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We could spend a lot of time talking about all the amazing benefits of meditation, there’re many studies that have been done.
…With many more being conducted.
But, I’m not here to talk about science… well, maybe a little.
I want to talk about the real-life benefits of meditation.
Also, to share some of the positive experiences I’ve had since starting out with my practice 5 years ago.
I’m not a meditation teacher.
But, I want to share with you some of the ways meditation has improved my life.
With the hope that you’ll feel inspired to take up meditation or just re-ignite your love for it.
So, let’s look at how it can improve our quality of life.
8 Amazing Benefits of Meditation:
- Meditation Makes it Easier to Digest Food
- Better Sleep
- Helps to be Happy as F*&#
- Meditation Helps to Control Emotions
- Helps to Manage Chronic Pain
- Better Focus
- Meditation Reduces Stress and Anxiety
- Helps Manage Depression
+ The 1 Unexpected Benefit of Meditation
Let’s get into it…
You know how whenever you feel stressed, sometimes you feel it in your stomach.
This is because when you’re stressed out, your body is also tense and stressed.
When your body is tense, your stomach is really affected.
Your body goes into “fight or flight” mode.
That’s why your stomach loses its ability to properly digest food.
This then turns into a whole cluster of unpleasant reactions like cramps, bloating, gassiness.
All sorts of nasty stuff you don’t want in your life.
Not to mention that it can also lead to a drop in your energy levels and weight gain or weight loss.
You want your body to be in “rest and digest mode”.
The deep breaths you take when you meditate helps digestion because it boost your circulation.
Improved circulation has an immediate effect on how well your stomach can digest food.
Our oxygen levels in the blood also go up when you meditate.
That, together with better circulation helps you in the long run.
Better digestion makes me feel lighter, more energized, which also helps improve my mood.
Check out the video I made for the 8 Amazing Benefits of Meditation…
2. Better Sleep
Another major benefit of meditation that I’ve noticed from the start is better sleep.
Not only does meditation improve the quality of your sleep.
It also helps with your ability to fall sleep.
According to this article meditation helps treat insomnia, that’s how powerful it is.
When you focus your mind and breathe deeply during your meditation you become calmer.
You feel more relaxed.
Your blood pressure drops and circulation improves which helps our muscles to relax.
Having a better ability to give our thinking mind a break is also something that helps with our ability to fall asleep.
And we all know what a good night’s sleep can do to improve our productivity, focus, and energy levels.
We feel refreshed and ready for action.
For more info. check out our post on Sleep meditation.
3. Helps to Be Happy as F*&#
According to Harvard medical school, meditation can help change the chemistry of our bodies.
The effects of meditation are both physical and mental.
Meditation is beneficial for patients suffering from anxiety, chronic pain, depression, and PTSD.
Scientists studied the way brain activity changes during meditation.
They found that the area called the amygdala was less activated not only during meditation but also after.
The amygdala is known as the brain’s “fear center”.
You can imagine why calming that area of the brain has so many positive effects.
These changes in our body’s chemistry can help us maintain a balanced, more relaxed state during and after meditation.
That’s pretty damn good!
Overall mental health and wellbeing are improved when we learn to balance our polar minds.
To learn more about meditation have a look at our post…
7 Most Effective Mindfulness Meditation Techniques
4. Meditation Helps to Control Emotions
That’s right… meditation helps control your emotions.
This was the main reason I first started to meditate. I wanted to have better control over my crazy-ass emotions.
Meditation has helped me to do achieve this so much!
I’ve struggled in the past with anxiety, anger, lack of confidence… and the list goes on.
Especially in social situations.
I used to get nervous and I wasn’t able to communicate to people the way that I wanted to.
That just made the situation worse.
Just the thought of doing what I am doing today was impossible.
Meditation helped me so much.
I was able to re-evaluate many things in my life that I needed to improve to become happy.
Thanks to meditation I am confident and content.
I can communicate how I want.
That’s something I’m forever grateful for, and the main reason I wanted to start Lamajo.
…To help you.
If you’re struggling with controlling your emotions, Check out our video on Breathwork and how it can help.
5. Helps to Manage Chronic Pain
There are over 100 million Americans and 1.5 billion people worldwide that are affected by chronic pain.
Many of them turn to medications and drugs to help manage that pain.
This is a big problem in itself.
According to an article from the New York Academy of Sciences, the widespread use of opioids to treat chronic pain has led to an opioid epidemic.
It’s characterized by an exponential growth in opioid misuse and addiction.
Mindfulness meditation is a technique that has been found to significantly reduce pain in experimental and clinical settings.
Pain is very complex.
It’s made up of sensory, cognitive, and affective factors.
So, things like mood, psychological disposition, expectations, and anxiety affect the level of pain we feel.
The benefits of meditation on pain have to do with the fact that it engages multiple unique brain mechanisms to reduce the effects of it.
6. Better Focus
I was never able to focus for short periods of time, let alone longer periods.
My monkey mind used to wonder and I couldn’t get it back.
Meditation has helped me a lot with this.
From the beginning, I noticed the benefits that meditation had on my ability to focus.
When I first started I was struggling with being able to focus while meditating.
At one point, I began to wonder if I’m wasting my time.
But, I managed to stay consistent with my practice.
I had faith in what other people were saying about the benefits they had gotten from sticking at it.
So, I stayed consistent and I’m really happy I did.
Because my ability to focus on a certain task now is so much better than it used to be.
Meditation helps clear your mind and focus on what’s important.
For more on ways to improve your focus, check out our post…
7 Steps to Mastering the Art of Focus
7. Meditation Reduces Stress and Anxiety
This is probably the most common problem that we have these days.
It’s one of the biggest reasons why people turn to meditation.
Stress and anxiety levels in society are overwhelming.
Things like social media and using our phones have increased this at a disturbing rate.
We all need a way to calm ourselves and learn to relax.
Researchers have shown that even one mindfulness meditation session improves people’s ability to be calm, and relax.
It goes to show what a daily meditation practice can do.
It will help us to better enjoy day to day life.
We’ve also put together a list of the best 5 tips to help you reduce stress.
8. Helps Manage Depression
With depression being one of the most widespread mental illnesses today, studies are continuing to look for cures and relief.
The proof of the benefits of meditation on relieving depression is really important.
A recent article by the American Psychological Association talks about a study on the benefits of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
It looked at depression relapse in patients with at least three prior episodes of major depressive disorders.
The study found that meditation is just as good as medication.
But with the benefit of being a free, non-chemical solution without any side-effects.
Willem Kuyken, Ph.D., the main author of the study says:
“People at risk for depression are dealing with a lot of negative thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about themselves and this can easily slide into a depressive relapse. MBCT (mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) helps them to recognize that’s happening, engage with it in a different way, and respond to it with equanimity and compassion.”
The Unexpected Benefit of Meditation is…
It Helps with Weight Loss
Meditation actually helps maintain weight loss.
A clinical study showed that mindfulness practices helped overweight and obese women to maintain weight loss.
If you think about it, it makes sense.
The major reason people overeat or eat unhealthy food because of anxiety and stress.
Meditation helps lower stress and anxiety levels, so it can also have a positive effect on your diet and weight.
Also, improved digestion helps with cravings for high fat and high sugar foods.
Conclusion
There we have it…
These are only 8 benefits of meditation that I have shared with you, but there are many more.
I want to encourage you to start meditating or if you already do then I want to help motivate you to stay consistent.
I think it’s a no-brainer that meditation is something we should all do every day.
That small amount of time that is required to be invested each day is well worth it!
If you want to learn more about meditation or you want help to improve your meditation practice then download our free e-book…
The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Meditation.
It will give you the tips you need to improve your daily meditation.
Yours in good meditation,
Lachie
Co-founder of Lamajo.
Leave a comment below with any other meditational benefits that I didn’t mention…
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