The benefits of meditation

By MiNDFOOD

The benefits of meditation
Whether you're devoted to your daily reflection, turn to meditation every now and then to aid relaxation or are one of the many who struggle to still your monkey mind, you'll no doubt already be aware that frequent meditation delivers a whole host of rewards. 

From lowering stress levels to cultivating compassion, here are six reasons to make meditation a part of your daily ritual today.

Meditation reduces stress

One of the best-known benefits of frequent meditation is the positive effect it has on stress levels. Studies have shown that spending even a few minutes in stillness can help restore a sense of calm and inner peace, and it’s through the practise of learning to calm your body and mind that both physical and emotional stress can melt away.

Meditation promotes emotional health and well-being

It has long been suggested that meditation can go a long way towards boosting both self-image and self-worth. As a practise, meditation is takes away power from negative thoughts, it helps you realise your thoughts do not define you, and it also allows you to feel that you are enough, by focusing on the present instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

Meditation fosters focus

Focus, attention, and decision making are critical for our day to day lives and it’s been proven that practising meditation can help improve focus and stop our minds from wandering.

Meditation can help reduce depression

Ongoing research has suggested that a frequent meditation practice can help by changing how the brain responds to stress and anxiety, and thus can lead to a decrease in not only symptoms associated with depression but can also protect against the future development of depression-like symptoms.

Meditation can help you become less error prone

Some forms of meditation encourages a focus of awareness on feelings, thoughts or suggestions as they unfold in a person’s mind and body – and this can lead to an altered brain activity in a way that results in an increase in error recognition. A study conducted by Michigan State University found that just 20 minutes of meditation a day can enhance the brain’s ability to detect and pay attention to mistakes.

Meditation can lower levels of aggression

Research has shown that just a single session of meditation can help alleviate aggression and anger in those who are prone to being easily provoked, which adds to the growing evidence that meditation can help protect our bodies and minds from the harmful physical stress of anger.

Meditationmed helps cultivate compassion

As a practice, meditation favours feelings of love, oneness, and understanding and studies have shown that the ’empathy’ area of the brain (anterior insular cortex) lights up during meditation. While compassion is a higher level emotion than empathy; it’s defined as ’empathy without being overwhelmed by the other person’s feelings’ and consequently is an emotion that is cultivated during meditation practise.

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