Benefits of Meditation

Before we step up to next stage of meditation, its worth to understand the benefits of the "Samatha" meditation. Breathing exercise which we discussed, is one of the basic Samatha Meditation.


Physiological Benefits of Meditation
With the meditation, the physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with more energy. This results in joy, peace, enthusiasm as the level of energy in the body increases. So you can experience bellow as the result of meditation in your physical body.


* Lower high blood pressure
* Lower the levels of blood lactate, reducing anxiety attacks 
* Decreases any tension-related pain, such as, tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, etc...
* Improves the immune system
* Improves nervous system
* Increases digestion of food
* Increases the energy level, as you gain an inner source of energy


Psychological Benefits of Meditation
Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an "Alpha" ((7.5-14Hz)) state that promotes deep relaxation. The mind becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful. With regular practice of meditation you can experience bellow in your mind.


* Anxiety decreases
* Emotional stability improves
* Creativity increases
* Happiness increases
* Intuition develops
* Gain clarity and peace of mind


Every person in the world expect happiness, joyfulness and freedom in their mind and no one like to sadness, anger and frustration, With the regular meditation practice you can grow above mentioned positive facts in your mind. If your are a new comer for the meditation, you can't experience that positive facts at once in your mind, but with the time you can see the improvement of your mind.


As you aware, there are two types of meditation. Those are "Samatha & Vipassana". "Samatha" meditation is about the concentration and calmness which is teaching in many religions. But "Vipassana" meditation is purely teached by Gauthama Budda and it is completely  aim to
the wisdom. As "Vipassana" meditation is more complicated, we will not discuss that in this movement.  


Meditation teachers are recommended "Samatha" for the beginners. There are lots of "Samatha" meditation techniques. We have discussed very basic "Samatha" meditation technique (Exercise I) before. Please note, some techniques are not suitable for some people. Because of there are many kinds of people and they have different characters. There are "Three universal characteristics" of existence.This is an important part of the teachings of the Buddha and we can discuss this later. Therefore you can test few meditation techniques and understand which one is most suitable for you. When you became mature with "Samatha" meditation, you can practice two or more in meditating time. That's all up to you.


If you are a beginner, just try to meditate 5 minutes time. If you can concentrate for 5 minutes, it is a great achievement as a beginner. Then try to increase meditating time accordingly. 


We will discuss another "Samatha" meditation technique soon.