Does Meditation Improve Health

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.