Meditation: An Alternative Therapy for Mind, Body and Soul

This is a contributed post.

The modern world can be a loud and disorientating place. Our reliance on technology has made noise and distraction a part of everyday life, whether it’s in the form of cars rushing by our window or smartphones buzzing away in our pockets.

With our senses under constant assault, meditation can provide some much-needed respite. However, meditating is not only about relaxation, it has been shown to have a wide range of benefits for your mind, body and soul.  

Mind

Meditation can be of great mental assistance whether you are going through some form of trauma or simply looking for greater focus. It has been shown to lower anxiety, boost creativity and improve your emotional stability.

Aside from the psychological benefits of meditation, the practice has also been shown to actually change the brain neurologically. Studies indicate that meditating regularly can reduce activity in certain areas of the brain and help protect against the brain volume loss that accompanies the aging process.

Meditation can also be used as part of a holistic addiction treatment, alongside yoga, energy work and other practices. In this case, the treatment aims to improve a person’s entire being rather than focusing on a single symptom or damaging form of behaviour. Meditation has been implemented in a number of addiction centres all over the world and has been used to target the emotional, physical and spiritual causes of the addiction.

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Body

Did you know that you can actually improve the wellbeing of your body simply by meditating? Research shows that meditating regularly can lower your blood pressure, decrease your metabolism and help to improve your heart rate.

Pregnant women have also found that meditating comes with physical advantages, some of which are passed on to their unborn child. By reducing anxiety, meditation can improve the baby’s birth weight and lower the chances of complications occurring. Studies also suggest that the likelihood of requiring a caesarean section or an epidural anaesthesia is lower among mothers who meditate regularly.

Of course, you cannot acquire the physical benefits of meditation overnight. Like any other skill, mediation requires regular practise. Putting aside a few minutes each day to meditate will pay off in the long run by boosting your mental and physical health.

Soul

Although meditation is not attached to any particular religion, it can have a spiritual element. Regardless of your particular faith, meditation can help achieve a state of being where you feel connected with something greater than yourself.

By focusing your mind through meditation, you can begin to really think about your own identity and appreciate what it means to exist. Many people have used meditation to achieve a kind of personal transformation that goes beyond the mental and physical.

Meditation is not supposed to be a replacement for medical science. Conversely, scientific research has shown that meditation can bring a variety of health benefits to all aspects of your being. Whether you are searching for mental, physical or spiritual development, meditation could provide you with the answers that you’re looking for.