Meditation is the habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. The popularity of meditation is increasing as more people discover its many health benefits.
Experiences and modern research show that meditation is helpful for life goals as regular and diverse as overcoming a traumatic heartbreak to increasing daily productivity. Modern-day meditators call it the food for the soul and suggest that the practice can unlock doors to a better life.
What is Meditation?
Meditation practices come in many forms, some of which date back more than 2,000 years. The specifics of each differ, but they all have one thing in common. “All the various practices train or cultivate attention and awareness,” says Miles Neale, a clinical instructor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College and author of Gradual Awakening, a book about Tibetan Buddhist meditation.
There are three main types, Neale says. The first and most common is one he calls single-pointed meditation, “where you try to anchor your mind to one point of attention, like your breath or a candle or a mantra,” he explains. The second type, “open focus meditation,” involves recognizing any thoughts, feelings, or sensations that pop into your head as they arise—without passing judgment on them. (This practice is a big component of mindfulness, he says.) The third type is one he calls “cultivation meditation,” in which you try to develop specific qualities or habits of the mind. Loving-kindness meditation, which emphasizes openness and compassion, is one example.
What Meditation does for the Brain?
What happens in your brain when you meditate
This is where things get really interesting. Using modern technology like fMRI scans, scientists have developed a more thorough understanding of what’s taking place in our brains when we meditate, kind of similar to how scientists have previously looked at measuring creativity in our brains.
The overall difference is that our brains stop processing the information as actively as they normally would. We start to show a decrease in beta waves, which indicates that our brains are processing information, even after a single 20-minute meditation session if we’ve never tried it before.
In the image below you can see how the beta waves (shown in bright colors on the left) are dramatically reduced during meditation (on the right).
8 Benefits of Meditation
Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace, and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health.
And these benefits don’t end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and may help you manage symptoms of certain medical conditions.
1. It reduces harmful inflammation
“Inflammation is the body’s reaction to something it doesn’t want where it is,” explains Dr. Roizen. In some cases, that’s a good thing—it’s the result of your body working to attack an allergen or infection. But chronic inflammation causes structural changes in your body that have been tied to several major chronic diseases, like cancer, diabetes, IBS, and even Alzheimer’s.
2. Reduces stress
Stress reduction is one of the most common reasons people try meditation. One review concluded that meditation lives up to its reputation for stress reduction. Normally, mental and physical stress cause increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
This produces many of the harmful effects of stress, such as the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.
3. May reduce age-related memory loss
Improvements in attention and clarity of thinking may help keep your mind young.
Kirtan Kriya is a method of meditation that combines a mantra or chant with repetitive motion of the fingers to focus your thoughts. Studies in people with age-related memory loss have shown it improves performance on neuropsychological tests. Furthermore, a review found preliminary evidence that multiple meditation styles can increase attention, memory, and mental quickness in older volunteers.
4. May help you deal with pain
If pain is really in the mind, theoretically so is your ability to shut it down—and a small study published in the Journal of Neuroscience looked at how meditation might help you do that. To establish a baseline, 15 people with no meditation experience were told to simply focus on their breath in an MRI machine; during the scan, researchers alternated applying a small amount of heat to their calves and asked them to rate their pain after the experiment.
5. Overcome anxiety and depression
Meditation has been shown to be as effective in relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression as antidepressants. It increases the prana level (life force) in the body. According to Ayurveda, as prana level increases, anxiety decreases automatically.
The Art of Living’s Sahaj Samadhi Dhyan, a meditation technique has been shown to alleviate symptoms of late-life depression.
6. Benefit your health
Physiology undergoes a change, and every cell in the body is filled with more prana (energy). This results in joy, peace, enthusiasm as the level of prana in the body increases.
- On a physical level, meditation:
- Lowers high blood pressure
- Lowers the levels of blood lactate, reducing anxiety attacks
- Decreases any tension-related pain, such as tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, muscle, and joint problems
- Increases serotonin production that improves mood and behavior
- Improves the immune system
- Improves sleep
7. Lower Blood Pressure levels
Regular phases of high blood pressure make the heart work harder to pump out blood to the other parts of the body. Studies are showing that practicing several types of meditation relaxes the nerve signals that control the heart functions and also reduces the tension in the blood vessels.
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8. Improves Sleep patterns
We all suffer from insomnia at some point in time in our life. Science has proved that people who practice meditation fall asleep faster and also stay asleep for a longer duration as compared to the ones who don’t practice this powerful technique. Regular meditation relaxes you, relieves you of tensions, and helps you maintain a peaceful state – all these three help you fall asleep faster.
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What meditation can do for your mind, mood, and health
It comes in many forms, including the following:
- Concentration meditation teaches you how to focus your mind. It’s the foundation for other forms of meditation.
- Heart-centered meditation involves quieting the mind and bringing awareness to the heart, an energy center in the middle of the chest.
- Mindfulness meditation encourages you to focus objectively on negative thoughts as they move through your mind, so you can achieve a state of calm.
- Tai chi and qigong are moving forms of meditation that combine physical exercise with breathing and focus.
- Transcendental Meditation is a well-known technique in which you repeat a mantra—a word, phrase, or sound—to quiet your thoughts and achieve greater awareness.
- Walking meditation turns your focus to both body and mind as you breathe in time with your footsteps.
4 Long term effects of Meditation
1. Better sleep
Studies have shown that people who practice meditation report improved sleep. It’s one of the most wholesome and best-appreciated long-term benefits that meditation provides. Medical professionals are now encouraging patients who suffer from insomnia and similar sleep disorders to try different techniques, especially certain forms of guided meditation, to help manage their symptoms. The American Journal of Medicine once reported on a study that aimed to determine the effects of meditation on insomniacs. The results were incredible – all of the patients involved in the study reported improved sleep quality, and 91% reduced their sleeping pill intake or stopped using them altogether.
2. Increased levels of happiness and compassion
Increased levels of contentment and compassion are among the most desirable long-term benefits of meditation. According to Rachel Parrish, a seasoned meditation instructor, your ability to exhibit true compassion isn’t based on your situation but rather on your complete openness. Compassion is a remarkable trait that’s hard-wired into all of us. Meditation will give you the tools you need to dig deep and access the happiness and compassion that await discovery within. Looking to external sources for comfort and well-being is a deeply ingrained habit, but if you meditate regularly, you’ll surely come to agree that true happiness comes from within.
3. A healthier immune system
Just as they calm the mind, the long-term effects of meditation also benefit the entire body. Some studies have indicated that people who practice meditation produce a higher number of antibodies more rapidly than those who don’t. More antibodies mean you’ll fight diseases more effectively – pathogens will be detected and eliminated with much more efficiency. So it not only improves your state of mind, it also strengthens your body’s disease-fighting mechanisms. A healthy body is one reflection of a peaceful mind.
4. Enhanced memory, concentration, and perception
If you’re curious about what happens when you meditate for a long time, consider the scientific studies involving Buddhist monks and possibly borrow a leaf from them. A good number of Buddhist monks and lay practitioners have perfected the art of meditation over many years. Studies conducted on some of the monks highlight the long-term effects of meditation on the brain. They showed signs of elevated brain activity within the cerebral regions associated with relaxation, happiness, concentration, self-awareness, and other positive emotions and qualities. Conversely, the brain areas responsible for stress and anxiety were less developed.
How many hours a day should I meditate?
If you are just starting out, I recommend you meditate for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes every day. You can start with even less. Maybe try it for 1 minute in the morning. And when you can sit still and relax for that long, move to 2 minutes. And then you keep increasing your time as you get comfortable with the practice.
The most important thing is to just start. The next most important thing is to be consistent. You are trying to set a new groove here. So starting simple is a great way to go.
The way I think about it, 5 minutes is 100% more than no minutes. And so is 1 minute. You just need to do it. You need to start and you need to keep going. Pick the amount of time that works for you and do it every day.
After a few weeks, then you can start to evaluate the impact and results of the meditation. Because we are all different, there isn’t the right amount of time to meditate. But it’s also like learning any new skill or practicing an instrument. The more time you invest in practice, the more results you’re going to see.
4 Different types of Meditation
1. Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation originates from Buddhist teachings and is the most popular meditation technique in the West.
You pay attention to your thoughts as they pass through your mind. Don’t judge the thoughts or become involved with them. You simply observe and take note of any patterns.
This practice combines concentration with awareness. You may find it helpful to focus on an object or your breath while you observe any bodily sensations, thoughts, or feelings.
This type of meditation is good for people who don’t have a teacher to guide them, as it can be easily practiced alone.
2. Focused
Focused meditation involves concentration using any of the five senses.
For example, you can focus on something internal, like your breath, or you can bring in external influences to help focus your attention.
Try counting mala beads, listening to a gong, or staring at a candle flame.
This practice may be simple in theory, but it can be difficult for beginners to hold their focus for longer than a few minutes at first.
If your mind does wander, it’s important to come back to the practice and refocus.
As the name suggests, this practice is ideal for anyone who requires additional focus in their life.
3. Movement
Although most people think of yoga when they hear movement meditation, this practice may include walking through the woods, gardening, qigong, and other gentle forms of motion.
It’s an active form of meditation where the movement guides you.
Movement meditation is good for people who find peace in action and prefer to let their minds wander.
4. Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation originates from Buddhist teachings and is the most popular meditation technique in the West.
In mindfulness meditation, you pay attention to your thoughts as they pass through your mind. You don’t judge the thoughts or become involved with them. Simply observe and take note of any patterns.
This practice combines concentration with awareness. You may find it helpful to focus on an object or your breath while you observe any bodily sensations, thoughts, or feelings.