Welcome to 60 Seconds of Solitude! I’m so glad you are here. You’ve heard that meditation is a good thing to do. Maybe a friend, mentor, or therapist has told you that you need to meditate. But you’re wondering why should you meditate? What are the benefits of meditation? What’s in it for you?
Personally, I’ve experienced more mindfulness and the ability to be in the moment. That’s been a HUGE benefit for me. Here’s some information on what meditation is and what some of the benefits of meditation.
What is Meditation
What is meditation? Ask anyone on the street and they could probably give you a rough description of it. Despite the popularity of meditation, not many people understand the true meaning of it. Webster defines meditation as the act or process of meditating, the act or process of spending time in quiet thought. Not very helpful; let’s dig a bit deeper.
“Meditation is a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state…Meditation is not a part of any religion; it is a science, which means that the process of meditation follows a particular order, has definite principles, and produces results that can be verified,” states YogaInternational.com.
“Meditation is a mind and body practice” according to the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
Meditation is a technique of reaching a state of thoughtless awareness. You don’t need to be sitting on a mat in a smelly over-heated room, sweating your brains out to reach this state of total awareness.
Benefits of Meditation
So now that we have a better understanding of what meditation actually is, what are the benefits of meditating? There are many benefits to meditation. Let’s split them up into 3 categories: Physical, Mental, and Emotional.
Physical Benefits of Meditation
- Improve sleeping habits, more hours, deeper sleep
- Reduces blood pressure
- Improves immune system
- Decrease in tension-related problems like ulcers & headaches
- Improved breathing & heart rate
- Elevated energy levels
- Improves metabolism
- Helps lose weight
- Produces more serotonin
- Lessens inflammatory disorders & asthma
- Lessens muscles & joint pain
- Reduces aging
- Helps reduce substance abuse
Mental Benefits of Meditation
- Increased focus & mental acuity
- Increased memory retention & recall
- Better decision-making & problem-solving
- Better & faster information processing
- Helps manage ADHD & ADD
- Anxiety, Impulsivity, and Depression decreases
- Increased relaxation & awareness
- More mental power during the day
- Better communication
- Better cognitive skills & creative thinking
- Reduce symptoms of panic disorder
- Enhances the generation of Gamma waves in the brain
Emotional Benefits of Meditation
- Enhanced self-esteem & self-acceptance
- Less fear, loneliness, depression & anxiety
- Increased optimism
- Better outlook on life
- Increased feelings of connection with others
- Helps prevent emotional eating & smoking
- Improved resilience against pain & adversity
- More well-being
- Emotional maturity
- Improves mood & emotional intelligence
This is a relatively short list of meditation benefits. I’m curious if you were to meditate for 1-minute per day and could only get 3 benefits..which 3 would you want to have? How will you feel once you have them? How will your life be different once you have those benefits?
Of course, I am going to invite you to listen to 60 Seconds of Solitude. If this is your first experience of 60SofS, it’s a quick, easy, 1- minute meditation that is delivered in the form of a podcast. Oh, and it’s free. You are welcome to come back to the website to listen, but it’s easier to subscribe from your phone. Just go to your favorite podcast player, search for 60 Seconds of Solitude, and subscribe. You’ll receive the podcast every day so it’s available when you are.
I’d love to hear from you, contact me and let me know what other benefits you are experiencing from meditation.
Light & Love,
Melissa
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