Meditation: Health Benefits

Hey everyone. I am continuing my series on Meditation posts. Click here to see my other two posts Meditation: How to Get Started Part 1 and Meditation: How to Get Started Part 2. Today's post will concentrate on the health benefits of meditating. I will be using the link below as a reference. Please click to learn more.
https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/stress-management/how-to-get-started-with-meditation4.htm
Now lets get to it...

The benefits of meditation are subtle and may take some time to manifest. This means that you need to have patience with meditating. Think of it more as a marathon, rather than a sprint. It is similar to physically working out. You cannot go to the gym one or two times, and expect to be in tip top physical shape. In fact, in order to be in the best shape, you really need to change your whole lifestyle and make exercise a daily part of your life. The same goes for meditating...you need to make it a part of your daily life in order to really reap the benefits.

One benefit you may encounter from meditating, is when you are in a high stress scenario. You may notice that your body instinctively takes a deep breath, and then you remain much more calm than you would have in the past. You may also notice that you don't get "triggered" as easily when you get into an argument with someone. The real miracle of meditation, says Rinpoche, "is a subtle transformation that happens not only in your mind and your emotions but also in your body. And, this transformation is a healing one. Even your cells are more joyful."

Meditation has also been shown to reduce stress, help improve clear thinking, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, increase serotonin production to improve mood and behavior, increase energy levels, decrease stress, gain clarity and peace of mind. In fact, scientists have done tests on the brain functioning during and after meditating, and all of the results were very positive. You are actually improving the way the brain functions simply by meditating. You can research some more to find out more benefits of meditating, but also remember this...there are NO NEGATIVE consequences to meditation. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose by trying meditation daily. Start slow and build up as you feel more comfortable. The big goal that many aspire to is to mediate two times a day for 20 minutes each. Let me know if you hit that goal. I personally have been meditating daily for 30 minutes, and it has helped me tremendously. I will continue to make it a daily part of my life.

Well that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment with some of your suggestions on how to mediate. I look forward to reading them. Just remember to have some patience with meditation. Give it some time and make it a daily habit. Try doing a 30 day challenge where you meditate for 30 straight days, and try your best to keep time set aside to meditate. Once you get into a habit of meditating, you will find that it isn't very hard to do at all, and then you can start to reap the benefits. Thanks for stopping by and I will see you soon.