Zenful Spirit - Let's Know the Power of Meditation
What is Meditation?
It is a practice in which we train our body and mind to have a healthy sense of perspective. Meditation also helps us in developing certain positive human qualities like compassion and awareness that remain dormant somewhere inside and can be brought out only by putting some extra effort.
Why Should We Meditate?
Meditation is a way of training our minds. It is one way through which we can get connected with our body, mind, and soul. Regular meditation not only helps in reducing anxiety and stress level but also make us feel happy.
In this modern era, when we all busy running after something or another, the actual meaning of living life has gone lost somehow. Meditation helps us in connecting with our true inner self and help us understand the real purpose of life. Meditation makes us feel more relaxed and calmer.
Besides this, regular practice of meditation helps in preventing various mental, physical, and emotional disorders.
How Does Meditation Work?
As we all know, meditation is a brain training exercise that helps in increasing self-awareness and inculcating positive qualities. Studies have shown the regular practice of meditation brings numerous changes in our brain.
Meditation activates various centres in the brain by enabling a shift from high-frequency brain waves to lower frequency. These centres are responsible for rational thinking, have empathy, understanding others, etc. Hence, changing our understanding and thinking perspective.
Furthermore, studies have shown that regular practice of meditation changes the shape of the brain. It strengthens the crucial areas of the brain. Studies have shown an increase in the grey matter among the individual who practices meditation regularly. Grey matter is a crucial part of the brain as it is responsible for all kinds of executive functioning, like problem-solving, regulation of emotions, etc.
Meditation also increases the cortical thickness of the brain. This helps in improving memory and learning skills.
In addition to this, meditation decreases the 'amygdala' in the brain. This centre is responsible for our feeling under situations like anxiety, fear, and stress.
Meditation Types:
It might be surprising, but if we put various meditation types and techniques from different cultures, religions, traditions, and spiritual disciplines together, the total will be in hundreds. There is no such thing as the best meditation practice. It all depends on the individual. An individual can select either a single or more than one meditation type that works best for him/her and practice the same regularly.
Below we have discussed some of the most common types of meditation. For detailed information, you can browse “Zenfulspirit.com.” This site will answer all your queries regarding meditation.
- Loving-kindness Meditation
This meditation practice focusses on the image of other human beings. Questions like whether we knew the individual or we like the individual doe bot matter. This meditation technique helps us in directing goodwill and positive energy, firstly to ourselves than to others. This flow of positive energy helps us in overcoming any unhappy or negative feelings that we might be experiencing.
- Body Scan or Progressive Relaxation
Many a time it happens that we are present physically at one place but, mentally, we are somewhere else. Body scan meditation helps in bringing our mind and body at the same frequency. It is achieved by performing a full body scan, i.e., from head to toe, mentally. We concentrate on every part of our body and check if there is any pain, tension, discomfort, or sensation. Focussing on body parts or conducting a mental body scan helps in relaxing our mind, as well as body.
- Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is all about focussing on our thoughts. The practitioner observes and analyzes every thought that comes to our brain. The aim is neither to judge or get involved in the thought but to be aware of them.
With time, practitioners become learn to differentiate between pleasant and unpleasant experiences and good or bad. Mindfulness meditation helps in developing an inner balance in the practitioner.
- Reflection
Reflection meditation involves finding answers to questions like, “What are you grateful for?” This technique enables the practitioner to focus on the feeling that arises while answering such a question.
- Resting Awareness
As the name suggests, resting awareness involves resting of the mind. Different thoughts might originate, but instead of disturbing the practitioner, they drift away.
- Kundalini Yoga
In Kundalini yoga, the focus is on strengthening the nervous system. This further helps in reducing stress and anxiety.
The Benefits of Meditation:
- Lower Your Blood Pressure
Meditation helps in lowering blood pressure by relaxing neurons that coordinate function of heart, the tension in blood vessels, and the amygdala in the brain that causes anxiety and tension under stressful situations.
- Increase Your Circulation
Meditation relaxes and calms our body and mind. As a result, our heart pumps the blood steadily and slowly. This furthermore increases the blood circulation in the body.
- Enhances Self-awareness
Specific meditation practices as self-inquiry meditation helps in increasing self-awareness. It aims at understanding the thought pattern and try to direct them towards a more positive pattern.
- Promotes Emotional Health
Many meditation techniques aim at overcoming negative thoughts and increasing positivity in life. Studies have shown that meditation reduces the production of cytokines in the brain. The reduction of this hormone further helps in reducing depression.
- Controls Anxiety
Meditation is known to be very effective in reducing stress and anxiety levels.