Health benefits of meditation

Meditation is so good for you – your body and your mind. Did you know that meditation can ease chronic pain, anxiety, and stress. Meditation can also improve your heart health and immune system?  Stress in today’s lifestyles is a primary factor in our overall declining health.

Any condition that’s caused or worsened by stress can be alleviated through meditation, says cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD, founder of the Mind/Body Institute at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

 The relaxation response from meditation allows tension and tightness to lessen as the body receives a quiet message to relax. The soothing power of repetition – as in a mantra – creates a response of relaxation. This creates a domino effect – relaxation reduces our stress factor which in turn quiets our mind and allows our body to concentrate on healing.

Charles L. Raison, MD, director of the Mind–Body Program at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, states meditators can choose among a wide range of practices but what they have in common are a narrowing of focus that shuts out the external world and usually a stilling of the body and mind.

Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation uses a lineage mantra to quiet our very busy and cluttered minds and prepare us for meditation. A mantra is a cosmic word or sound vibration. It is the vibration of the Self, the true speech of the Self, and when we immerse ourselves in it; it leads us to the place of the Self – our Divine Essence.

[Source: Teachings by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, spiritual leader and master teacher at Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram in Pennsylvania. (C) 2014, S.T.C., Inc., All right reserved. Svaroopa® is a registered service mark of S.T.C., Inc.]