Yoga and Meditation

What are the reasons to meditate? Brain scans and medical research have provided some answers to that question. Researchers established a connection between spiritual meditation and the body’s physical processes through several studies of participants who were practicing it. They discovered that, with just 40 minutes of meditation each day, a person could actually alter the makeup of the brain — lessening the effects of aging and increasing the amount of gray matter in the right hemisphere. There are many other positive benefits of this practice for people with depression, chronic pain and insomnia, experts say.

The National Institute of Health has spent more than $21 million conducting research on meditation and its effects on the mind and body. Transcendental meditation in particular is one of the most-studied alternative therapies in existence. Over the years, there have been studies on metabolic/biochemical/cardiovascular changes (67), personality development (55), overall health (49), learning/academic performance (49), rehabilitation (44), electro-physiological changes (41), the Maharishi Effect/transcendence (41), motor/perceptual ability (26), psychology (25), physiological changes (24), sociology (17), physiology stability (16), and productivity/quality of life (12).

High blood pressure patients received some good news about the benefits of meditation following a University of Kentucky College of Medicine study. Dr. James W. Anderson found that transcendental meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure, without the side effects of anti-hypertension drugs. It reduced 4.7 mm systolic blood pressure down to 3.2 mm, he said. “Adding Transcendental Medication is about equivalent to adding a second anti-hypertension agent to one’s current regimen, only safer and less troublesome,” Anderson concluded after 9 randomized, controlled trials.

If you’re depressed, you might benefit significantly from meditation. An Oxford University study indicates that mindfulness meditation significantly reduces the number of people with depression. Study leader Professor Mark Williams said: “We are on the brink of discovering really important things about how people can learn to stay well after depression. Our aim is to help people to find long-term freedom from the daily battle with their moods.”

People with early stage dementia also have good reasons to meditate. Qigong and Taiji exercises and meditation classes improved mood and cognitive function in nearly all participants after 20 weeks of meditation therapy, researchers found. “The clinical findings, from my perspective, go far beyond the statistical findings,” said Sandy Burgener from the University of Illinois. “People were happier when they were in the treatment group. Two men came in with walkers and left without them. One is in our Taiji group three years later and is still not using a walker.”

There is an easy way to learn how to be stress free. It is through meditation. Just a simple relaxing method that teaches you focus can be exactly what you need to deal with the stress of everyday life. Get more meditation info here.