Meditate

Meditation is to the mind what aerobic exercise is to the body. Like exercise, there are many good ways to do it and you can find the one that suits you best.

Studies have shown that regular meditation promotes thought ( lasting observing awareness ), whose benefits enter decreased stress - related cortisol, insomnia, symptoms of autoimmune illnesses, PMS, asthma, falling back into depression, general emotional distress, anxiety, and panic, and increased immune system factors, management of blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, impartiality from reactions, self - understanding, and general well - being.

In your brain, regular meditation increases gray matter ( neuronal cell bodies and synapses ) in the:

• Insula - Handles interoception ( sense of your own body ); self - awareness in general; sympathy for the emotions of others

• Hippocampus - Key role in personal recollections, visual - spatial memory, establishing the import of events, and pacific down both the amygdala ( the alarm bell of the brain ) and production of stress hormones like cortisol

• Prefrontal cortex ( PFC ) - Supports the executive functions, self - check, and guiding attention

Regular meditation also:

• Increases activation in friendless PFC, which lifts vein

• Increases the power and stretch of very fast, gamma range brainwaves, which promotes learning

• [in a three month retreat] Preserves the length of telomeres, the caps at the ends of DNA molecules; longer telomeres are associated with fewer age - related diseases

• Reduces cortical thinning due to aging in the insula and PFC

Meditation is the necessary training of attention. Since attention is like a vacuum detergent - sucking its haul into your brain through what ' s called " experience - dependent neuroplasticity " - getting better dominion of your attention is the foundation of changing your brain, and therefrom your life, for the better. ( For more information, glom my slide set for psychiatrists that summarizes research on meditation and flash on; also make out the references. )

The research summarized dominant just scratches the surface of the benefits of meditation. It is you saying to the world ( and yourself ): I ' m going to step off the hamster trundle now. This time is for me. It is a way to polestar in being tolerably than doing ( what a relief! ). And a way to beam the mind streaming along, transient and senile, an enigmatic basis for lasting happiness, not worth chasing after or struggling with.

The minutes I spend meditating are much the best ones of my day.

They feel like coming home. It ' s good to be home.

The Practice

The best meditation of all is... the one you will do. So find what you like and will stick with. There are tons of books, talks, even videos about meditating, plus great teachers all over the place. Here I ' ll approach a summary.

Relax. Rest. Intend to meditate. Come into a sense of presence with yourself. Know whether you are meditating in relationship to of note unfathomable ( such as in cut ) or not. ( I ' ll exemplify a " secular " meditation here. )

Find of note to land reverence, such as the sensations of breathing, a word or period ( e. g., " peace " ), or an image. Use an moor that is clever enough to keep yourself present; feel free to do ambulatory meditation or use an audio program to guide you. Meditating with others can also help you stay focused.

Start by giving glory precisely to the dock, letting go of object besides. Locus in it, becoming partisan in it, even for just a few breaths or few minutes.

Then, with an upgrowth awareness of your moor, let your glorification propagate to count your body... thoughts... feelings... wants... and overall mental atmosphere. You ' re not trying to make your mind blank. Let things come and go, just don ' t jump on board of them. Without stress or strain, gently unbolted to relaxing and quieting, and to an increasingly stable presence as experiencing, being a body breathing in peace.

Meditate for as long as you like. Even one minute is good - and ten, twenty, or even forty - five minutes could be even better. I suggest you couple me in being committed to meditating every day for at front one minute.

Toward the term of meditation, let the benefits sink into you.

If you nurture toward dissociation or getting flooded with painful feelings when you relax into yourself, then you may need to build up more inner resources before meditating. Also, try to not be self - critical; this is not a performance test! Meditation is a skill and like any other, you ' ll get better at it over time, and its benefits for you will grow.

Most of all, find the enjoyment in meditation. Follow that enjoyment home.