When you think of meditation, the image in your head is probably that of a monk or other religious leader, cross legged and hands out, repeating a mantra for several hours in some secluded mountain region. But that’s not all meditation can be.
Meditation simply means being alone with and learning to recognize your thoughts and physicality. It’s done for a variety of reasons from religious to medicinal and therapeutic, and has been practiced around the world for thousands of years by people from all walks of life. Not only that, but it’s been proven to have tangible physical, mental, and emotional benefits with regular practice.
Meditation is becoming increasing common in the modern world, for a variety of reasons. Read on to learn why people meditate and how to make it work for you.
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Meditation Is Becoming More And More Common
Monks alone in their cells, praying for hours on end. Traditional hours of contemplation and relaxation. Yoga classes at your local rec center.
Believe it or not, all of these are a form of meditation. Meditation has become increasingly popular in recent years as its scientific benefits have become more well known, but its origins date back long before any serious scientific study.
People have been meditating for nearly as long as there have been people, across tons of cultures globally. You can start meditating at home today.
What is Meditation?
Meditation, put as simply as possible, is the practice of relaxing your body and reducing external stimuli to focus on your mind, allowing you to be in the moment and process your thoughts from a neutral, outside perspective. It’s the practice of self-reflection; the goal is to make you more aware and in control of your thoughts.
An easy way to understand meditation is to take a moment to try it. Here’s a relatively basic form of meditation you can try.
- Sit with your back straight, or lie down. Close your eyes.
- Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, then breathe out for four seconds. Repeat this, and focus on your breathing.
- When your mind wanders, acknowledge the thought, but then refocus on your breathing.
- Do this for at least ten minutes.
Having practiced a basic version of it, you’ll more easily see that meditation leads to a relaxed state of awareness and calm.
Meditation Crosses Religious Borders
Meditation has been a part of religious practices across the globe since their inception thousands of years ago. Hinduism and Buddhism both rely on meditation as a part of their prayer routines. Here are some Buddhist mediation techniques for beginners for you to learn. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim contemplative prayers are a form of meditation, as are trances from Shamanistic tradition.
These traditions, though specific to their cultures, have a common goal – put the meditator more at ease and allow them to connect more easily to their spirituality. Though the practices themselves are different, the concept and goal are the same, which can give disparate religious believers common ground to learn from each other on.
People Have Been Meditating For Thousands Of Years
The first records we have of meditation date back to near the beginning of modern society, in the year 5,000 BCE. These records come in the form of wall art in the Indus Valley which depicts cross-legged figures with closed eyes apparently deep in meditation. Starting at around 3,000 years ago, we being to see written instructions for meditation in Indian literature.
Meditation only became popular in the Western world in the 1960s, but it’s been used regularly across the Eastern world – in many Asian and African countries and cultures – since its inception. It’s a key part of many versions of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as many other religions. The advent of popular television yogis was just the natural transition of meditation into the technological age.
Some Of The Most Common Reasons People Meditate
So yes, people have been meditating practically since our first development on the planet. But there isn’t just one way to do it, or one reason, for that matter. Meditation is practiced for a multitude of reasons. Here are some of the most common ones.
Meditation Is Deeply Spiritual
Meditation Is Deeply SpiritualAs discussed, meditation is often closely tied to religious practices. Many people meditate as a way to feel closer to their god, or to themselves as they search for enlightenment. Religious meditation can take the form of silent contemplation in a classic cross-legged position, specific prayers to be recited at certain times or on certain days, or simply time alone enjoying and appreciating nature.
Many faiths have a form of meditation associated with them. The most easily recognized is Buddhism, who encourage classic meditative techniques to reach nirvana. Hindu meditation sometimes takes the form of yoga or other similar sets of movements. Islam teaches the importance of introspection through five scheduled daily prayers, while Judaism and Christianity encourage times of intense and dedicated prayer on feast days.
No matter which religious tradition it comes from, meditation for spiritual reasons has always been seen as an act of devotion and dedication to your spirituality. It can be taken as a sign that a person is particularly devout or that they are in the midst of an important spiritual journey. Many people consider meditation one of the most sacred acts a layperson can perform.
Meditation Reduces Stress And Anxiety
Meditation isn’t just a spiritual practice; it’s a proven medical treatment. It’s become popular for tech moguls, executives, teachers, and others with high-stress jobs to take time to meditate during their busy days because meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety.
This is because meditation focuses on controlling breathing and practicing mindfulness, or the act of being in the moment without allowing your thoughts to overtake you. Through continuous practice, meditation can help people to feel calmer, reduce thought spiraling that’s common with anxiety, and overall raise mood.
It can also help control the physical symptoms of severe anxiety. When in the midst of a panic attack, using mindfulness techniques can help stop the shaking, sweating, and feelings of claustrophobia or impending doom. This can make the attack shorter and less traumatic, helping you come out of it easier and recover quicker.
Meditation Can Help Improve Your Attention Span And Mental Capabilities
Recent studies have found that regular meditation can actually change the configuration of your brain to be more receptive to longer stints of focus and attention. This rewiring also means you’re more capable of making and retrieving accurate memories.
It’s been shown to have this kind of effect and more on older brains, slowing the signs of aging significantly. According to the study, participants in the older age range who meditated regularly showed thicker brain tissue in key areas related to memory and function than those who didn’t. This means you’re more likely to have better brain function for longer if you meditate.
Another key element of meditation is helpful in this regard – keeping the mind from wandering on passing intrusive trains of thought. Being able to recognize, acknowledge, and let those thoughts go can help keep you focused on the task at hand longer and can reduce worry and stress caused by fractured focus.
Meditation Can Help You Sleep
Did you know that meditating intensely before bed can help you sleep? According to a 2012 study, researchers found that even patients with chronic insomnia who meditated for eight weeks were able to achieve more and better sleep than their control group.
This, they said, was because of the increased release of melatonin in the body during meditation as you enter a state of deep relaxation. This means you’re more likely to fall asleep faster and stay asleep for the entire night, as opposed to having too light, restless, or broken sleeping patterns.
This relaxed state and increase in sleep chemicals also meant effective and more prevalent REM sleep, which is an incredibly restorative phase in the sleep cycle. So, when you wake up, you feel more rested and have more energy than you otherwise would.
Meditation Can Relieve Pain
In a very similar vein to reducing stress, meditation has also been found to relieve pain in even chronic conditions. According to one study performed in 2011, meditating and mindfulness reduced the intensity and “unpleasantness” of pain but up to 57 percent when compared to rest alone.
This is theorized to work because the relaxed state meditation encourages actually leaves you more detached from physical sensation for a short period of time, meaning that you actively do not feel pain as much when in a meditative state. This state also causes your muscles to relax significantly, which can reduce pain caused by tension.
The reduction of pain can be an important part of recovering faster and easier from surgeries, physical injuries, and other conditions. Many physical therapists and doctors are now recommending meditative techniques as a treatment method to be used alongside traditional physical therapy and strengthening exercises.
Meditation Can Put You In Touch With Your Emotions
An unexpected benefit of meditation is that it can actually make you happier and more content in your day-to-day life.
In addition to all of the physical and mental benefits, meditation can also help you improve your emotional health. By taking time to reflect on yourself, your thoughts, and your reactions to your environment, you’re able to better connect to your emotions. This gives you the clear view you need to identify and work through feelings you may otherwise have ignored.
This goes hand in hand with the other aspects of your health. Improved physical and mental health leave you more mental room to deal with your emotional health, which can sometimes be pushed aside in busy lives until serious damage is done. Taking time out of your day to check in on yourself is essential, and meditation offers you the opportunity to do just that. Some meditation quotes might also help you get into the art.
Meditation Is For Everyone
As meditation quickly becomes part of popular daily routines, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that there are no limits as to who can practice it. You don’t have to be especially religious or spiritual. You don’t have to practice for years and years. You don’t have to have a perfect technique or any special equipment or clothing. You don’t even have to know any particular poses or chants.
Meditation can be as simple as you want it to be. As long as you are taking time in a quiet place where you can be with your thoughts for a while, you’re doing it right. This means anyone at all can practice meditation and gain the benefits it has to offer. So, consider adding this ancient technique to your life in a way that makes sense for you. You’ll probably be surprised by the results.
Check out this article to learn about the cultures and religions that use meditation.
