Why do you need to meditate according to experts? The side effects of meditation are positive and countless. Studies have demonstrated that those who meditate on a regular basis have reduced illness, stress, and need for rest.
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| Photo: Practicing Meditation | InStyleHealth |
But one of the most compelling reasons to meditate is
that the process of meditation itself is sublime. Meditation is not dependent
upon the result, but the act of meditation itself is a blissful one,
transporting one to a state of contentment and tranquil awareness during the
training of meditation itself, not just at the end of training. Actually,
because the means equals the end, the training has no beginning and never ends.
All of us in modern times experience a constant
onslaught of stress. We are bombarded by uninvited energies in the form of such
things as television, noise pollution, arguments, and angry or envious people.
In order to counteract this enormously overwhelming
force of negativity and distress, we need a superior power, gathered within
ourselves; and meditation connects us to this internal reservoir of cleansing,
enlightening energy.
In former times, nature surrounded people in their
daily routines and rituals of existence. There were no artificial sound
vibrations from telephones or machinery; there were no stresses and diseases
resulting from urban industrial complexities.
There was the sound of water, the hum of the wind, the
beauty of the stars in the sky, and the scent of the earth. There were natural
tempos in every aspect of life, as people planted seeds, nurtured them into
foodstuffs, and as they observed the cycles of nature they felt a connection to
them.
Nowadays we can live our entire lifespan without ever
contacting nature in a direct way. We live in artificially controlled climates,
we gather food from fast food restaurants or from stores where it is packaged
in a factory; we invite a total divorce of ourselves from our natural origins
and our organic, original pace of life.
Meditation allows us an easy, convenient, portable
method to enter into those lost natural rhythms and aesthetics, by closing out
the world around us, letting go of our bodies, and clearing the mind of all the
artificial stress it gathers knowingly or unknowingly during the course of
lives.
Meditation costs nothing, it has no harmful side
effects, and it won’t add calories or cholesterol to your body. Nor is it
addictive in the sense of drugs and alcohol. But it does provide practitioners
with an elevated sense of well-being, often compared to a natural high more
powerful than those induced by drugs, and this component of meditation is one
that can be fully embraced for positive, healthy benefits.
The human body is a complex creation, and in the brain
the body naturally produces drugs that are hundreds of times more powerful than
pharmaceutical narcotics. As one meditates, the body secretes mysterious
hormones and chemicals that actually provide an incredible rush of energy and
happiness, and this is only one of the amazing side effects of meditation
practice.
Meditation is different things to different people.
Some use it in place of, or in addition to, psychotherapy. Others find it most
valuable as a tool to enhance sports or work performance, and to increase the
memory and other mental functions.
Some people rely upon it to help them deal with grief
or the aftermath of trauma or tragedy, and to regain a contentment and
appreciation for life’s beauties. And there are those who use meditation as a
creative tool to inspire them in the arts.
Meditation gives us stronger and more sustainable
vigor, sexual energy, and calm, as it provides a restfulness that is comparable
to deep, exceptionally restful sleep.
There are countless reasons to meditate, and one way
to make the world a better and more peaceful and harmonious place, is for all
of us to dedicate some time out of our stressful lives to pause and drink from
the mental oasis of meditation practice.