“The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime.” – Sogyal Rinpoche
The tenet for my blog and my business is: Feeling good is the key to everything. The truth is that meditation might be the ultimate KEY to EVERYTHING. Absolutely every aspect of your life can be improved with even a few minutes of daily meditation.
“Meditation connects you with your soul, and this connection gives you access to your intuition, your heartfelt desires, your integrity, and the inspiration to create a life you love.” – Sarah McLean
Do you want to be healthier? Happier? Have more money? Perhaps you wish to heal yourself physically or emotionally? Be more attractive? Be better at whatever it is you do?
Meditation has the power to transform lives.
Are you looking fot a truly transformative experience? Start with meditation. Below, I have listed seven reasons to meditate today.
1. Meditate to Reduce Stress
Meditation can clear your mind and bring about the kind of inner peace that can transform your world. This tool can allow you to live a life without stress, anxiety, worry and fear.
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”– Amit Ray
Meditation even has the power to reverse stress-caused damage at the molecular level. Lead investigator Ivana Buric from the Brain, Belief and Behaviour Lab in Coventry University’s Centre for Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement was quoted as saying:
“Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realise is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.
“These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply, MBIs [Mind Body Interventions] cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.”
Practicing meditation doesn’t simply relax us. Meditation can actually reverse the reactions in our DNA that cause ill health and depression.
“Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.” – Buddha
2. Meditate to Improve Your Health
Researchers have discovered extensive and measurable health benefits from the practice of meditation. Many of these benefits are linked to the stress reduction that occurs as a result of meditation.
To better understand the way that meditation affects your physical health, you first need to understand the role of a molecule in your physiology known as NF-kB.
What is NF-kB? Simply put, NF-kB is a protein that acts as a switch to turn inflammation on and off in the body.
When a person is exposed to a stressful event, the system responsible for the ‘fight-or-flight’ response is activated. The ‘fight-or-flight’ response increases the production of NF-kB.
The increased NF-kB caused by stress activates genes that produce proteins called cytokines. Cytokines cause inflammation at cellular level. These systems were beneficial to our ancestors as a short-lived fight-or-flight reaction. Unfortunately, though, with the daily stress we encounter in modern life, this inflammation can lead to a myriad of health problems. Inflammation has been linked to the following health conditions:
- NF-kB can signal our cells to continue to multiply long past their normal life span, which can lead to a higher risk of cancer.
- Inflammation caused by NF-KB can damage joint tissues, causing arthritis.
- NF-kB is believed to play a role in nervous system inflammation, which can set the stage for the onset of various neurological disorders.
- Scientists believe that NFkB-induced inflammation in the airways may even play a role in asthma.
- Inflammation is also linked to accelerated aging and psychiatric disorders like depression.
Meditation can aid in the suppression of NF-kB’s activity in the body. Do you understand how powerful that is? This explains then, how meditation has been linked to better immunity, the reduction of general aches and discomforts, improved bone density, fat loss, clearer skin, and improved regulation of blood sugar levels.
The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind. – Caroline Myss
All of us are running from one stressor to another in our modern society. Our brains are always working. When you stop to think about it, the brain is really the hardest-working organ in the body, and it deserves a rest from time to time. Isn’t it amazing that reducing our stress levels via meditation can have such a profound effect on our physical health?
3. Meditate to improve your Brain
How much would you be able to improve your life if you had the power to optimize your brain’s function? Shouldn’t that be a priority for people in any field? It turns out, you can improve your brain by simply learning to meditate.
“Meditation is to the mind what exercise is to the body” – John Thornton
Meditation is scientifically proven to evolve your brain. In fact, a study released in 2011 found that participating in an 8-week meditation training program can have measurable effects on how the brain functions even when someone is not actively meditating.
Meditation builds gray matter in key areas of your brain associated with the capacity for self-control, focus and attention, along with memory and creativity. Furthermore, meditation prevents the age-related shrinkage in the parts of your brain that manage memory and decision-making.
Meditation is a means of clearing the clutter from your brain and leaving behind calm and clarity.
4. Meditate to help your relationships
Meditation also helps in the development of compassion, love, patience, generosity, and forgiveness.
A study released in October of 2012 found that meditation increases activity in parts of the brain that are of central importance for our ability to recognize the emotional states of others.
When you have greater compassion for others, you feel less lonely and are more interested in making connections with others. Your ability to be self-aware and also to control and express your feelings increases. This makes you better at handling all of your relationships. According to MentalHealthDaily.com, “there is evidence that meditation has the potential to change aspects of your potential – likely for the better.” Researchers suggest that meditators “accept a greater sense of responsibility, are more likely to maintain authenticity, compassion, and accept themselves. Frequent mindfulness meditation is associated with increases in personality traits of openness and extroversion.”
“It’s an intriguing result, suggesting that a behavioral intervention could enhance a key aspect of empathy,” says Jennifer Mascaro, a post-doctoral fellow in anthropology at EmoryUniversity. “Previous research has shown that both children and adults who are better at reading the emotional expressions of others have better relationships.”
“Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.” – Diana Robinson
5. Meditate for a Better Mood
“Go within every day and find the inner strength, so that the world cannot blow your candle out.” – Katherine Dunham
Meditation helps regulate your mood. You may discover that through your meditation practice, the things that used to make you anxious or upset no longer bother you. Meditation actually changes the make-up of your brain. A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered that meditation decreases the size of that part of the brain associated with poor moods. Even better, Harvard University neuroscientists found an increase in the gray matter of the brain associated with sense of self and perspective. These brain changes have the power to give you more compassion and empathy and also to better keep you grounded.
Inner stillness is the key to outer strength. – Jared Brock
6. Meditate to build your Energy (Your Life Force)
All things are alive with energy. You are alive with energy. Life Force energy is responsible for maintaining all of your physical functions, including maintaining life.
“It’s like having a charger for your whole body and mind. That’s what Meditation is!” – Jerry Seinfeld
Life force energy can be about more than just maintaining life and health, however. When our energy is good, we often feel “in the flow” or “high vibe”. Synchronicities become a regular occurrence. Pure vibrations resonate easily when we elevate our life force energy through meditation. The flow of our life force energy can feel good and lead us to a life of purpose and joy.
7. Meditate for World Peace
As a society we must all come together to find solutions to violence and aggression toward one another. Meditation is one way to do this and teaching our kids to meditate might be the best gift you can give your kids and the world.
“If every 8-year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” – Dalai Lama
Kids younger than 8 or 9 are incredibly immersed in their experience; they don’t need formal meditation, but after that, we need to make meditation training a priority.
Think about how much better your life might have been if as a child somebody had taught you how to meditate.
“Meditation is a lifelong gift. It’s something you can call on at any time.” – Paul McCartney
With all of the benefits of meditating, doesn’t it seem almost crazy NOT TO Meditate? So if all of that evidence is convincing enough for you, how do you get started?
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Marcy Vogler is a lifestyle makeover coach, personal trainer, and mother of three. Marcy is passionate about helping women make over their lives from the inside out. To learn more about the courses Marcy offers, check out our parter website at www.thegoodlife4u.club. For daily inspiration, join Marcy’s Facebook Group: Love Your Day, Love Your Life.
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