Meditation, Pixabay |
The side effects of meditation are positive and countless. Studies have demonstrated that those who meditate on a regular basis have reduced illness, stress, and need for rest.
But one of the most compelling reasons to meditate is that
the process of meditation itself is sublime. Meditation is not dependent upon
the result, but the act of meditation itself is a blissful one, transporting
one to a state of contentment and tranquil awareness during the training of
meditation itself, not just at the end of training. Actually, because the means
equals the end, the training has no beginning and never ends.
All of us in modern times experience a constant onslaught of
stress. We are bombarded by uninvited energies in the form of such things as
television, noise pollution, arguments, and angry or envious people. In order
to counteract this enormously overwhelming force of negativity and distress, we
need a superior power, gathered within ourselves; and meditation connects us to
this internal reservoir of cleansing, enlightening energy.
In former times, nature surrounded people in their daily
routines and rituals of existence. There were no artificial sound vibrations
from telephones or machinery; there were no stresses and diseases resulting
from urban industrial complexities. There was the sound of water, the hum of
the wind, the beauty of the stars in the sky, and the scent of the earth. There
were natural tempos in every aspect of life, as people planted seeds, nurtured
them into foodstuffs, and as they observed the cycles of nature they felt a
connection to them.
Nowadays we can live our entire lifespan without ever
contacting nature in a direct way. We live in artificially controlled climates,
we gather food from fast food restaurants or from stores where it is packaged
in a factory; we invite a total divorce of ourselves from our natural origins
and our organic, original pace of life.
Meditation allows us an easy, convenient, portable method to
enter into those lost natural rhythms and aesthetics, by closing out the world
around us, letting go of our bodies, and clearing the mind of all the
artificial stress it gathers knowingly or unknowingly during the course of
lives.
Meditation costs nothing, it has no harmful side effects,
and it won’t add calories or cholesterol to your body. Nor is it addictive in
the sense of drugs and alcohol. But it does provide practitioners with an
elevated sense of well-being, often compared to a natural high more powerful
than those induced by drugs, and this component of meditation is one that can
be fully embraced for positive, healthy benefits.
The human body is a complex creation, and in the brain the
body naturally produces drugs that are hundreds of times more powerful than
pharmaceutical narcotics. As one meditates, the body secretes mysterious
hormones and chemicals that actually provide an incredible rush of energy and
happiness, and this is only one of the amazing side effects of meditation
practice.
Meditation is different things to different people. Some use
it in place of, or in addition to, psychotherapy. Others find it most valuable
as a tool to enhance sports or work performance, and to increase the memory and
other mental functions. Some people rely upon it to help them deal with grief
or the aftermath of trauma or tragedy, and to regain a contentment and
appreciation for lifes beauties. And there are those who use meditation as a creative
tool to inspire them in the arts.
Meditation gives us stronger and more
sustainable vigor, sexual energy, and calm, as it provides a restfulness that
is comparable to deep, exceptionally restful sleep.
There are countless reasons to meditate, and one way to make
the world a better and more peaceful and harmonious place, is for all of us to
dedicate some time out of our stressful lives to pause and drink from the
mental oasis of meditation practice.
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