Health Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has been a part of the oriental spiritual repertoire for thousands of years. And most of us have an experience of being told the health benefits of meditation. But what exactly is meditation? Wikipedia defines meditation as “any of a family of practices in which the practitioner trains his or her mind or self-induces a mode of consciousness in order to realize some health benefits.” This is not far from the truth.

If practitioners of yoga and Buddhist meditation disciplines are to be believed, meditation can do several things ranging from helping you achieve better concentration and self control to curing illnesses. Says 37 year old Preeti Singh, a resident of New Delhi, “I first started meditating in 2005 when my yoga instructor advised me to try it to help reduce my blood pressure. I have reached a stage now where I do not require medication. I believe that it was yoga and meditation that has cured me.”

There are several people like Preeti. In Delhi, there are many people who get together as informal meditation groups in order to achieve either some personal goals or just to get in touch with their spiritual side. Without wishing to be named, one of the  leaders of such a group, “we recommend meditation to students, who are tense about exams to help them improve their digestion, to people who suffer from paranoia or depression in order to feel more confident and rise above their distress, and even to diabetics to improve their health.”

Dr. S.P. Sharma, Life Coach and Counsellor, also agrees that meditation could help in several ways. “It helps relax the mind and promotes positive thinking. It calms you down and helps you rejuvenate,” he says. Practitioners claim that it can help in any number of problems like post-operative healing, decreasing muscle tension, building self confidence, and even reducing the symptoms of PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

These days, there are various health centres which conduct guided meditation sessions and conduct regular sessions to help teach the techniques of meditation. So, get your mats out and set forth on the path of self healing and self discovery, as meditaion really offers healthy benefits.