The concept of "meditation" originates from Indian religious philosophy and is an exercise of yoga. In our country, as early as a few years ago, ancestors regarded meditation as the main way to cultivate one's morality and cultivate one's morality and realize Tao. For example, Wang Yangming, the "inner sage and outer king", founded Yangming's mind study. Many thoughts were suddenly enlightened in meditation, and Zeng Guofan also had the habit of "meditating once a day".

Although meditation originated in the East, it has been brought into the disease treatment system (mindfulness therapy) by western medical circles. Science has proved that meditation practice can help people reduce stress and pain. Studies have shown that some patients with chronic diseases show signs of decreasing cancer cells in their bodies after staged rehabilitation meditation exercises.

As a result, westerners have eliminated the religious part and promoted it scientifically. Today, it has become a well-known healthy lifestyle of relaxation and healing. Therefore, many people practice meditation today in order to get more stable mood, more comfortable feeling, more relaxed spirit, more adequate sleep and a healthier life.

2. The benefits of meditation (why)

"Miracle of Mindfulness" wrote: "Mindfulness frees us from ignorance and confusion, and enables us to fully live every minute of our lives. Mindfulness makes us really alive. "

Meditation has three benefits: mental, spiritual and physical. Meditation brings spiritual awareness. This enlightenment itself can liberate the soul from the trap of the body-mind complex. Only it can dispel doubts and give us unshakable faith in our spiritual destiny. Sankara said: "the true colors of things come from clear consciousness, not from saints;" What is the moon? We should know it through our own eyes. Can someone else let you know? "

Experts believe that meditation practice can make more blood enter the prefrontal cortex of the brain, just like lifting dumbbells, which can make more blood flow into muscles. Meditation makes the brain stronger, just as lifting weights makes the muscles stronger. As we all know, the function of prefrontal cortex is to make people think more rationally and get correct cognition. So it can be said that meditation has changed the biological structure of the brain.

There is a story in A Brief History of Mankind: A person stands on the beach all his life, just trying to catch good waves and swim, but at the same time trying to avoid those bad waves. So day after day, the man stood on the beach in vain, so tired that he went crazy and sat down on the ground, letting the waves come and go freely. Finally, he suddenly experienced a relaxed and calm feeling ... so, when the pain hits and the evil waves hit, don't keep telling her, go away, I don't want you.

Many times, sadness has the benefits of sadness. Treat the pain with a positive attitude, not to destroy her, but to stay with her quietly. The most important changes in life often occur in painful times. Pain can lead to thinking, and human instinct is to drive happiness and avoid pain. But many times, pain leads to changes in thinking, and transcendence is born. Be gentle with pain and be gentle with yourself. All these require you to calm down and face your negative emotions. So, from now on, give yourself a quiet time every day. Just sit quietly, separate your thoughts from your mind, and open a flower in your heart ... 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening will make you sleep soundly, concentrate more, improve work efficiency and stimulate creativity.

Grinda, a kind witch in the Wizard of Oz, said, "You always have that power." . Only when you are quiet can you find it. As long as you find it, you are moving in the direction of finding your most complete expression.

Give yourself a quiet time every day. The house should be cleaned every day, and the table will be covered with dust if it is not wiped for a day. Similarly, the mind needs to be cleaned every day. Take some time to be quiet and be with yourself. Deep meditation 10 minutes every day is really more effective than sleeping for 2 hours! By focusing on the inside, we inject more mindfulness, love and energy into the body.

10 health benefits of meditation:

1. Improve your immune system

I was surprised to find that one of the health benefits of practicing meditation is to significantly improve my immune system. A study of 20 13 found that the immune system function of participants who meditate regularly was enhanced. This is especially evident in patients with suppressed immune system and patients with cancer or HIV. Another study found that the antibodies in the blood of meditators increased, which can resist viruses and infections such as influenza.

Reduce stress and cortisol

Meditation is one of the best and easiest ways to help relieve stress, reduce cortisol and promote relaxation. Studies have found that if you only meditate 10 minutes a day, you can significantly reduce stress and anxiety. People who meditate for one hour a week for seven weeks effectively reduce the emotional disorders of men and women of all ages. Another study found that just four days of meditation can lead to a decrease in serum cortisol levels in the blood, which means a decrease in stress. Since I started practicing meditation, I have noticed that I feel more relaxed and less stressed.

3. Relieve the symptoms of anxiety and depression

Meditation is very relaxing and calm, and there are quite a few studies supporting the effectiveness of meditation in reducing anxiety and depression. It involves training your mind at the level of consciousness and focusing on the daily affairs that you don't worry about. It frees your mind from anxiety and stress. A comprehensive study by Johns Hopkins University found that meditation can relieve anxiety and depression symptoms, similar to antidepressants! It is also found that a specific type of meditation called mindfulness meditation is helpful to relieve social anxiety symptoms.

4. Reduce inflammation in the body

Meditation is very effective in reducing inflammation in the body, which is one of the most surprising health benefits I have learned in my research. A study found that people who participated in meditation training for eight weeks were less likely to get inflamed by stress than those who changed their diet and exercise.

bring down the blood pressure

The experiment found that 40 out of 60 hypertensive patients participated in meditation, and the effect of the meditators was so remarkable that they could even stop taking antihypertensive drugs. Meditation helps to promote relaxation, make people very calm, open blood vessels and improve blood flow, and help to lower blood pressure.

6. Reduce stress colon syndrome and ulcerative colitis.

Meditation can help relieve symptoms of colonic stress syndrome and ulcerative colitis. Many researchers don't know how it is realized, because these conditions are unknown, but the result is undeniable. After 8 weeks of meditation practice, the symptoms of more than 38% patients with stress colon syndrome have been significantly improved. Meditation helps to reduce the frequency of the above-mentioned related diseases.

7. Help to improve sleep and reduce insomnia.

A doctor at Harvard University believes that meditation is one of the best ways to trigger a "relaxation response". Those who can't sleep at night or can't sleep can get great improvement through daily meditation. A study found that adults who practiced meditation six times significantly improved their sleep and insomnia. Meditation can also help insomniacs fall asleep twice as fast as before, and the effect is long-term. After practicing meditation, 9 1% people reduced the dosage of drugs or stopped drug treatment completely.

8. Improve your mood and make you happy.

Those who are in a state of high pressure or depression usually have low serotonin levels. Meditation will increase serotonin (a pleasant chemical), make you feel good and improve your mood. It has been found that meditation can improve the brain circuits necessary for regulating emotions.

9. Relieve pain

This is another very interesting benefit of meditation. I never knew that meditation could help relieve pain and fatigue. It has been found that practicing meditation helps to reduce the corresponding pain caused by common headaches and fibromyalgia.

10. Help the heart to lower the heart rate and improve blood circulation.

Meditation makes people very relaxed and helps to reduce the stress hormones produced in the body, thus lowering the heart rate. It has been found that those meditators have lower heart rate, better blood circulation and lower levels of lipid peroxide (which may lead to atherosclerosis). Even meditation 10 minutes can immediately lower blood pressure.

3. About meditation practice

Many people think that meditation is just sitting there, leaving your mind empty and thinking nothing. In fact, it is extremely difficult to do this. You will find that when your body stops moving, countless thoughts will fly by in your mind like a galloping wild horse. When you try your best to stop these delusions, you will fall into deeper anxiety, but it will be counterproductive.

When you meditate, you just need to be aware of the thoughts in your head and your inner emotions at all times. If you are distracted, just know that you are distracted and take back your thoughts. Relax, accept all the physical and mental reactions, feel it, and experience it.

The method of meditation is actually very simple, such as: income (inhalation), you know you are earning; Have a future. You know you have a future. When your income grows, you will know that your income grows; When your career is long, you know your career is long. Without control, let the breath come and go freely.