Meditation... Make it a bad habit...

100 Benefits of Meditation...

by Frederic Premji

Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.

4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Basic Bhuddist Meditation 
by Dr. C. George Boeree

The most basic form of meditation involves attending to one's breath. 

Begin by sitting in a simple chair, keeping your back erect if you can.  The more traditional postures are the lotus position, sitting on a pillow with each foot upon the opposite thigh, and variations such as the half lotus (one foot on the opposite thigh, the other out in front of the opposite knee).  This is difficult for many people.  Some people kneel, sitting back on their legs or on a pillow between their legs.  Many use a meditation bench:  kneel, then place a little bench beneath your behind.  But meditation is also done while standing, slowly walking, lying on the floor, or even in a recliner! 

Traditionally, the hands are placed loosely, palms up, one on top of the other, and with the thumbs lightly touching.  This is called the cosmic mudra, one of a large number of symbolic hand positions.  You may prefer to lay them flat on your thighs, or any other way that you find comfortable. 

Your head should be upright, but not rigid.  The eyes may be closed, or focussed on a spot on the ground a couple of feet ahead of you, or looking down at your hands.  If you find yourself getting sleepy, keep your eyes open! 

Beginning meditators are often asked to count their breath, on the exhale, up to ten.  Then you begin back at one.  If you loose track, simply go back to one.  Your breath should be slow and regular, but not forced or artificially controlled.  Just breathe naturally and count.

A few weeks later, you may fore go the counting and try to simply follow your breath.  Concentrate on it entering you and exiting you.  Best is to be aware as fully as possible of the entire process of breathing, but most people focus on one aspect or another:  the sensation of coolness followed by warmth at the nostrils, or the rise and fall of the diaphragm.  Many meditators suggest imagining the air entering and exiting a small hole an inch or two below your navel.  Keeping your mind lower on the body tends to lead to deeper meditation.  If you are sleepy, then focus higher, such as at the nostrils. 

You will inevitably find yourself distracted by sounds around you and thoughts within.  The way to handle them is to acknowledge them, but do not attach yourself to them.  Do not get involved with them.  Just let them be, let them go, and focus again on the breath.  At first, it might be wise to scratch when you itch and wiggle when you get uncomfortable.  Later, you will find that the same scant attention that you use for thoughts and sounds will work with physical feelings as well. 

A more advanced form of meditation is shikantaza, or emptiness meditation.  Here, you don't follow anything at all.  There is no concentration -- only quiet mindfulness.  You hold your mind as if you were ready for things to happen, but don't allow your mind to become attached to anything.  Things -- sounds, smells, aches, thoughts, images -- just drift in and out, like clouds in a light breeze. 

Many people have a hard time with their thoughts.  We are so used to our hyperactive minds, that we barely notice the fact that they are usually roaring with activity.  So, when we first sit and meditate, we are caught off guard by all the activity.  So some people find it helpful to use a little imagination to help them meditate.  For example, instead of counting or following your breath, you might prefer to imagine a peaceful scene, perhaps floating in a warm lagoon, until the noise of your mind quiets down. 

Meditate for fifteen minutes a day, perhaps early in the morning before the rest of the house wakes up, or late at night when everything has quieted down.  If that's too much, do it once a week if you like.  If you want, do more.  Don't get frustrated.  And don't get competitive, either.  Don't start looking forward to some grand explosion of enlightenment.  If you have great thoughts, fine.  Write them down, if you like.  Then go back to breathing.  If you feel powerful emotions, wonderful.  Then go back to breathing.  The breathing is enlightenment.