The health benefits of mindfulness meditation are numerous, and you don’t need to be a Buddhist monk or expert in Eastern philosophy to get them. You can reap these rewards by practicing the technique for just 10 minutes. And if you don’t believe us, we’ve got 5 benefits of mindfulness meditation to prove it! These are:
- It Increases awareness
Mindfulness Meditation increases awareness of the present moment. For example, when you concentrate on your breathing, you focus all your attention on it, and nothing else is occurring around you. So automatically, your mind will be less active in making plans for the future or thinking about what may have happened in the past. As a result, your consciousness will become more alert and focused.
With meditation, you become aware of how your mind works, which makes you more in tune with your own thoughts and the feelings that affect them. When you can detach yourself from these things, then you tend to get away from being overwhelmed by them. This is because when we stop clinging to our emotions, then it will not rule us. When we can maintain our attention, we can be more aware of what triggers our emotions and how to control them.
When meditating, you can focus your awareness on something specific, like the breath or any sound that is part of the moment. This provides a sense of control when reacting to how we feel physically and emotionally. As a result, you react more effectively by being aware of how you think and responding accordingly.
- It helps you to relax
While some may feel bothered about being still, it can be a way of letting go of the tension that builds up in your body and mind by concentrating on your breathing. When you breathe deeply, blood pressure goes down while stress is released. As a result, your body calms down, and you feel more relaxed.
Years of research studies have shown that meditation does make people happier. Often, it is found that the regular meditator lacks stress and anxiety, which can be attributed to moment-to-day problems. As a result, the person would become more optimistic in dealing with things because of being able to let go.
- It helps you to concentrate better
Studies show that meditation helps your brain to focus. In a study done by the University of California with Buddhist monks, it was found out that they are capable of sustaining attention for longer periods of time compared with ordinary people. As a result, they can concentrate better while they are learning.
Meditation also helps in improving your memory. A study done by the University of California found that meditators have larger amounts of gyrification or folding of the cortex than ordinary people. The more folds that the brain has, the better it is at making connections between brain cells. As a result, the brain stays more alert and awake.
- It Helps you to balance both sides of the brain
Meditation can help in balancing the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The left half is responsible for rational thinking, while the right is responsible for creativity, intuition, and other emotions. When you are learning meditation, it is normal that the left side of the brain is more active. But with time, this will change as the right half gets activated as well. This will help people solve problems better.
- It makes you feel more connected with the world
In a study done by the University of California, people who meditate regularly showed higher levels of patience as compared with other people. How? This is because they tend to take things personally, which influences their perspective in doing something that requires more time, like studying something or having a conversation with another person.
For example, a Mindfulness meditation in Miami teaches people to accept all that is happening at present and not push it away. This develops your perception of being in touch with everything around you, including yourself and others, which leads to a better sense of self-acceptance and fulfillment. As a result, you do not feel stressed or alienated from the world.
In conclusion, Mindfulness Meditation is good for your health and it helps with addiction recovery because of being able to increase awareness, reduce blood pressure and stress, helps you relax, helps you concentrate better, balancing the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, practicing it will give you a healthier body and mind.
