Benefits of Meditation
Meditation and it’s popularity has increased exponentially in the last few years. The reasons for this are no longer a mystery hidden away in a monastery and taught only to a few privileged souls.
Today one can simply explore the internet for a few hours and open themselves up to a world of ancient knowledge, techniques, and practices that the average person can come to be acquainted with. Because of this freedom to information one can explore any number of meditation techniques and find what practice suits them best.
Meditation itself is described in many ways, but as I understand it becomes a one pointed focus through the mind of a witness.
We can allow a free flowing of one thought to another without becoming attached to those thought.
There are many meditative techniques, and they all have their gifts at changing the brain for the better in some way or another. All these practices have a direct effect on our nervous system which is the command center or the communication center of the body. Through both yoga and meditation practices we can fine tune the physical body and nervous system to communicate more clearly in order to have better health in both mind and body.
The research regarding this topic is huge and the benefits for all levels- mind, body, and spirit are vast.
For the mind
Calms the mind
Promotes emotional health and well being.
Enhances self awareness
Lengthens attention span
Increases resilience and adaptability.
Enhances self esteem
Increases mental strength and focus
Increases memory retention
Increases cognitive skills and creative thinking
Substantially decreases mental health issues.
For the body
Increases parasympathetic nervous system
Improves sleep
Improves immune system
Reduces age related memory loss
Decrease blood pressure and blood sugars
Helps control pain response
Builds and changes neuro-networks in the brain while decreasing size of amygdala.
Increases brain/ body frequency coherence.
For the spirit
Many loving kindness meditations help build the parts of our brain that get us better in touch with community, empathy, and an awareness of oneness.
Meditation also helps one to realize their greater potential and the best path to achieve it.
These have become my three favorites to use in practice. All these meditations are integrated regularly in my yoga classes.
A mind fullness meditation practice allows one to engage all their senses into the moment right now. Likewise we become mindful when we are engaged in something that requires deep concentration or focus.
Vippassana meditation is a circulating of breath and awareness throughout the whole body. As we breath into the body, we draw our awareness inward and up to our crown at the top of the head. As we exhale our awareness moves down the body releasing tension and letting go of resistance. When the physical body can be trained to release tension the mind and it’s chatter will soften and quiet down. After awhile the nervous system and breathing will become expanded and smooth.
Yoga Nidra is another wonderful meditation practice the keeps the mind in the moment by guiding the awareness through individual areas of the body. By drawing our attention inward and reconnecting our mind back into every inch of ourselves we can begin to correct imbalances within the body framework by simply reconnecting once again.
Through Yoga Nidra there is much work with polarities in duality. Constant movement of awareness from left to right sides of the body engages full brain activity. Likewise movement in awareness from top to bottom has the same synchronizing effects on the brain.
Yoga is a really wonderful way to become acquainted with meditation practices. It will give you an opportunity to explore and pick some of your favorites.