Meditation is an art. It is the delicate process of letting go of all your wandering thoughts, the efforts to relax into your true nature, which is love, joy, and peace.
There are numerous ways of doing Meditation. This can be done in silence or with the help of chanting for a number of reasons, ranging from religious or prayer purposes to as a method for evoking relaxation. People often confuse meditation with prayer, but it is important to know that praying is talking to the universe. Meditation is listening to it. Meditation has gained traction in recent years as a fast way to reduce stress. Furthermore, there are many amazing meditation benefits for brain.
Both spirituality and science back the amazing benefits of meditation. If you are planning to indulge in meditation practices but do not know where to start, we are here with a list of seven types of meditation, you can choose the practice that suits you the most.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation is the most common way of being completely present with your thoughts. Being careful means monitoring where we are and what we’re doing and not being excessively responsive to what exactly is happening around us. When performing mindfulness meditation, you focus on your thoughts and feelings but let them pass without judgment.
Yoga Meditation
The act of yoga traces all the way back to ancient India. There is a wide assortment of classes and styles of yoga. However, they all include a series of postures and controlled breathing activities intended to advance adaptability and quiet the brain. The poses require balance and concentration, and practitioners are urged to focus less on interruptions and stay more in the moment.
Chakra Meditation
Chakras allude to the focus of energy and spiritual power in the body. There are believed to be seven chakras. Chakra meditation consists of body relaxation techniques focused on bringing balance and well-being to the chakras. A portion of these methods visually pictures each chakra in the body and its relative color.
Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Meditation)
Metta-Meditation or Loving-Kindness Meditation is the practice of directing warm words toward others. Those who practice, recite exact words and expressions intended to bring out thoughtful sentiments. This is also common in vipassana and mindfulness meditation.
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental meditation is a simple method in which a personally selected mantra, such as a word, small phrase, or sound, is repeated in a specific way. It’s practiced 20 minutes two times each day while sitting relaxed with closed eyes. The thought is that this method will allow you to settle inward to a significant condition of relaxation, determined to accomplish inner peace without concentration or effort.
Guided Meditation
Guided meditation or guided imagery or visualization is a meditation technique in which you form mental pictures or circumstances that you find relaxing. This method is typically led by a guide or teacher, hence “guided.”
Vipassana Meditation (Sayagyi U Ba Khin Tradition)
Vipassana meditation is an ancient Indian type of meditation that means to see things as they indeed are. The goal of this meditation is self-change through self-observation. This is achieved through focused attention to physical sensations in the body to establish a deep association between the brain and the body—the continuous interconnectedness results in a balanced mind full of affection and compassion.
How Meditation Helps Your Brain: 7 Simple Ways
Meditation is more than just a quiet moment during your busy day. It actually changes how your brain works, making it healthier and stronger! Here’s how meditation can reshape your brain in seven amazing ways:
- Boosts Focus and Concentration: Just like exercising makes your muscles stronger, meditating makes your brain better at focusing. It trains your brain to stay on task longer without getting sidetracked. Research shows that meditation increases the density of grey matter in brain areas linked to learning and memory, which helps improve your ability to concentrate.
- Reduces Stress: Meditation helps calm the part of your brain that feels stressed. Think of it as hitting a “quiet button” in your brain, making you feel less overwhelmed and anxious. Studies find that meditation reduces symptoms of anxiety and stress by altering the brain’s response to stress.
- Enhances Memory: Regular meditation helps you remember information better, like upgrading your brain’s storage system. This can make it easier to remember things for tests or interesting facts. Research indicates that meditation improves both short-term and long-term memory.
- Decreases Wandering Thoughts: Sometimes, your brain buzzes with random thoughts that can make you feel worried or sad. Meditation helps quiet these thoughts, making your mind a more peaceful place. Studies show that meditation decreases activity in the default mode network of the brain, which is involved in mind-wandering and self-referential thoughts.
- Increases Emotional Health: Meditation can make you happier by boosting positive emotions and reducing feelings of sadness or anger. It’s like giving your brain a happiness boost. Research has shown that meditation increases positive feelings and activity in brain regions linked to positive emotion [Brain Research Bulletin, 2011].
- Improves Brain Flexibility: Meditation helps your brain adapt to new situations more easily. This flexibility means you can handle changes at school or new activities better. Studies suggest that meditation enhances the brain’s ability to switch between thoughts and tasks, showing increased brain flexibility.
- Encourages Creativity and Problem-Solving: With a clearer, less worried mind, you can think of creative ideas more easily. Meditation helps you see problems from different angles, helping you find new solutions. Research supports that meditation can lead to divergent thinking, a type of thinking that allows new ideas to be generated [PLoS One, 2012].
By meditating regularly, you’re not just taking a break. You’re making your brain stronger, more flexible, and healthier. This helps you feel better, think clearer, and do better in everything you do!
Meditation Effect On Brain
Research conducted at Yale University found that mindfulness meditation decreases activity in the default mode network (DMN). This network is responsible for all the overthinking you often find yourself engulfed in. The DMN is “on” or active when we’re not thinking about anything; in particular, when our minds are just wandering from thought to thought. This wandering often results in emotional turmoil. Several studies have shown that meditation, through its quieting effect on the DMN, makes the mind quiet, And even when the mind does start to wander, because of the new connections that form, meditators are better at snapping back out of it.
Another study at Harvard has found that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain: Eight weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was found to increase cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory. There were also decreases in brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress
One study claimed that just a couple of weeks of meditation training helped people’s focus and memory during the verbal reasoning section of the Competitive exams, so students! Take notes.
It was found that students improved scores by up to 16 percentile points.
Meditation is proven beneficial for toddlers and school-going kids in their studies and concentration.
So you see, there are tons of meditation benefits for brain and not a single drawback, isn’t it a great deal?
The bottom Line
Whether you’re looking to reduce stress or find spiritual enlightenment or are looking for meditation benefits on brain, there’s always a meditation practice for you.
If you find it difficult to practice meditation on your own or want to practice meditation in a proper way. There is a number of meditation centers like Tushita Meditation Center, Dhamma Bodhi, Ashiyana Yoga Retreat, and Isha Yoga and Meditation which can help you immensely.
Now that there is no excuse left, you better start practicing meditation. After all, what could be better than a life full of joy, tranquillity, and purpose Meditation gives you all.
Meditation is not a thing to force on you. It is all about comfort and relaxation. You will be amazed to see how magnanimous transformation meditation brings to our lives. So start early and become part of eternal bliss.
References: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895748/#:~:text=In%20meditation%2C%20the%20feedback%20loop,life%20and%20improves%20overall%20health.
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2013.0204
Anjani Kumar Shrivastava, a distinguished yoga expert with decades of experience, brings healing and wisdom through yoga therapy, meditation, and Ayurvedic principles. His remarkable Read more
