Meditation, Mindfulness & Presence
Enriching Your Life with Scientifically Validated Practices
The Benefits of Meditation
There are currently literally tens of thousands of scientific papers on meditation, and the following is a short list of some of the benefits that have been reliably, scientifically demonstrated to accrue from meditation:
Reduction in levels of stress
improves focus, attention and concentration
improves working memory
Increases resistance to distraction
improves emotional regulation
increases emotional resilience
improves tolerance of difficult feelings
reduces emotional reactivity
reduces anxiety and worry
reduces levels of depression and lowers the relapse rate after recovery from depression
reduces both the perception of the level of pain as well as the emotional reactivity to pain
improves immune function and reduces inflammation
improves sleep
lowers blood pressure and improves cardiovascular functioning
increases levels of compassion, empathy and altruistic behaviour
strengthens positive emotions
improves Self-Awareness and Psychological Insight
reduces the symptoms of anxiety disorders
lowers the likelihood of relapse for those addicted to substance abuse
Lowers the levels of stress in those with dread disease
Almost anyone can benefit from regular meditation.
Common misconceptions concerning meditation:
I can’t meditate
The truth is: almost anyone can learn to meditate.
I can’t stop my mind
The aim of meditation is not to stop the mind from thinking.
The mind thinks but, with regular meditation, one gets more and more of a choice as to whether or not one gets sucked into the thinking.
I can’t sit still for that long
Almost anyone can learn to sit relatively still for 20 minutes. But, even if you can’t, there are walking meditations as an alternative to sitting meditation. There is always a way!
Meditation is against my religion
Meditation is common in the contemplative traditions of all the major religions. It may be called by other names: prayer (Christianity), shiné (Tibetan Buddhism), śamatha (Hinduism), Muraqabah (Islam), Simran (Sikhism) and so on, but the essence is the same.
If you are religious, meditation and mindfulness can support you in your faith.
This is Woo Woo, New Age hogwash!
Meditation and mindfulness have been the subject of rigorous scientific research for decades now, and the results are strongly supportive of a multitude of benefits.
The bottom line: Almost anyone can benefit enormously from regular meditation.
What are Mindfulness and Presence?
Mindfulness is essentially the skill of being able to be present with one’s experience in a non-judgmental way.
The practice of meditation naturally leads to the practice of mindfulness.
In meditative practice, one learns over time to simply be present with one’s experience while meditating.
This skill is simply brought into everyday life. This is mindfulness.
And, as one’s meditation deepens, one begins to experience periods of effortless mindfulness - just being awareness, allowing experience to arise and flow - just as it is.
This ability is often called ‘Presence,’ and it makes mindfulness in everyday life considerably easier than if one attempts it through deliberate effort.