The benefits of meditation have been known to humans ever
since it was first practiced several millennia ago. This
article will discuss some of them in detail and will
outline the mental as well as the health benefits of this
practice.

. Reduces stress

- since meditation helps calm the mind and relax the
individual, it helps a lot in reducing stress. This is
usually achieved through the breathing exercises that form
a part of the practice.

Stress reduction is one of the main reasons why people take
up meditation.

. Various health benefits

- there are already documented cases wherein meditation was
shown to have helped in curing an illness. A landmark study
is the one done in by Australian psychiatrist Ainslie
Meares which was published in the Medical Journal of
Australia.

The study documented how a patient’s cancer regressed after
sessions of intensive meditation. Meditation is also known
to lower blood pressure levels, which is beneficial to
patients who are at risk of hypertension and other
heart-related conditions.

. Improves concentration

- one practice in meditation involves focusing on a
particular object such as a candlelight, or reciting a
mantra. Doing activities like these have been shown to
improve a person’s concentration.

. Acceptance of events

- another aspect of meditation is the ability to take
things as they are. This helps a lot in reducing a person’s
frustrations over things that he/she cannot control.

People who will surely benefit from this include those who
are undergoing anger management.

Breathing is an integral part of meditation. Proper
breathing is required in many practices of meditation and
is therefore an important tool to be possessed by people
who wish to perform this activity.

The practice of proper breathing while meditating helps a
person relax while doing the exercise. Proper breathing is
achieved by inhaling through the nose, letting the
diaphragm (not the chest) expand and exhaling through the
mouth.

Doing this slows down a person’s heart rate which leads to
a relaxed mood.

Breathing also plays a significant role when a person aims
to improve his/her concentration. This is done by focusing
the mind on the act of taking in air and feeling it pass
through the nostrils until the air is finally exhaled
through the mouth.

While this may sound easy, it can be quite challenging when
done for the first time.

Then there’s the method for increasing a person’s
awareness. Just like the concentration technique mentioned
above, it involves putting one’s attention to his/her
breathing.

But instead of focusing on the act of inhaling and exhaling
air, it is the sensation of breathing where the person
trains his/her thoughts. The feeling of the air passing
through the nose, filling the lungs and expanding the
diaphragm is the sensation that a person should look for.

It helps him/her feel how it is to be truly alive.

This article has shown how important breathing is in the
practice of meditation. It is no wonder, therefore, that
the two are inseparable activities that a student of
meditation should learn.