MEDITATION

Meditation is an expansion of self-awareness.

BENIFITS

  Physical level- it is effective as an anti-stress process. It quiets the body, improves cardiovascular function, modulates the immune system and enhances self-repair mechanisms. There are thousands of studies that validate the physical benefits of meditation. Most recently there have been studies that show increased activities of the prefrontal cortex of the brain along with enhanced immune functions and increased levels of the enzyme telomeres which lengthen the telomeres at the end of chromosomes, suggesting increased longevity through the adjustment of our biological clock.

 Psycological- meditation enhances emotional wellbeing and is associated with a restfully alert mind.

 Spiritual - expanding self-awareness, meditation gives us access to the qualities of our consciousness such as insight, intuition, imagination, creativity, and freedom of choice. It also reveals to us the inseparability of everything in the universe and therefore shifts our identity to transpersonal to universal.

TYPES-

• Transcending meditations, which usually involve the use of a mantra or sound. However transcendence can also be achieved through any of the five senses and there are techniques for all the five senses.
• Contemplative meditations that involve self-reflection and self-inquiry.
• Mindfulness meditations (also referred to as vipasana) that make practitioners aware of various aspects of their experience. These include awareness of the environment; awareness of the body, including internal organs; experience of mental space, including sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts; and awareness of relationships. Mindfulness brings insight spontaneously and therefore mindfulness meditation is also referred to as insight meditation.
• There are also meditations for enhancing specific aspects of emotional and physical wellbeing and for increasing the experience of love, abundance, joy, equanimity, compassion, and empathy.
• In addition, there are meditations that enhance mind-body coordination, use breathing techniques, and specific gestures and interoception. These procedures -- frequently known as mudras and bandhas -- give us the ability to influence our internal organs including heart rate variability and blood pressure.

HOW OFTEN

A daily practice is best, and should be included as part of a normal routine that includes slicing up our time in various areas of life: sleep time, exercise time, focused work time, relationship time, mindful eating time, play and creative time.

So there is a personal benefit to meditation, is there a social or communal benefit?

When a large number of people reach expanded awareness through collective meditation, there is improvement in the quality of society. Some studies have indicated the following:

• Decreased crime rate.
• Decreased recidivism in prisoners.[1]
• Decreased hospital admissions.
• Increased economic and career wellbeing and productivity.
• Decreased absence in the workplace.
• Decreased incidence in alcoholism and other addictive behavior.
• Decreased domestic violence.