Why Does Meditation Work And How To Take Advantage Of It?
Visualization, meditation in movement, focused attention, concentration on the breath … do you know how each form of meditation helps you?
When we meditate we use the brain in a different way. For that reason the transformation occurs. Specifically, there are changes in the electrical activity of neurons, in the waves that the brain generates to function and that vary according to our mental state:
- During deep sleep, delta waves predominate , which have the ability to repair the body and mind.
- During light sleep, when the brain is at its peak of deep relaxation, theta waves prevail .
- In the waking state alpha waves abound .
- In a rational state of mind, beta predominates .
Well, during meditation there is an increase in theta and alpha waves: a calm brain is achieved while in a waking state.
Recently, science has discovered the role of brain gamma waves in relation to states of greater openness of consciousness, showing that they help to leave cyclical, incessant thoughts, and enter a mental space where creativity predominates , the direct apprehension of the knowledge, where we also find ourselves at peace and feel that feeling that everything is fine, the prelude to happiness.
What to do to get all these benefits?
Therefore, although the word meditate suggests a verb, and therefore an action, in reality meditation does not require any action. It simply consists of taking the mind to another state.
It is not about doing great exercises or great efforts: actually, meditation is very simple.
Every time we do something we love to do, every time we “go into flow” and lose track of space-time and are in the pure present, every time we focus on expressing our creativity, on allowing ourselves to learn something new (coming out of automatisms), we are favoring this meditative state.
Playing a musical instrument, knitting, singing, dancing, traveling, climbing, skating, even driving !, can be activities that take us to a state of mind beyond the rational, to a meditative mind in which we can begin to “think differently ”. Like when you have the feeling that time does not exist, that you are fully immersed in an experience.
6 health goals we can achieve through meditation
Sleep
Meditating not only improves our day to day, but also our night. Studies show that people who meditate regularly have a better quality of sleep, it is deeper. In addition, this more restorative rest has a direct impact on the improvement of mental and emotional states on wakefulness, generating a virtuous cycle of well-being and health.
Meditation with movements (tai chi, yoga, qigong …) is especially effective in improving sleep.
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The visualization, a technique of meditation is to evoke the imagination a pleasant situation, active visual brain regions,
which does not occur with other types of art.
Memory
Mindfulness is the gym of the brain. Practicing it for 12 minutes a day seems to be enough to notice improvements in many physical and mental aspects related to youthfulness of the brain, according to a study by the Tucson Foundation for Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention (USA).
It has been found that meditation with focused attention (usually practiced focusing on an object, like watching a candle) active areas of the brain related to attention control, which also improves the ability to retain and store data.
Anxiety
Focusing on breathing (focusing your mind on how air enters and leaves your body) has proven effective against episodes of anxiety. It is an effective way to reduce nervousness, even in cases of post-traumatic stress.
Afraid
Cardiologist Herbert Benson, from Harvard Medical School (USA) studied the effects of Buddhist meditation and found that its practice increases activity in the left frontal lobe of the brain and decreases that of the right.
People who use the left hemisphere more take less time to eliminate negative emotions. This imbalance between the activity
of both hemispheres favors the reduction of fear and angry states.
It also detected that there was an increase in the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with the feeling of well-being.
Pain
Meditative practice focused on the sensation of pain can help transform it. It is about becoming familiar with this sensation in order to gradually learn to accept it.
A common contemplative meditation technique is to relax and imagine breathing through the painful area and exhaling through a hole in the same area of the body.
