Here are 11 big benefits of meditation that you should know about today. The benefits of meditation are many as science has proven and meditators have reported going back at least 3,500 years. The Vedas, written around 1500 B.C., are among the oldest written works about meditation. Below this blog are links to abstracts and articles of scientific studies that affirm the benefits of meditation.

1. Quickly Increases Energy and Focus

Research has shown that even 4 days of meditation training reduced fatigue and anxiety while improving working memory and focus. These benefits can help you establish a clearer, stronger connection to your inner Divine!

2. Gives us glimpses of the infinite

Beyond mere mindfulness, meditation can be a spiritual practice that connects you with your inner Divinity and opens doors to expanded awareness and well-being. The dissolving of boundaries between you and the infinite provides an opening to knowing yourself as the radiant eternal soul that you are.

3. Decreases anxiety

Many people who grapple with debilitating anxiety while trying to continue working, care for children or ailing parents, and maintain a household have been prescribed drugs. Especially when medication is not enough or not the answer, the benefits of meditation can be a god-send.

4. Reduces stress

One of the most often reported results of meditation is reduced stress. Many studies have demonstrated not only reported stress reduction but have measured reduced physical biological markers of stress in the body. It has been estimated that 80% or more of diseases and conditions are connected to high or chronic stress levels.

5. Benefits the immune system

Meditation supports the immune system. Studies have shown reduced stress cortisol levels and a stronger immune system as a result of meditation.

6. Makes you feel like a new person – decreases chronic pain

Meditation helps lessen chronic pain and reduces the extremely stressful effects of chronic pain.

7. Clears mental clutter

Just like a good house cleaning freshens up and removes the clutter, meditation declutters and refreshes the mind.

8. Increases happiness

That’s right happiness is an inside job and meditation helps get the job done. There is a correlation between mindfulness and happiness. The self awareness, relaxation and compassion that stems from meditation increase happiness.

9. Boosts creativity

One study involved focusing on as many uses of a brick as possible. Those who used a technique to focus on the breath came up with the most ideas. Of course, this was a lab study, so think of how many ways it could benefit the rest of us on the planet: painting, writing, DIY innovations, creative ways to play with children, and composing music to name a few.

10. Adds tranquility

Beyond simple relaxation, that’s it, inner peace. A quieter mind. Studies show that even addictions (cigarette smoking, substance abuse) are helped by meditation. There is less impulsiveness.

11. Increases Grey Matter and Fires up Brain Power

You can actively build up your brain grey matter and increase your ability to learn and remember! After only 8 weeks of meditation, the brain has changed. In 16 people who took a meditation course, grey-matter density in the hippocampus of the brain had increased. This was also based on a comparison with a control group who did not participate in the meditation. The hippocampus is associated with learning and memory.

Although anyone can meditate and my methods are simple, practicing daily over time is the essence of one of the greatest gifts that you can give to yourself as an eternal radiant soul having a human experience.

My approach is designed to help you make meditation a daily practice.

Remember You are Simply Divine,
Reverend Marya OMalley

References

1. Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training
2. Mindfulness, spirituality, and health-related symptoms
3. Mindfulness-based meditation to decrease stress and anxiety in college students: A narrative synthesis of the research
4. 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction induces brain changes similar to traditional long-term meditation practice: A systematic review
5. Effect of mindfulness based stress reduction on immune function, quality of life and coping in women newly diagnosed with early stage breast cancer
6. Effectiveness of focused meditation for patients with chronic low back pain—A randomized controlled clinical trial
7. Mindfulness Meditation Modulates Pain Through Endogenous Opioids
8. I Felt Like a New Person: The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Older Adults With Chronic Pain: Qualitative Narrative Analysis of Diary Entries
9. Introducing Mindfulness Meditation based training: Cutting-edge, science-based practices for clarity, strength, stability, and sporting excellence
10. When the dissolution of perceived body boundaries elicits happiness: The effect of selflessness induced by a body scan meditation
11. Meditation and happiness: Mindfulness and self-compassion may mediate the meditation-happiness relationship
12. Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking
13. Meditate to Create: The Impact of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Training on Convergent and Divergent Thinking
14. Mindfulness meditation improves emotion regulation and reduces drug abuse
15. Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density
16. Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners