You’ve no doubt heard about the great benefits of meditation.
Here’s a list from artofliving.org:
Physical Benefits of Meditation
- Lowers high blood pressure
- Lowers the levels of blood lactate, reducing anxiety attacks
- Decreases any tension-related pain, such as, tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, muscle and joint problems
- Increases serotonin production that improves mood and behavior
- Improves the immune system
- Increases the energy level, as you gain an inner source of energy
Mental Benefits of Meditation
Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an Alpha state that promotes healing. The mind becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful. With regular practice of meditation:
- Anxiety decreases
- Emotional stability improves
- Creativity increases
- Happiness increases
- Intuition develops
- Gain clarity and peace of mind
- Problems become smaller
- Meditation sharpens the mind by gaining focus and expands through relaxation
Clearly, it’s the potential cure-all for everything from being too busy to serious diseases.
As the Dalai Lama has said: “I’ve got so much to do I’ll have to meditate twice as long.”
A couple of weeks ago Danita and I started a meditation course and have been practicing every day, with some interesting results.
Today, we were out quite early and didn’t have time for our regular morning meds (clearly ignoring the DL’s comments above).
Overall today’s been a productive day.
However, Danita made the comment, “I missed my meditation this morning and I’ve been on edge all day.”
I’ve noticed that she has been calmer and I can see there has been a significant impact for her, for the better.
My experience however, has been slightly different.
Since starting the meditation program a number of things for me have gone in the opposite direction:
- My driving has become more erratic, to the point that I’m cutting down a lot and preferring Danita to drive when we go out (the ‘boy’ in me is really challenged by that) and I haven’t ridden my bike for weeks!
- I find myself being much less tolerant and more prone to angry reactions than normally. My Taurean nature is usually calm, tolerant and hard to upset. That’s shifted noticeably!
- Getting to sleep, normally very easy for me, has become more challenging and I’m finding myself more tired through the day than previously
- I’m eating more and noticing the resulting middle spread
- Work-wise, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed (there could be a very good and sensible reason for that but I thought meditation was supposed to help)
On the betterhealth.vic.gov.au site there’s an interesting warning:
Risks of meditation
When meditating alone or without guidance, it is important to remember that meditation is part of living a balanced life. It should not be used to withdraw from life or to avoid personal and practical issues.
For a person with serious mental illness, meditation should be used under expert guidance, and if done alone, extreme caution should be taken.
So, perhaps meditation isn’t for everyone.
On the other hand, artofliving.org does add some extra interesting points:
- A sharp mind without expansion causes tension, anger and frustration
- An expanded consciousness without sharpness can lead to lack of action/progress
- The balance of a sharp mind and an expanded consciousness brings perfection
Meditation makes you aware – that your inner attitude determines your happiness.
So, the question for me is: Is my reaction a result of a closed but sharp mind OR an expanded mind lacking focus OR an indication of serious mental illness?
This really is getting quite overwhelming – I’d better go and meditate on it!
While searching for an image to include with this post I found a few extra I thought worth sharing: