From making us serene more and youthful to relieving chronic pain and bringing clarity to big business, is there anything meditation can’t make better? Here’s why you should be part of the global trend.
When your head’s spinning, it’s an act of sanity and kindness to stop. Rest. Refresh. Rebalance. This is what meditation does – on a profound scale.
We’re all doing well looking after our health, career, family and social life. Now we’re finally realising how important it is to also make space for cultivating calm and compassion. For nurturing our spirit. Because the best relationship, friendships, career, clothes and holidays in the world don’t have much meaning if we’re too busy stressing to appreciate them.
When your head’s spinning, it’s an act of sanity and kindness to stop. Rest. Refresh. Rebalance. This is what meditation does – on a profound scale.
We’re all doing well looking after our health, career, family and social life. Now we’re finally realising how important it is to also make space for cultivating calm and compassion. For nurturing our spirit. Because the best relationship, friendships, career, clothes and holidays in the world don’t have much meaning if we’re too busy stressing to appreciate them.
In learning to still the mind we’re able to tap into our inner peace, which – who knew?! – is always there, beyond the ‘noise’ or overthinking. The more we get in touch with that magic part of us, the more harmony, health and happiness can flow into our life. No wonder most meditators credit it with changing their lives.
Here are more reasons why meditation is the greatest gift you can give yourself – and the world.
It reveals the real you
From scientists to school kids, virtually everyone who meditates agrees it makes them a better person. Because it’s first and foremost an act of self-love. It is you saying to yourself: “I am worth taking really good care of.”
In time, your self-compassion effortlessly radiates to everyone around you. You become less reactive. Anger becomes distant. Laughter shows up more. Being patient stops being a frustrating effort and starts to feel deeply relaxing. The miracle-list goes on…
It will make your health shine
I sleep deeply every night without fail. I haven’t been to the doctors in years. And I can’t remember the last time I had a headache. Such blessings I credit to meditating every day for the last five years. And science is backing me up.
A growing body of research shows how meditation can help with everything from migraines to the menopause, addictions to asthma, even cancer. Part of the reason why is it elicits a deep relaxation in your biology, bringing you closer to your intuition and you see things more clearly.
You’ll feel and look younger
Frequently stilling your mind is does wonders for your mojo. The Journal of Behavioural Medicine reported that meditators have significantly higher levels of DHEA, a natural steroid hormone said to reduce stress, improve memory and control weight.
The International Journal of Neuroscience, meanwhile, also found that those who had meditated for five years or more were 12 years younger physiologically than their chronological age. (I last got IDed in my early 30s).
It heals you from the inside out
Meditation takes you inside yourself to a very private silence and stillness that feels like a profound rest and at the same time re-energising. It is a discipline – you have to practice regularly – that taps into the forever-peaceful, eternal part of you that’s totally untouched by emotions and anything that life throws at you. It makes you realise that – at your core – underneath all the thoughts, stress and striving, there’s an immoveable mountain of unconditional love.
First published in PLENISH mag