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I’m pretty sure you’ve heard that meditation is good for health. Those who’ve practiced meditation will tell you that it’s relaxing; however, most of them don’t know the exact reason behind it.

From my experience, I can tell you with utmost honesty that you’ll experience a multitude of both direct and indirect benefits from meditation. You must carry out meditation practice regularly to get the most out of its benefits.

The length of your practice isn’t as important as the frequency; you’re far more likely to experience the many benefits if you meditate for five to ten minutes a day, seven days a week, rather than if you squeeze it all into a half an hour session once a week.

Like many people worldwide, I personally have experienced the following benefits:

•Meditation Improves Your Immune System

The practice being relaxing is the most commonly cited benefit of meditation. I can tell you that this is most definitely true and does indeed make you feel great.

However, the benefits of meditation are just not restricted to relaxation, and it has many other major benefits. A stronger immune system is one of these benefits.

Stress and anxiety deteriorate the functioning of our immune system significantly, leaving us susceptible to all kinds of harmful things.

You can reduce the amount of stress-related chemicals in your body by developing a regular meditation practice. This will ensure that you do not turn to unhealthy coping strategies to deal with the stress.

•Meditation Improves Stress Related Conditions

Anything from heart disease to autoimmune conditions such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), fall under the category of stress-related conditions. The basic principle on which meditation works is that your mind and body are deeply connected. However, this is not to say that meditation alone contributes towards good health. Other lifestyle factors, diet for instance, also play a huge role.

When we feel stress, we have a physiological reaction to it, which can negatively impact our health over the long term. Giving your body a break from the physical effects of stress can help alleviate physical symptoms exacerbated by stress.

•Meditation Improves Self-Acceptance

There is no better way to improve self-acceptance than meditation. When we meditate, we become more aware, and more capable, of controlling our thoughts. A key part of meditation revolves around noticing our thoughts without judging them or getting caught up in their stories or meanings. This helps us to develop a different perspective on our internal dialogue, develop a greater understanding of ourselves, and practice noticing our thoughts and feelings without attaching meaning or judgment to them.

•Meditation Improves Fertility

You know by now that stress has a negative impact on the immune system. It also impacts fertility adversely. Scientists aren’t sure of the exact link between stress and fertility issues; however, test subjects who took part in stress-reduction techniques were more likely to get pregnant.

•Meditation Improves Self-Confidence

Meditation works to build our self-esteem just the way it helps us to develop self-acceptance. Our self-confidence builds on the stories we have about ourselves.

When negative thoughts or feelings about ourselves come up during meditation, we practice simply noticing them in the moment. Over time, this leaves us better able to handle negative internal dialogue outside of meditation too.

•Meditation Improves Your Relationships

Meditation can help improve our relationships in two ways: first, it provides us with time to reconnect with ourselves. The more relaxed, grounded and self-accepting we are, the more we are able to be our best selves with other people. Secondly, meditation also helps develop our awareness of the stories we might hold around our relationships.

As well as noticing thoughts and feelings about ourselves, meditation provides us with the opportunity to see stories we have around others from a different perspective too.

•Improves Creativity

Scientific study has revealed that you can relieve pain with the help of meditation. In the study, subjects trained themselves to focus on physical sensations from certain parts of their bodies, leading researchers to believe that people who suffer from chronic conditions could be able to train themselves to ‘turn down the volume’ on pain.

•Enhances Concentration

You may call meditation a practice in concentration. Once you learn to concentrate on your breath, you can translate that skill into any number of settings we choose. Through regular meditation, we also get used to shifting our attention back to the task at hand when it strays.

•Fosters a Feeling of ‘Wholeness’

This is probably the most difficult one to put into words, as it’s something that is hard to explain until you experience it.

Do not underestimate the power of spending a few minutes a day connecting with your body and your mind. An innate sense of well-being such as oneness, stability, a sense of perspective, or self-connection is what you get from meditation. You can change your experience of the world by taking a few minutes to reconnect with your internal feelings and sensations in a world where most of your time is spent focusing on external activities.