The benefits of meditation are many. It can bring about feelings of confidence and self control, increased concentration, better relationships and reduced levels of stress. Though the process is very simple, it can be challenging at first.
Once finding your own inner stillness through regular meditation, you will be able to access it again with ever greater ease. This brings many far-reaching and profound benefits such as inner peace, balance and equinimity. You will start to notice some changes within yourself fairly quickly; other changes may take more time. One thing is certain and thats meditation opens the realms of higher potential.
Discovering your own inner stillness will have a ripple effect on the rest of your life, bringing surprise benefits as well as some that are more predictable, such as better health and a longer attention span. Regular practitioners say they develop a feeling of greater emotional equilibrium resulting in mental ease and self control.
Meditation does not mean zoning out. In fact, regular practice will make your mind much sharper and quicker. The ability to concentrate is hugely enhanced, so that tasks take less time and feel easier to accomplish. When you decide to do something, you will be able to just do it, instead of wasting time agonizing about it.
In recent studies, researcher Amishi Jha, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, observed attention control in people before and after they learned mindfulness meditation . After 8 weeks, they showed significant improvements at orienting, or staying on task and quickly refocusing their thinking after being distracted.
Meditation trains you to put your attention where you want it and makes sure it stays there
Benefits of Meditation
- Improved awareness
- Quiet mind
- Confidence and self control
- Improved concentration
- Inner certainty
- Ability to focus and work efficiently
- Ability to let go of negative emotions such as anger and paranoia
- Improved posture
- Greater enjoyment of the physical
- Spiritual connection
- Better personal relationships
- Improved health
On a purely physiological level, meditation has been subject to many scientific studies since the 1960s. These have shown that among its benefits are also lower blood pressure, alleviation of some pain, increased levels of the sleep hormone melatonin and lower stress levels. Studies have shown meditation to help people with addictions such as smoking and drugs. Some doctors have prescribed meditation for insomniacs, chronic pain sufferers and heart patients with good results.
In Marjas a 4 week meditation series you will take an in-depth look at:
- Processes of systematic relaxation & conscious relaxation
- Breathing techniques (Pranayama)
- Tools for meditation
- Developing a sitting posture
- Preparing for meditation
- The simple 5-stage process of meditation
- Concentration & how to refine it
- Centering your awareness
- Overview of yoga philosophy