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Author:
Roy Thomsitt

There would be little point in practicing meditation if it had no benefits, but from my own limited experience, the benefits of meditation are numerous. I can only imagine what benefits will be obtained by those who have practiced meditation more regularly, and with more expertise, over a longer number of years, than I have.

Before listing some of my own personal benefits, those that have been clear to me through experience, let us just consider meditation itself. Meditation is a powerful spiritual practice, and the regular act of meditation can help a great deal in one’s spiritual development. Through the practice of meditation, the person meditating is able to focus on each part of his or her body, something I learnt in my first yoga lesson. Simply by doing this, a great level of relaxation can be achieved, which has the potential in providing many health benefits.

Meditation has been used since ancient times, especially in Eastern cultures, which tend to be more spiritually aware than the rest of us. Holy men and mystics, psychics and occultists, spiritualists and alternative therapists, have long understood the amazing powers of meditation. Since the 1960's and the Beatles' indulgence in Transcendental Meditation in India, more and more people have come to appreciate the powers that meditation can bring to our lives, whether spiritually, physically, or psychologically.

Benefits of Meditation I Have Experienced

My first "formal" experience of meditation was in yoga lessons, which I started at a time shortly after some major emotional upheavals in my life. It is not something you can really imagine fully without experiencing, which may be why many people dismiss meditation as some weird practice of Eastern mystics. In fact, meditation could not be more natural.

Interestingly, the yoga class I was in a few years back was sponsored by the British National Health Service, and was for people with some physical limitation which prevented them from practicing full yoga exercises. Being limited to some extent by spine and hip degradation, caused by Ankylosing Spondylitis in my youth, I could not do the full range of yoga exercises. I was therefore delighted to find this class existed in my own little town. I was the only one under 50 years of age in the class, and, unsurprisingly, the healthiest looking and feeling. To most people I seemed "normal"; it was only when it came to bending my spine and at the hips that any problem would be seen.

I can still, some 7 years later, recall leaving that first lesson, after a final 30-45 minute relaxation/meditation session. I felt a totally different person, in tune with every part of my body and totally relaxed in every way. It was as if I had been transported to a different land, when in fact all I had been doing was communicating with my inner self and each part of my body, to achieve the desired state.

I felt the health benefits after every session, and ever since then I have used yoga style relaxation techniques and meditation to:

1. Bring down my blood pressure from its "high normal" level.

2. Bring more calmness into my life.

3. Increase self awareness.

4. In conjunction with setting personal objectives, help me achieve goals.

5. Help me feel in control of my own existence.

I know that meditation, even with my limited training and ability to perform it, will always be in my health and personal achievement armoury. Sometimes, too, I think back to those mostly elderly people who attended the same yoga class. Aged 60-80 plus, they were all suffering from some chronic disease. One I remember had Parkinson's Disease, and as long as she was strong enough to get to the lesson, she would be there every week, and claimed it helped her considerably.

So, my personal experience of the benefits of yoga, and what was guided meditation, go beyond my own direct experience, and into the experience of a class of chronically ill. Everyone in that class felt benefits; none attended for any social need, as there was no time for idle chat.

Finally, a few years back my son went on a 6 month trek around India, and throughout that time assured me not to worry about his blood sugar level, because of his lack of control over his diet there. He told me that, even with the imperfect diet, he had no trouble controlling his blood sugar level, as he could now do so through meditation. Even without my own direct experience that would have been enough to convince me that meditation could play an important role in health, and that it was indeed possible to use meditation to communicate with every part of the body.

This meditation and yoga article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement web site, where you will find other articles on topics such as Transcendental Meditation and yoga obstacles.

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A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Meditation... Guided Meditation To Make You Whole Guided meditation is a form of stress relief that is conducive to relaxing the whole body, in part by finding a way of peaceful and calming relaxation from within the body. Guided meditation may utilize soothing photographs or scenarios to enhance the ability of the mind to relax and guide the body to a point of relaxation so that the person in meditation can find a true sense of inner peace. Quite often, guided meditation will be accompanied by soft music or sounds of nature. One of the keys to successfully having a session of Guided meditation is finding an area where the one meditating will be free of distractions. Any outside interference will prevent proper concentration and make the attempts at guided meditation futile and perhaps even frustrating, further aggravating the problem seeking to be solved by the very use of guided meditation. After finding a suitable location for guided meditation, other factors need to be taken into consideration. Some practitioners of guided meditation feel that visual stimuli can be used to help achieve a sense of inner peace and help to achieve true relaxation. Still other practitioners of guided meditation feel that any outside visual simulation will detract from the mind’s ability to properly focus on the body and the results of the guided meditation will be hindered or even reversed. The same can be said for audio stimulation during sessions of guided meditation. While some individuals believe that soothing sound effects or even quiet music is conducive to the guided meditation, still others believe that it is only a hindrance and will do nothing more than create a harmful atmosphere for the practitioner of such guided meditation. The basic concept of guided meditation is to relax. This is done by taking oneself on a guided...