Benefits of Meditation: What the Research Says
As Americans, we pride ourselves on achievement, hard-work, and success. We keep busy schedules, run our children around to activities, and keep working to “get ahead.” So how does the contemplative, seemingly passive practice of meditation capture our interest and gain value in lives? There are of course the testimonials of practitioners who praise it’s benefits. More recently, however, meditation practices have moved from the fringe into the mainstream, in part due to research that shows numerous benefits, both mental and physical.
In his book The Mindful Brain, Daniel Siegel, M.D. outlines numerous ways (based in research) in which meditation and mindfulness practices can significantly change our lives for the better. One of the major findings he describes is that these practices create a “left shift” in the brain. What this means is that meditation practice tends to change a person’s baseline state from “withdraw” to “approach”; that is, the tendency to face and engage more with life’s problems rather than retreating/withdrawing. Despite the outer appearance of greater passivity, meditation actually trains practitioners to more actively engage with life and all of its obstacles.
Meditation teaches us to respond to life rather than to merely react. It helps us to move into a place of greater self-empowerment, rather than feeling we are victims of circumstance. It teaches us to focus not so much on what happens in life, but rather the relationship that we have with life-events. So, meditation practice is really just that: practice. The fruits of meditation practice are realized not only while sitting on your mediation cushion, but more so off the cushion in the ups and downs of everyday life.
Mindfulness practices in psychotherapy are now considered among the evidenced-based treatment interventions for various mental health conditions. Mindfulness-based interventions are now commonly used to effectively manage and treat anxiety, mood, personality, and eating disorders.
Below are a list of other specific benefits of mindfulness meditation practice.
In his book The Mindful Brain, Daniel Siegel, M.D. outlines numerous ways (based in research) in which meditation and mindfulness practices can significantly change our lives for the better. One of the major findings he describes is that these practices create a “left shift” in the brain. What this means is that meditation practice tends to change a person’s baseline state from “withdraw” to “approach”; that is, the tendency to face and engage more with life’s problems rather than retreating/withdrawing. Despite the outer appearance of greater passivity, meditation actually trains practitioners to more actively engage with life and all of its obstacles.
Meditation teaches us to respond to life rather than to merely react. It helps us to move into a place of greater self-empowerment, rather than feeling we are victims of circumstance. It teaches us to focus not so much on what happens in life, but rather the relationship that we have with life-events. So, meditation practice is really just that: practice. The fruits of meditation practice are realized not only while sitting on your mediation cushion, but more so off the cushion in the ups and downs of everyday life.
Mindfulness practices in psychotherapy are now considered among the evidenced-based treatment interventions for various mental health conditions. Mindfulness-based interventions are now commonly used to effectively manage and treat anxiety, mood, personality, and eating disorders.
Below are a list of other specific benefits of mindfulness meditation practice.
- greater ability to regulate the body (specifically the nervous system)*
- more balanced emotional states in general*
- better communication*
- insight (ability to see and understand your thought patterns)*
- response flexibility (that is, pausing before you act)*
- improved immune response
- reduce negativity*
- improved relationships *
- decrease in pain (for people with chronic medical conditions)(Kabat-Zinn, see Full Catastrophe Living)
- improved capacity for empathy/compassion*
- morality (taking into consideration what is best for others not just oneself)*
- intuition (being open to the neural networks of the body, especially around the heart and the intestines)*