Can meditation be part of an active lifestyle? If it is, how do you meditate and how do you do it quickly? These are the kinds of questions I asked myself recently when I considered meditating.

I have been interested in meditation for a while but have never done anything beyond “being interested” in it. Well I finally decided to see what it was all about. I spent some time Goggling meditation and learning a little bit about it. It turns out there has been plenty of research indicating that meditation works. Here are some of the benefits that I found:

  1. It improves concentration.
  2. It lowers oxygen consumption.
  3. It decreases respiratory rate.
  4. It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
  5. It Increases exercise tolerance in heart patients.
  6. Leads to a deeper level of relaxation.
  7. Good for people with high blood pressure as it brings the B.P. to normal.
  8. Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
  9. Decreases muscle tension (any pain due to tension) and headaches.
  10. Increases serotonin production which influences mood and behavior. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia and headaches.
  11. Helps in chronic diseases like allergies , arthritis etc.
  12. Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome.
  13. Helps in post-operative healing.
  14. Enhances the immune system. Research has revealed that meditation increases activity of ‘natural-killer cells’, which kill bacteria and cancer cells.

I am particularly interested in the stress relieving/calming benefits of meditation along with meditation’s ability to improve focus and concentration. The reason I haven’t done anything beyond my initial interest up to now is that I want to experience the benefits of meditation without having to spend hours and hours each day meditating. Being the kind of person that has to read a book before I try something new, I went to my favorite shopping site, Amazon, and did a search for books on meditation. There were a lot of hits but one really stuck out, “8 Minute Meditation“. Now, there’s a book I could love, meditation in only 8 minutes! The price was good so I ordered it. I got it today and will read it in the next few days. So far, it looks like a good book.

I’ll post a review of the book when I finish it and I will also document my initial impressions/results of meditation.

Have any of you tried meditation? What results did you get. Or not? I’d be interested in hearing your experiences.