You may have heard that meditation contributes to mental and physical health. How does it work? Stress is linked to many physical imbalances. Research has shown that regular meditation greatly reduces stress. Hospitals all over the country now teach meditation and creative visualization to their patients to improve response to treatments and achieve a faster recovery rate. Through the reduction of stress, there is a lower incidence of these common imbalances.
| Common Physical Imbalances Caused by Stress | Physical Benefits from Lowered Stress |
| Heart attacks Diabetes Asthma Chronic pain Allergies Headache Backache Skin disorders Cancer Immune system weakness High cholesterol |
Normalization of blood pressure Increased cardiovascular efficiency Faster recovery from illness or injury Relief from insomnia Reduced use of alcohol and cigarettes Normalization of weight Improved resistance to disease |
Regular Meditation Encourages Personal Growth And Life Mastery
Tranquility: Meditation promotes tranquility. We begin to recognize our thoughts and feelings are not our identity, they are transitory and we are much more than our thoughts.
Patience and Concentration: Patience is the ability to face minor and major upsets calmly. Increasing the ability to be patience brings clearer vision and more objective judgments and decisions. With meditation we attend to all our life with more clarity and calmness.
Memory: Distraction and lack of focus take our minds away from what we are doing in any moment. When we practice putting the mind on only one thing instead of many, we train ourselves to be in the present moment.
Increased Awareness: Through meditation we become more aware of the interconnectedness of life. This awareness supports healthy relationships.
Compassion & Understanding: Meditation enhances our understanding of ourselves, and of the interconnectedness of life. We learn that to harm another is to harm oneself. We can learn to be more compassionate to ourselves and others.