Put simply, meditation is a way of slowing down – by sitting for maybe twenty or thirty minutes at a time, focusing on your chosen process, you can move into a space where you eventually may become blissfully unaware of time passing. Meditation can be refreshing and nourishing as well as creating a sense of peace and inner harmony. There is nothing new about meditation, it is a technique that has been followed for thousands of years. Meditation is a practise that can bring tremendous benefits at all levels – it can help your physical health, your psychological health, your emotional health and your spiritual health.

Physically, through meditation, you can slow down the processes of your body. Think of the great yogis who can slow down their heartbeat to practically nothing, you don’t need to go to these lengths, but when you move into a state of meditation, your heart rate does decrease and your body relaxes. Your brain waves alter as well, they move from the normal waking wave patterns to slower, deeper waves which reflect the deep state of relaxation the mind can move into. Meditation can also strengthen the immune system thus increasing your body’s ability to fight disease.

Emotionally, meditation brings calmness and serenity if practised regularly. Detachment from the ups and downs of life is another corollary of a regular meditation practise. One man I know said that after a few weeks of meditation he was coming to know himself quite differently, he saw himself with ‘new eyes’ and he didn’t altogether like what he saw. When you practise meditation regularly the blinkers start to come off and you are enabled to see yourself from a new angle. By doing this you become able to make changes to who you are at a psychological and an emotional level. It is as if you are moving to a broader view through meditation.

Psychologically, the benefits of meditation are tremendous, bringing an increased ability to concentrate and to hold a focus. Because of this, meditators are often very efficient and their job performance improves.

The ‘New Age’ movement is gathering tremendous momentum as thousands of people buy books, guided meditations and DVDs which urge us to take responsibility for ourselves and our health. Many, many authors are urging us to take up meditation as a way into this. Meditation is definitely a spiritual path as well. It was meditation that led Buddha to become enlightened as he sat beneath the Bodhi tree. Prayer is a form of meditation too.