Meditation And Its Benefits – Simplified

Meditation is easy and not so easy to understand. Its subtlety makes it difficult to understand especially to those who are unaware of it. It is simple yet profound. For some, they get introduced to meditation and get started on it. For others, it is not easy to understand and sometimes very confusing. So doing it only bring up the many obstacles and difficulties in pursuing it. But, consistently you may have noticed the appreciation for practicing meditation and been urged to pursue it to improve yourself. But you may have not known where to start. Whether you are introduced to meditation for the first time or been thinking of doing meditation for some time this article will be helpful to you.

What is meditation?
Meditation is a technique for resting the mind. Meditation is a simple method for mental relaxation. It is a way of freeing your mind and forgetting about daily anxieties. Just like physical exercise tones the body, meditation improves the condition of your mind.

• In the initial stages, much of meditation involves attention to the breath and relaxing the body and mind by using slow and controlled breathing.
• Simply put meditation is a fairly simple mental exercise involving relaxation and focusing of the mind and cultivating an awareness of yourself.
• Meditation is done in three modes which are concentration, observation, awareness.
• Meditation is a practical means for calming yourself, and it is a way of controlling your emotions and especially the mind.
• Meditation helps you systematically explore your inner dimensions and it is a commitment to pursue the goal of knowing your path and knowing yourself.
• During meditation, the goal is to clear the mind, relax and be inwardly focused. During meditation, you are awake and alert, but your mind will not focus on the external world.
• Meditation is a counter-intuitive approach where you get better by slowing your mind and learning not to agitate the mind.

The above explanation is looking at meditation from a materialistic dimension. In a so-called worldly manner of things and objects that can be seen.

Understanding the spiritual connection of meditation
We have a body and mind. Everybody understands this. The body helps us to physically do things and the mind helps us to think. If you breathe slowly a few times, relax and detach from the external surroundings. Then start observing yourself. You will notice in addition to the body and mind, there is ‘something’ that can observe your body and mind. So this ‘something’ is different from body and mind. This is called various things Atma, soul and few other names based on the various schools of Spiritualism.

The second thing is that this ‘something’ is inside of you and was hidden from you. Another interesting thing is that this ‘something’ is happy just being itself. It has no needs, no desires, it is happy in itself. When you connect with this ‘something’ it brings a soft, calm and powerful joy. Once you get to feel and experience this inner joy, it is a life-changing experience.

While many of the external and material experiences give pleasure and are wonderful. They require you to have wealth, connections and power. Wealth, connections and power need a lot of striving; many times they are not completely in your control. So they are not permanent.

While meditation helps you to connect with an inner joy that does not require much except a small amount of time, a quiet place and a few minutes of your time. You can do meditation and get to experience this calm and powerful joy. The best part is this is very much in your control and a more direct way of experience great inner joy.

There is also an important lesson on the means used to achieve this great joy and wonderful experience. When you get this joy, you deprive nobody of their joy, you don’t exploit anyone and neither do you take away anyone’s chance of enjoying this job by you reaching this joy. This is as easily available to everyone as it is available to you.

Meditation urges us to seek internal peace and happiness. Thereby meditation increases patience and ability to cope with negativity in the outside environment. Meditation improves your psychological functioning and improves your sense of well-being.

In a nutshell, this is the spiritual dimension of meditation.

Advantages of meditation
In the spiritual dimension of meditation, we have looked at the non-materialistic advantages of doing meditation. In addition to the spiritual benefits, in your physical world and existence also meditation makes a positive difference. In this section, we will look at those advantages

• In terms of avoiding negative outcomes, meditation calms you down and prevents you from burning yourself out, getting frustrated by external situations and by becoming overactive.
• Meditation helps to focus on the present and avoid unneeded anxiety
• Meditation helps you to be more productive in your work and life
• Meditation helps to reduce stress level and bring more calmness and peace in your mind
• Meditation has two productivity benefits. Firstly it improves cognition. Also, it increases your ability to perform work requiring focus.
• Meditation helps to enhance your immune system to make you more resistant to diseases.
• Meditation helps to attain wider consciousness by relaxing the mind, making you aware of your physical and emotional state and looking at life with a calm mind.
• Continuous practice of meditation enables one to maintain or sustain energy level and avoid frustrations.

• Meditation can help you to get better clarity in addition to peace of mind.
• By calming you down, meditation helps you assess things better and improve perception so that we can act in a superior manner.  Meditation thus helps you make better decisions.
• Calming down with meditation could increase imagination and creativity
• Looking at it from one dimension, meditation helps you to mind becomes fresh.  Meditation cleanses, nourishes you from within and calms you down. It helps or reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed, unstable, or emotionally shutting down.
• The overall benefits of meditations include a calm mind, relaxed body, awareness of your physical and emotional condition, enhanced concentration, increases perception /improved clarity, all of which help in better communication and helps calmly negotiating for better outcomes with people around you.

How much time is needed for meditation?
Meditation is all about connecting with your Atma to live a better life. Sometimes, we create the wrong perception that mediation needs many hours of meditation for a long period. There are many types of meditation. During a certain stressful situation just taking a slow deep breath or two helps you to move or act in the right direction. But doing meditation regularly and at the start of the day is suggested. Based on your situation in life and circumstances you can allot 5 to 20 minutes. But creating time for 20 minutes every day for meditation helps you to gain the most benefits.

Why you should consider doing meditation?
The benefits of meditation are manifold. It is an essential practice for mental hygiene. The results of meditating regularly are an unshakable inner strength, better health and better immunity. Meditation builds your ability to connect to an inner source of energy, relaxation and rejuvenation. Also, by meditating you develop a calm mind, better concentration and improved clarity of perception. At one level it leads to an improvement in communication and at another level to a blossoming of skills and talents. It is also an essential tool to handle the various challenges, pressures and obstacles in life in a calm manner.