The Power of Meditation

Author: Huffington Post

“I intend to believe in the power of meditation” | Support Mieke’s Intent

There are two kinds of people in this world: those that are able to meditate and those that are not. I fall into the second category. I have tried many times but my mind just will not shut up. I have taken classes, read articles and even created a special playlist just to help me meditate. All those efforts failed, and eventually I gave up. If you are like me, you are probably wondering why bother with it anyway? What difference could it possibly make?

A study that appeared in a January 2011 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, found that people who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of their brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. Gray matter is responsible for information processing in our brains. In layman’s terms, meditation is good for your brain. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more studies that highlight other benefits of meditation, including helping people quit smoking, preventing memory loss and even reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in teens.

People have long thought of meditation as a spiritual exercise, but meditation is more than just food for the soul. More and more doctors and scientists are discovering the positive impacts meditation has on our health and longevity. Therefore, meditation should be as important to our daily routine as exercise, good sleep and a healthy diet are.

About Author:

The Huffington Post is an American news website, content aggregator, and blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart,[2][3] and Jonah Peretti, featuring columnists and various news sources.[4] The site offers news, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy living, women’s interest, and local news.