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The first time I came into contact with meditation was in a yoga class at a club. There was a short soothing rest technique at the end of each class. Listening to music and lying on the yoga mat, although it only lasts for ten minutes, your whole body can be well relaxed, and sometimes you will even fall asleep comfortably. This simple supine yoga technique can be regarded as my first exploration of meditation.

As my work progresses, my work pressure gradually increases, and my mind is often extremely active at night, with all kinds of pictures going on. In order to calm my mind and quiet my brain quickly before going to bed, I started listening to the Heart Sutra. Later, my leader suggested me to meditate. She said that she meditates first thing when she wakes up every morning and has benefited a lot over the years.

It has been more than two years since then. I started meditating from a few minutes to an hour now. This quiet exercise has brought me so many benefits.

First of all, the problem of falling asleep at night has been completely solved. Secondly, I feel very happy after each meditation. I feel very energetic after meditating again, and I feel like I have just recharged my batteries.

Meditation is a very popular exercise method in the United States. Spend 10 to 40 minutes every day to sit quietly and focus on a breath or an image. You can train yourself not to think about the past and the future. It is about focusing on the present moment and transcending it by fully accepting reality. Meditation can not only exercise the body, but more importantly, it can also change people's inner emotions and achieve true "cultivation of one's moral character."

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Dr. Jeremy Dean is a psychologist. His latest work "Breaking Habits: The Key Power to Change Your Destiny" explains how experience can help you change your destiny. Studies have found that meditation can help us control our emotions for longer, develop compassion, reduce sensitivity to pain, and improve our ability to multitask, among other things... In his book, he lists the significant benefits of meditation.

Lasting Emotional Control

In 2012, in an 8-week meditation research project, Desbord and others scanned the brain images of participants before and after participation. . During the scan, participants looked at pictures that elicited a positive, negative, or neutral emotional response.

It was found that after practicing meditation, the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain) became less reactive to all the photos. This suggests that meditation can help us maintain lasting control over our emotions, even in non-meditative states.

Cultivating Compassion

In 2013, Condon and others conducted a covert compassion test on people who had practiced meditation. In this study, they were first arranged to sit in a waiting area with two actors. When another actor on crutches came in, pretending to be in great pain, the two actors sitting next to the meditator ignored it, sending an unconscious signal that they didn't want to care.

David Desdeiro, one of the researchers, said: "What's really surprising about this finding is that meditation can make people want to do good - to help - even if others don't. Those who experience pain"

Changing brain structure

In a 2011 study, Hennell and others arranged for 16 people to participate in a meditation training before and after the training. Images of their brains were collected. The results found that gray matter density in the hippocampus, a region associated with learning and memory, was increased compared with the control group.

Britta Hunell, the lead expert on the study, said: "It's so fascinating to see how plastic the brain can be! Through meditation practice, we can actively change the brain and improve happiness. and quality of life.”

Reducing pain

In a 2010 study, Grant and others placed heating plates on the calves of meditators and non-meditators and found that meditators Lower pain sensitivity.

Joshua Grant explains: "With training, certain areas of the cerebral cortex of Zen meditators become thicker, which appears to be responsible for their reduced sensitivity to pain.

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Accelerate cognition

In 2010, Zaidan and others found that just four days of nearly 80 minutes of meditation can bring great benefits to novices. With Thor Compared to a control group who read King's "The Hobbit" audiobook, meditators showed improvements in working memory methods, executive function and visuospatial processing abilities despite only very brief training.

The authors said: " …Those four days of meditation training can enhance the ability to maintain concentration, and the benefits experienced by long-term meditators have been reported before." Tests found that the degree of improvement can range from 15 to more than 50.

Improve creativity

Appropriate meditation methods can help solve some problems that require creativity

Improve concentration

The core of meditation is to learn to focus. Better control the focus of attention

Improve multitasking ability

In 2012, Levy et al. tested several groups of people (human resources managers) on multitasking. Processing skills. As a result, people who practice meditation perform better at typical office tasks, such as answering the phone, writing emails, etc. Managers who practice meditation are better able to focus on their work and. There is also relatively little perceived work stress.

Reduces Anxiety

Meditation is often recommended for people who are prone to anxiety. Here is just one example from many studies. Itami and others found in 2013 that attending 4 meditation sessions (20 minutes each) was enough to reduce anxiety by up to 39%.

Fighting Depression

The core symptoms of depression are. Getting lost in thoughts - A proven way to keep your mind occupied is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is about living in the present moment, rather than focusing on past regrets and future worries.

Hoffman et al. wrote a review in 2010 that summarized 39 research papers on mindfulness and found that mindfulness is effective in treating depression.

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Since meditation has so many benefits, how do beginners start meditating? For beginners of meditation, I would like to give you some advice based on my experience.

I am a beneficiary of meditation. , so I hope more people will fall in love with this simple and quiet exercise. I will briefly share my meditation experience with you...

Maybe it is not easy for you to meditate at first, so I suggest you choose it. Play some soothing music in the background to help you become quiet.

You may not be able to sit still at first. That’s okay. You can choose to sit still at first, but the surrounding environment must be quiet for a few times. Do it for a few minutes, but insist on sitting for a while every day. As time goes by, you will find that you sit for longer and longer.

When you gradually sit still, you will find yourself. There are many thoughts in your mind and it is not quiet. Don't worry about it at this time. Allow thoughts to pass through you, and during this process you can observe your breathing and focus on it.

Also during the meditation process, your body will have some feelings and reactions, such as acidity, heat, swelling, and numbness. These are normal. Don’t pay too much attention to it. Just focus on it. Come to the breath and observe the breath.

Arrange the time for meditation according to your own preferences and rules. I usually meditate in the morning, at night before going to bed, and while running. Some people say, "The state of swimming is also very similar to meditation." Friends who like it can try this method, provided that they can swim.

If it is not easy for you to enter a meditative state, then you can consider learning yoga for a period of time. You can sign up for a class or practice with online videos, and have close contact with your body for a period of time, so that gradually you can meditate. It can be carried out. I hope that every partner who starts meditating will have great gains. Everyone is welcome to exchange meditation experiences at any time.