The power of meditations is substantial. Have you ever felt lost in the whirlwind of daily life, yearning for a sense of peace and deeper connection? Many people turn to meditation seeking solace, healing, and a path to a more meaningful existence.
What exactly are the reasons to meditate? Why do so many find it transformative? This article explores five compelling reasons to meditate, offering insights into its power to reduce stress, enhance well-being, and unlock your spiritual potential.
Meditation is Compelling In a Number of Ways. Here are 5:
- To reduce stress and loneliness
- To invite “in” health and healing benefits
- To bypass the mind’s constant chatter
- To make direct contact with the Divine
- To welcome our Soul’s participation in our lives
Let’s jump in.
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Meditate To Reduce Stress and Loneliness
While living on Planet Earth we inhabit an amazingly complicated biomechanical vehicle that has to be fed, clothed, housed, and cared for. We all do our best to try and manipulate our world to create the best conditions for ourselves, given our circumstances. Which include having to deal with other humans (and all of their faults), our daily work, sitting in traffic, caring for our kids, laughing, crying, and breathing.
Most of us have multiple mental, physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual issues which almost nobody else can really understand but which requires our attention. Therefore, to some degree we worry and have concerns over some or all of these things.
It’s no wonder we frequently feel stressed out and end up running on a lot of adrenaline. This produces inflammation, the source of many body ailments. Sometimes the stress seems overwhelming. It sometimes makes us sick. 50% of our fellow humans’ reports feeling these days, lonely, and unhappy. The whole mixture makes for a life of suffering. Meditation helps.
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Meditate to invite “In” the Health and Healing Benefits Science Says Exists
Meditation has been studied extensively in recent years by the scientific community. The research shows that meditation can be beneficial. In a way that, according to Wikipedia, positively effects over 3000 conditions and ailments. Including stress and loneliness, heart disease, and high blood pressure. In my book, The Many Benefits of Meditation, I summarize a number of the amazing findings. Including links to a number of studies of a number of conditions and diseases.
To take advantages of these benefits we have to meditate. According to one study, the more the better. Just like eating your vegetables. In addition to summarizing the findings, I offer my conclusions about why meditation works the way it does. One reason is that meditating stops the mind from making its usual rounds (and around and around). It also stops, or at least helps to slow, the loop effect of a disease.
Often when a disease begins to take hold, it causes stress. Which builds momentum toward a worse outcome. Meditation, regularly applied, interrupts this loop. Not to say that meditation is a miracle cure all. But when done in conjunction with other more traditional treatments meditation can enhance the traditional treatment’s effects.
In addition, meditation can raise the vibratory rate of the person struck by a …. dis-ease. Thereby improving the body’s immune response to a human condition. And can return the body to its normal tendency toward good health.
I was amazed when I looked at the research. Not only because of the substantial number of high-quality studies that have been done, especially by noted researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn. But also because of the breadth and depth of the benefits uncovered. It would appear that a prescription for meditation might be good for almost every traditional treatment given for an ailment.
That it is helpful in so many situations encourages common use. Doing so invites “in” the health and healing benefits that meditation often brings.
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Meditate to Bypass the Mind’s Constant Chatter
Thoughts just seem to flow in from who knows where and flow out again. A constant stream of commentary on the ever changing concerns we all have. And ruminations on the past as well as attempts to divine and shape the future. In addition, our minds creates observations and speculations about the immediate moment. Such a busy mental machine we have.
One of the benefits of meditation is to quieten the mind in order to find a Place of Peace that eludes the restless mind.
Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, the one most people think of as the Buddha, said this in his first sermon. “This (understanding of cosmic law and order, Enlightenment) that I have attained is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise.
He found a way to be peaceful and sublime through meditation, bypassing the mind’s constant chatter.
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Meditate to Make Direct Contact with the Divine
One of the key teachings from our Master Teachers is that there is an intelligent, unifying force in the Universe (Spirit, God, Divine Intelligence). And that this force resides inside of us. Meditation is one of the ways used by many spiritual traditions to experience that force. Leading to direct contact with the Divine.
‘Spirit Within’ has been taught for thousands of years. Here are a few examples. For millennia Hindus have acknowledged each other with the greeting “Namaste”. Meaning “The Divine in Me Salutes the Divine in You!”. One commentator expanded upon in this way. “I honor the Spirit in you, which is also in me. I salute the God within you.”
Lau Tzu in the first lines of the Tao Te Ching, states that the Tao, God, Spirit which we all have access to is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. “The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.”
Jesus responded to a question from the Pharisees about when the Kingdom of God would come this way. “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.
Carl Jung said it this way, “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
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Meditate to Welcome Spirit’s Participation in Our Lives
One answer to the question, “Why meditate?” is this. Meditation can be used to put us in touch with the “One Spirit “mentioned above. Helping us grow and evolve us into beings of Higher Consciousness. Making it possible for us to live from a state of greater awareness and Oneness. We can then live as the Master Teachers did, with magnificence. Bearers of unconditional love and wisdom. Illumined with the Light of the Spirit of the All. Worthy of receiving “all that will be added” to us.
Spirit awaits at all times for us to turn our attention toward it. Unfortunately, we are all inundated with external circumstances and chatter. Our minds are unable to experience a quiet state of mind that allows Spirit to flow in. Meditation helps because it facilitates the development of that quiet state of mind. Maybe for only a moment at first. But with increasing frequency and duration the more we do it.
Our individualized Spirit, our Soul, wants the best for us. And will encourage us, if we let it, to grow and evolve. It will even help us elevate our vibratory rate to attract good things, people, and circumstances into our lives.
I became most familiar with my own Higher Consciousness when I was fired from a responsible leadership position. For shining a light on the mismanagement of my agency by my supervisor. I dove deep into my meditation practice. And began sensing a Presence surrounding me. Encouraging to pursue this healing activity. Together “we” have written my books and launched my new career as an author.
What Kind of Meditation?
This is where it gets interesting to me. Fundamentally there are two types of meditation. The first type is “Sit down” meditation. In which the meditator sits in a chair or on the floor and follows a process with a few steps. When done properly over a long enough period of time our mind relinquishes the tight grip it has on our persona.
Traditional meditation’s end goal is mind training. The assumption is that the mind is a wild horse that needs to be tamed. This can be a difficult and lengthy process. The mind does not want to be tamed. And resists the notion of giving up its central role in the human of “sit down” meditation systems. Whether they be self-managed or guided. Done silently personality. To a moment of no thing, no thinking, Preposterous.
My own sit-down meditation process has as its goal going directly to the state of mind that is most beneficial—Illumination. Illumination of the mind of the practitioner. This simple new process is called Higher Consciousness Meditation.
It is what my book The Meditation Book offers. A simple but effective 5 minute “sit down” meditation technique, as well as some new “mindfulness meditations”. For the purpose of Illumination. This method is easier and requires much less time to attain the State of Awareness where the benefits of meditation can be realized.
Mindfulness
The other type of meditation is called “mindfulness meditation”. In which the user takes only a moment to follow a process or say a few “mindful” words to herself/himself. Words that interrupt our mind’s momentum. Creating a moment of peace. For example, simply saying “peace be still” before you have to give a speech can calm you right down. Or tapping your heart in a moment of stress can remind you to “go within”. The Mindfulness Book offers a number of exercises you can apply to different situations in your life.
Try Them Both
I like to use them both each day. A sit-down meditation in the morning when I rise and another before going to bed. And then mindfulness exercises throughout the day to “tune up” and stay clear. They help me maintain my preferred state of mind in these unsettling of “interested observer”.
Meditation isn’t just a trendy practice. It’s an ancient pathway to self-discovery and transformation. Whether you seek stress relief, improved health, a deeper connection with the divine, or simply a moment of quiet amidst the chaos. Meditation offers a powerful set of tools for cultivating inner peace and living a more fulfilling life. Start small, be patient with yourself, and discover the profound benefits that await you on your journey within.
When you are ready:
- Use the “Higher Consciousness Meditation” process found in The Meditation Book to get quiet enough to allow Spirit to move.
- Check out “using your Sacred Senses” in The Mindfulness Book.
Blair is an author, poet, YouTubist, and ordinary mystic. His 5 award-winning book series are available at Amazon Books, and his YouTube videos at Blair Abee Higher Consciousness Channel.