The Amazing Benefits of Meditation

The Amazing Benefits of Meditation

In July I wrote about the importance of meditation as a way of managing stress.  Meditation has been proven to have many benefits in addition to stress relief which are listed below. I hope these benefits help convince you to give meditation a try.

You don’t need to become a Buddhist monk or move to India to start meditating.  You can start with as little as 5 minutes a few times a week and gradually increase your time.  There are also guided meditations to help make your introduction an easy one.  If you’re interested in our Meditation for Non Meditators Program, email us at info@watershedtraining.ca.

• Meditation boosts the immune system (Stein, J. (2003) The Science of Meditation, TIME Magazine)

• Meditation controls high blood pressure at levels comparable to widely used prescription drugs and without the side effects of drugs (Hypertension, AMA Medical Journal)

• Meditators were able to reduce chronic pain by more than 50% even 4 years after completing an 8-week training course (Jon Kabat-Zinn, M.D. Stress Reduction Clinic, University of Massachusetts)

• Meditation may slow aging. A study found that people who had been meditating for more than five years were biologically 12 – 15 years younger than non-meditators (International Journal of Neuroscience, 1992)

• Meditation can relieve many arthritis symptoms, such as pain, anxiety, stress and depression, as well as ease the fatigue and insomnia associated with fibromyalgia (Arthritis Foundation)

• Meditation reduces the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (State University of New York, 2001)

• Meditation offsets the sluggishness of sleep deprivation better than a nap (University of Kentucky)

• Meditation increases in empathy (University of Wisconsin, 2008)

• Meditators notice more, but react more calmly than non-meditators to emotionally arousing stimuli (The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1997).

• Reduces chronically depressed patients relapse rate by half (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2000)

Give meditation a try and see what benefits you experience from this ancient practice.

P.S. If you aren’t sure where or how to start, email us info@watershedtraining.ca and we’ll help you start this amazing practice.

Note: Ask us about our new stress management e-book Stress Busters in 5 Minutes or Less