Several millennia ago man discovered the benefits of meditation. Immediately following his wife accused him of sitting around doing nothing when he should be out clubbing some dinner to death. But seriously there are several well known benefits of meditation that have been proven through scientific research.
Meditation gives your mind that quite time it so richly needs to calm you and help you relax. Meditation has been shown to significantly reduce stress and improve productivity for you cubicle dwellers. This is usually achieved through the breathing exercises that are a staple in most types of meditation. Stress reduction is one of the main reasons why people take up meditation.
There are many documented cases wherein meditation has been shown to help in curing an illness. There was a study done in 1976 by Australian psychiatrist Ainslie Meares which was published in the Medical Journal of Australia where it documented how a patient’s cancer regressed after sessions of meditation. There are also several where meditation has been shown to lower blood pressure levels.
In meditations where you focus on objects or recite a mantra you teach the mind to focus and maintain your concentration on one particular thing. Doing activities like these have been shown to improve a person’s concentration and ability to focus. Benefits of meditation like this can come in real handy if you have detailed work that needs to be done requiring precision.
One big benefit of meditation is learning to take things as they are. When you practice accepting the things you cannot control you become happier and get frustrated a lot less often.
Some studies have shown that people who meditate have higher intelligence than those who don’t. I don’t quite get all the scientific mumbo jumbo but basically the brain operates at certain frequency ranges and those who meditate can focus those ranges more accurately. The premise is that the brain is just like a muscle and with continued use and practice it become stronger and more capable. Makes sense to me.
So those are the high points. If you visit some of those other metaphysical new age sites they can give you a laundry list of how it brings you closer to enlightenment, centers your chi, expands your awareness, blah, blah, blah. I prefer to keep it simple, but regardless the bottom line is that meditation is good for you and has some measurable benefits.