A growing number of hundreds of millions of people around the globe practice meditation. It makes you more productive and eliminates negativity from your mind, especially during stressful and anxious times. The immense advantages of meditation make it one of the most popular mind and body practices alongside breathing exercises and yoga.
This article will discuss what meditation is, the history of meditation, and its benefits.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a technique to reach a heightened mental state through mindfulness or focusing on a particular object or thought to achieve a stable mind, better focus on something, and increase self-awareness. It is practiced all over the world in different religions and cultures.
Meditation is mainly two types, which can either be guided or self done:
⦁ Concentrative meditation: Concentrative meditation means focusing on a particular thing and throwing out everything else from your mind. It can be a particular word, mantra, activity, or thought.
⦁ Mindfulness meditation: Mindfulness meditation means being present at the moment and focusing on dealing with different life situations such as depression, stress, or loneliness.
History of Meditation
The origin of meditation can be traced back to 5,000 BCE. Meditation originally was a religious ritual performed in Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Islam. It was also practiced in ancient China and Egypt.
However, meditation began to gain the attention of all kinds of people around the world in the 20th century. Now people of all ages practice meditation for psychological well-being.
Top 7 Benefits of Meditation
Meditation mainly benefits your mind or mental health. It has several other advantages too. Here are the top 7 benefits of doing meditation:
⦁ Improves focus and concentration
The meditation practice involves focusing on particular things. As a result, it enables you to improve your concentration and attention span. According to a study, only 13 minutes of daily meditation can significantly improve your attention and memory after 8 weeks.
⦁ Allows you to manage stress more efficiently
One of the main reasons why people start meditation is to deal with stress. Several studies proved that meditation truly helps to reduce stress. It gives you a sense of calm and balance that alleviates your emotional pain or tensions.
⦁ Increase self-esteem and self-awareness
Meditation enables you to understand yourself better. Self-inquiry meditation makes you aware of your true thoughts and how they relate to things around you. Through these processes, meditation eliminates negative thoughts and teaches you to love yourself.
⦁ Promotes emotional health
If you are going through depression, meditation can help you. Meditation may reduce the inflammatory cytokines in the body, which causes depression. A study on 3,500 adults shows mindfulness meditation can significantly reduce the symptoms of depression.
⦁ Controls anxiety
Meditation also helps people control anxiety. Whether it's job-related anxiety or something else, practicing meditation regularly can make you feel better. A study showed that 8 weeks of meditation helped people with a generalized anxiety disorder greatly reduce anxiety symptoms.
⦁ Improves sleep quality
A better sleeping habit makes people more focused and boosts moods. But nearly half of the population today face insomnia. Meditation can help you get better sleep at night. It controls and relaxes the thoughts in your mind and enables you to sleep well.
⦁ Lowers blood pressure
Apart from the mental health benefits, meditation also improves your physical health by lowering blood pressure. Your blood pressure decreases during meditation, which stays for longer if you practice regularly. It reduces the chance of different heart diseases.
In short, people have been practicing meditation since ancient times due to its mental health benefits, which can help you deal better with different situations in life and make you a better person. When combined with other Tok Wellness products such as our support formula, calm straw, and meditation seat, you can work towards combating stress and living a healthier, happier life.
