment. In Vipassana, you simply observe your inner self instead of consciously trying to control your thoughts. The aim is to help you:

1. Quieten your mind

2. Focus on the present

3. Accept thoughts, emotions, and sensations for what they really are

4. Reduce regrets by dwelling less on the past

5. Worry less about the future

6. Respond to situations based on reality, instead of worries or preconceived notions

Benefits

1.    Enhances Emotional Well-Being

Meditation helps a person in regulating emotions. The emotions that can otherwise go out of hand can be kept in check by practicing meditation on a daily basis.

 2.    Reduces Stress

The daily stress levels that have been reaching ever high levels in today’s hectic lives can be controlled by meditating. This study concluded that meditation helped reduce stress levels.

3.    Improves Memory

Studies have concluded that meditation helps improve our memory and other cognitive abilities.

4.    Decreases Anxiety

Research has found that practicing transcendental meditation for a period of 8 weeks helps reduce high levels of anxiety.

5.    Promotes Self-Awareness

Some specific type of meditation like Self Enquiry Meditation helps a practitioner get a better understanding of oneself and also understand the point-of-view of other people.

6.    Helps Lower Blood Pressure

A meta-analysis of 12 studies participating 1000 volunteers has concluded that practicing meditation routinely helped lower their blood pressure. This effect was specifically more pronounced on elder adults.

7.    Improves Sleep

A study compared various meditation programs and found out that people who meditated stayed asleep for a longer period and did not suffer from insomnia as much as the unmeditated control group.

8.    Increases Attention Span

A study showed that people who practiced meditation regularly had a greater attention span than those who did not.

9.    Generates Compassion

A meta-analysis of the study found out that people who practiced Metta meditation, a type of meditation in which a person embraces oneself in love and kindness and then extends the feeling to people around him/her, experienced a surge in compassion in them towards fellow beings.

10.  Helps Control Pain

It is well-known that pain is subjective and is experienced in the mind. A review of 38 studies concluded that volunteers who meditated regularly reported an enhanced ability to cope with pain and even experienced less sensation of pain.

 Bottom Line

Everyone may benefit from meditation to enhance their mental and emotional wellbeing. It is possible to perform it anywhere, without any specific equipment. Meditation classes and support groups, on the other hand, are readily accessible.

Trying out a type of mediation that is appropriate for your goals is a fantastic approach to enhance your quality of life, even if you just have a few minutes each day.