How meditation helps us feel better - benefits of meditation

Benefits of the meditation

Scientists have already managed to look into the brains of the meditators people and have discovered a few pleasant surprises. A number have also been established benefits of meditation for health, including reducing stress, improving attention, improving memory and even increase creativity and the feeling of compassion. But how can something as simple as focusing on a single object produce such significant results? Here we will present one part of the growing body of scientific evidence about the ways in which meditation changes and improves brain function.

Before we begin the exposition, it is worth making a quick clarification of what is actually meant by meditation. The practice takes many different forms, but one technique that seems to be the most helpful, and is also among the most traditional, is called guided meditation, or focusing attention.

In this technique, practitioners are expected to focus their thoughts on only one specific object, with the main goal being to keep attention on the present moment. This usually means concentrating your thoughts on the breath – watching each breath in and out – without any other thoughts. If by chance any side thought arises, the meditator must quickly recognize it and remove it from his attention, and concentrate again on the object of his meditation.

Focusing the thoughts does not have to be on the breath; can also be used meditation on some particular thought or word, for example mantra.

So, if you've ever tried, you probably already know how difficult it is to concentrate - especially nowadays, when we have to do several things at the same time, and external irritants attack our attention to the limit. Our minds are already so used to jumping from one thought to another that sometimes it is difficult for us to keep our attention on one object even for just a few seconds.

It is a common misconception to think that meditation is simply an exercise for relaxation, or for clearing the mind of unnecessary thoughts. The truth is that meditation requires hard work and it takes a lot of practice to get a really good concentration of thoughts on just one object. But the more one tries, the easier it becomes to stay focused. Progress can be measured by how long we manage to stay focused without being distracted by side thoughts.

It is remarkable that such a simple technique can produce such significant health benefits. This is precisely what has sparked the interest of a growing number of scientists who are embarking on studies on the cognitive effects of meditation, including by studying Buddhist monks. Athe more research is done, the more certain it is that meditation is indeed a powerful tool for transforming the brain.

And if you want to take the first step towards meditation - see here the magnificent collection of author's guided meditations, created with great love by Milena Goleva

A quick clarification: most of the studies cited here refer to the benefits of focused meditation. That doesn't mean others either meditation techniques – such as Open Perception Meditation – cannot produce a number of positive results either.

Changing the brain

Buddhists practice the meditation for thousands of years - literally. They know the positive effects of it, including the way in whichit enhances inner strength and insight, which are necessary and fundamental to Buddhist spiritual practice. Meditation is to Buddhist monks what prayer is to Christians. But instead of trying to reach God with their thoughts, Buddhists try to penetrate their own mind and bring it under control. Scientists have only recently been able to peer into the brain to see what's going on there. The advent of MRI and other brain scanning techniques has largely paved the way in this direction.

For example, neurologists have found, by observing MRI results, that meditation strengthens the brain by improving the connections between brain cells. Research from 2012 has found that meditators have higher levels of gyrification - wrinkling of the cerebral cortex as a result of its growth, which in turn allows for faster information processing. Although the study does not prove this directly, scientists suspect that it is the wrinkling of the cerebral cortex that makes the brain faster at processing information, making decisions, forming memories and improving attention. In fact, much of the research shows that meditation leads to physical changes in the brain, many of which improve its functions. Other studies show, for example, that meditation is associated with thickening of the cerebral cortex, which can lead to reduced sensitivity to pain.

Take, for example, the 2009 study, which has the descriptive title "Prolonged meditation is associated with greater gray matter density in the brainstem." Neuroscientists have used MRI scans to compare the brains of meditators and non-meditators. The observed structural differences have led scientists to hypothesize multiple benefits, such asimproving cognitive, emotional and immune responses and may also be associated with positive effects on breathing and heart function (improved cardiorespiratory control).

There is reliable evidence that meditation improves the overall structure of the gray matter, which plays a major role in the central nervous system.Meditation has been linked to greater hippocampal and frontal brain volume, leading to more positive emotions, improved emotional stability and more rational behavior(increased attention during normal daily life). Meditation has also been found to have neuroprotective qualities, can reduce age-related changes in gray matter and limit cognitive decline.

A study from earlier this year showed that meditators have a different expression of brain metabolites compared to healthy non-meditators, particularly those metabolites linked to anxiety and depression.

But meditation affects more than just the physical and chemical components of the brain. Neuroscientists have found that it also affects brain activity itself. For example, meditation is associated with reduced activity in the usual levels of the connectivity network—those unwanted functions of the brain that are responsible for attention lapses and disorders such as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Meditation has even been found to reduce the build-up of beta-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease.

Among other things, meditation is also associated with dramatic changes in the electrical activity of the brain, and more precisely withincrease in theta and alpha waves in brain electroencephalography, which have to do with awake and calm attention.

Health benefits

While most of the studies listed above have focused on the neurocognitive aspects of meditation, other studies have addressed the relationship of meditation to the listed health benefits. Perhapsthe most significant of these benefits is meditation's ability to improve mindfulness. In 2010 researchers conducted experiments with participants who, over the course of the 3-month study, practiced focusing their attention for five hours each day (which is quite a lot!) Then they conducted tests on the ability to concentrate, and it was found that the participants more easily succeeded to maintain their attention on an object. Which makes sense, because if you can concentrate for long periods of time, you'll naturally be able to do so in your everyday life.Focusing attention is much like a muscle that needs to be trained through exercise to be able to strengthen.

Also, 5 hours of meditation a day is a little too much. There are studies that show thateven 20 minutes of meditation a day is enough to bring benefits, such as reducing stress. And other studies show that even a short period of meditation can be beneficial. For example,after 10 intense days of meditation, people experience significant improvements in awareness and contemplative thoughts, relief from symptoms of depression, improvements in working memory and attention span.

A study from last year shows that meditation can significantly reduce stress after just 8 weeks of practice. Participants who meditated performed much better on stressful multitasking tests than non-meditators. This is likely related to reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The most interesting thing is thatmeditating before a stressful situation can help significantly reduce feelings of stress during the event.

If you are the creative type, the open perception meditation technique will be more recommended for you because it helps new ideas emerge.This technique is the complete opposite of mindfulness meditation, because it requires the practitioner to objectively observe the content of all his thoughts at any given moment.

Finally, meditation has also been shown to increase the level of empathy, but it uses a specific technique calleda meditation of love, kindness and compassion. It is a variation of the mindfulness technique where the practitioner must concentrate on feelings of love, compassion and understanding. By comparing the magnetic resonance imaging scans of novice meditators and those of Buddhist monks (each with more than 10,000 hours of practice), the scientists observed how emotional stimuli (sounds of people in distress) lit up the corresponding areas of the brain associated with empathy;thus, monks were found to show a much higher degree of empathy than novices. Therefore, scientists suggest that by practicing compassion meditation, people can become more empathetic.

So what are you waiting for? Start meditating and working on improving your brain functions! 😉

You can choose your guided meditation HERE!

Author: George Dvorsky

Learn more about Milena Goleva's collection of meditations here

You can find free video materials of up-to-date techniques, practices and tips from Milena Goleva on her YouTube channel here.