Does meditation really work?

A Detroit based chemical plant that implemented mediation posted the following results three years after its introduction.

• Absenteeism fell by 85%
• Productivity rose 120%
• Injuries dropped 70%
• Profits increased 520%

Sounds pretty effective to me 8)

Hey Divka, you beat me to the punch
Since the first studies of mediation first started in 1930 there have been at least 1500 separate ones and I haven’t read even one of them that came to negative conclusions.
The following list of the effects of meditation is pretty much common to all the tests and to all research.
• Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen consumption are all decreased.
• Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
• Meditators were more independent and self-confident
• People who deliberated daily were less fearful of death.
• 75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
• Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased, thus making it possible for those people to deal with stress better when it occurs.
• Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of steady daily rumination and reflection.
• Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.
• Relaxation therapy was helpful in chronic pain patients.
• 60% of anxiety prone people showed marked improvements in anxiety levels after 6-9 months.

Miss Skeptic, you say that you don’t have time to mediate, but you’ll find that if you start meditating that you’ll sleep at least a couple of hours less every night, but will wake up feeling more energetic

I used to sleep around 7-9 hours a night, and often tossed and turned a lot, but since I started daily mediation several years ago I sleep around 5-6 a night.

Please try it, and if you’re willing, then I or others on the site will tell you how to do it without spending a dime.

Meditation affects the difficult, stressed, and unpleasant areas of the mind, and what it does is to change the mind’s attitude to them, but not solve them.

People who practice meditation experience a fall in metabolic rate almost immediately, and their oxygen consumption can fall as much as 20% below normal, which means one liter of air less in one minute, and their heart rate is sub-normal.

Blood pressure is also lower, as meditation decreases nervous system activity.

As to “are there any negative effects?”.

I personally became less interested in chasing around looking for things to do because I felt much greater inner peace, and I became less interested in sex.

I can’t say if you’d interpret the above as being positive or negative but it might explain in part, the huge drop in absenteeism that Divka reported

Well I can’t say that I’m convinced that mediation would help me, but I’m not so stupid as to simply ignore what people are posting.

So please post a really simple way that I can try mediation that won’t take too long to do.

I have a problem sitting still for long and thoughts are always racing though my head.

Hi, and I hope this will help you.

The very first things that I want you to understand is that even the simple steps below will most likely be difficult at first, and if you don’t succeed then it’s really important not to get angry with yourself because mediation is really about the opposite.

You’re thoughts will wander, and that happens to even long time meditators sometimes.

You think of a beach for example, then of somebody selling ice cream and all of a sudden you’re thinking about diets or whatever.

It doesn’t matter.

If you feel that you’ve already spent enough time that session then just get up and go about your business, and if not then just guide your mind as best you can back to quiet place without the the continual chattering.

It doesn’t matter how you sit or lie, and the only reason for not lying down is that you’ll most likely fall asleep, but that would be OK too.

Ask others, if there are any, to please not disturb you for the next ten minutes, to fifteen minutes.

Turn off the TV, radio, phone or anything else that might interrupt you.

Close your eyes, and picture things that will help you to relax your body; maybe you’re in the bath; on a beach; next to a river etc

Now start to count your breaths. Count from one to nine and then start again at one and try to do it for five minutes to start with.

As thoughts come up, just be aware of them, but be gentle with yourself and just let them go, and then either continue counting or just start from number one again.

After five minutes or how ever long feels comfortable, stop counting and just watch your breathing for a few moments.

And that’s it. You will gradually but surely be able to sit for longer and longer without any thoughts interfering.

The following quote is and isn’t about meditation, but I love it and many that read this might love it too.

You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be quiet still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked,
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

Michael, that’s great advice!

Nothing is more important that being kind to ourselves.

We continually criticize and blame ourselves when we shouldn’t.

I was going to write about techniques and how to meditate, but there’s no better advice than to stop beating up on ourselves.

Great quote from Kafka!

Something that’s really important whether you pray, meditate or contemplate etc is gratitude.

If you start off your day by saying, “thank you” for all the things that you have, then you’ll approach the day with a positive and loving feeling.

You might say that you don’t have much to be thankful for, but I’m sure if you sit quietly and consider what you have, then you’ll think of lots of things.

I think….a lot of people did it…but personally i haven’t try it also….Maybe one of these day i will…Such a interesting post.

I think it can really help..many of people and celebrities are doing it..and there are a lot of good feedback….This is really a great post..very interesting.As well as your blog..I like it.Keep it up!!

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