HEALTH BENEFITS OFMeditation Meditation

Meditation is like “medicine” for the soul but without the worry of harmful side effects. It can positively impact your heart, mind, and body by offering some surprising health benefits.

Here are five benefits you may experience from meditation:

1. Reduces Stress and Anxiety—During meditation, your mind focuses on eliminating inner thoughts that may cause stress, anxiety, or depression.

2. Helps Manage Pain—Chronic pain affects more than 20 percent of U.S. adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meditation helps to control pain by focusing on breathing and the present moment.

3. Fights Depression Meditation helps decrease depression by changing how your brain reacts to stress and anxiety.

4. Improves Zzzzzzs—Sleep problems often stem from poor diet, stress, aging, or chronic illnesses. Practicing meditation before bed can release tension from your body, creating a more peaceful sleep. Research published by JAMA Internal Medicine showed that a group who practiced meditation reported less insomnia and fatigue.

5. Builds Strength, Balance, and Flexibility— Meditation combined with yoga improves balance and movement, which can also help prevent falls.

So what types of meditation are there?

1. Concentration meditation teaches you how to focus your mind. It is the foundation for other forms of meditation.

McHarrie Towne resident and yoga instructor Kim Setla (foreground) teaches a yoga class at the Towne Center at McHarrie Towne. It’s a fantastic way for residents to relax the mind, body, and spirit.

2. Heart-centered meditation involves quieting the mind and bringing awareness to the heart, an energy center in the middle of your chest.

3. Mindfulness meditation encourages you to focus objectively on negative thoughts as they move through your mind so you can achieve a state of calm.

4. Tai chi and qigong are moving forms of meditation that combine physical exercise with breathing and focus.

5. Transcendental meditation is a well­known technique in which you repeat a mantra—a word, phrase, or sound to quiet your thoughts and achieve greater awareness.

6. Walking meditation turns your focus to both body and mind as you breathe in time with your footsteps.