Anwar Uddin - How to Meditate: This Book Will Change Your Life

Youmay already have some ideas about the benefits of meditation.

Thereare so many documented benefits of meditation that it almost seems comical tosome people.

ButI am going to properly explain some science backed benefits of meditation.

Ifyou are not interested in learning about the benefits of meditations and justwant to dive into the techniques; then you can skip this chapter. But I wouldsuggest you to quickly skim through this chapter just for a refresher.

Firstof all, the obvious one. Meditation reduces stress. Regular meditation hasproven to decrease the level of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is also calledby some as the stress hormone of the body. Cortisol is not a bad thingcompletely. It does help out with some bodily functions. But too much of it canincrease the stress and anxiety levels in a person.

Meditationhas been known to help out with regulating cortisol. Which in turn, helps outwith regulating the stress levels.

Therealso has been studies that indicated that, mindfulness meditation actuallyhelps with decreasing depression and symptoms of depression. One study wasconducted in Belgium with middle school students. In the study, some studentswere trained in mindfulness meditation in class and others were not. After asix-month period, the students that were taught the practice of mindfulnessmeditation in class had shown to have lesser number of symptoms that arerelated to depression, stress, anxiety etc.

Inone particular study, it was found that meditation is as effective asantidepressant drugs in treating depression and anxiety. A separate study hasalso proved that meditation helps with reducing the grey matter in the brainwhere stress and anxiety is generated.

Meditativetechniques also help people to train the parts of their brain that can takecontrol of themselves when panic attacks might happen. They can quickly analysethe situation where their brain might indicate them to be in a fight or flightsituation. Meditative techniques can help you getting out of that mentality.

Yousee, the modern human rarely encounters this sort of fight or flightsituations. This was important to men and women when they were living with wildanimals out in the open. They always needed to be alert. There might be snakeshiding somewhere, a lion or a pack of hyenas might be looking for lunch. Inthose situations, staying alert and being in a fight or flight mode was helpfulfor us. That is why humans have survived and evolved as a species.

Butin modern world, nothing life threatening happens on a daily basis.

Justthink about the situations that get us to panic and get agitated. Your bosscalls you for a chat. Worst case scenario, you will be fired. He or she is notgoing to murder you. You do not need to start panicking. At least not acting likehe will kill you. People get panicked when they see that they have missed acall from their spouse/girlfriend/mother etc. that is not a reason of panic.Just call them back.

WhatI am trying to say is that there is no lion hiding in the alley to have you ashis dinner.

So,there is no need to behave like that. But, in most cases, we cannot help butfeel like that. That is why meditation is going to be helpful. With meditation,you will acquire the skill of recognizing your own behavioural pattern. Youwill know where you might start to get panic attacks. That way, you can controlyour own mind when you start feeling the panic attacks incoming.

Italso reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. It also controlsblood pressure.

Meditationalso helps with dealing with pain. As it has been reported that regularmeditators experience less pain when subjected to the same experience withpeople who do not meditate regularly.

Meditationincrease the power to focus and the attention span of meditators. In spite ofdistractions, meditators are able to focus at a task more than others. Ibelieve this to be the most important benefit of meditation.

Studieshave shown that meditating for only 20 minutes everyday has improved thecognitive abilities of the people compared to the people who were notpracticing meditation daily.

Meditationhas also proven to improve resilience, mental strength, decision making,information processing, emotional intelligence, awareness of surroundings etc.it also helps with reducing hyperactivity.

Meditationalso helps with forming new memories and recalling them when needed. Meditationalso helps with nurturing creativity.

Meditationis going to help you to be more empathetic to others. That is going to help youbuild more positive and meaningful relationships with others.

Meditationis also going to increase compassion among meditators.

Withregular meditation, you will feel less worried in social situations, and youmight also feel less lonesome.