It is believed that 200-500 million people mediate globally and the number of people who practice meditation has tripled since 2012. Data by GoodBoy shows that:

76% practice meditation for general wellness

60% to improve energy

50% to aid memory & focus

29% for Anxiety relief

22% for Stress relief

18% for depression relief

The value of the Meditation market is set to double from $1.2 billion in 2017 to $2 billion by 2022.

Are you going through any of the above-mentioned problems? Have you given a try to Meditation? If not, here are the benefits that you can experience through Meditation that might inspire you to start practicing:

Helps reduce stress:

We are living in an era wherein the majority of the people deal with workplace stress on a day-to-day basis due to heavy workload, managing teams, reporting to seniors, managing colleagues, achieving targets, and so on. It consumes a lot of mental strength to be able to manage all of these and causes stress. Stress is the response of the body to unforeseen circumstances. The objective of the mind is to keep us safe, when we encounter a threat, the body releases a stress hormone called Cortisol and activates the autonomic nervous system that controls the reactions and decision-making to either fight or run. Once the stressful event gets over, the body calms down and comes back to normal. For our ancestors, this used to be a time when they spot a wild animal; the body came back to normal when the danger was averted.

But unfortunately, today millions of people stay in stress mode 24*7. This causes severe irregularities in the body and causes premature diseases like diabetes, heart attacks at a very young age. Heard about a person in his/her 30s getting a heart attack?

If you are in the same situation, practicing meditation daily will help you deal better with stressful events. Studies on the brains of regular meditators have found lower levels of cortisol. As they say “You can’t change the situation but you can change the way you respond to it”.

Help keep emotions in balance:

Several workplace scenarios are capable of inducing negative emotions like anger, frustration, disappointment and that causes anxiety. Several workplace fights between colleagues, team members, with seniors are a result of the same. Meditation relaxes your body and enables you to understand your emotions better. With regular meditation, over some time, you will be able to keep your emotions under control and in balance. Hence, meditation improves your mental strength, resilience, emotional intelligence, and makes you capable of understanding not only yours but the emotions of others too. Data shows the same too. According to studies, six-months of the practice of meditation can reduce anxiety levels by 70%.

Improves Sleep:

Sleep is an important function for the body just like how having food is. Sleep is a natural healing mechanism of the body. While we are asleep, the body conducts a repair at the tissue & cell level. Disturbed sleep can not only hinder this repair but make you feel drowsy all day. Sleep insomnia and other sleep-related disorders are commonly being faced by people worldwide.

A good night’s sleep can also foster focus and concentration during the day. On the days wherein there was less sleep in the night, the focus, concentration, and productivity go for a toss.

According to data by CompareCamp, Meditation reduces insomnia by 50%. Meditation at night just before heading to bed is said to calm down the body and nerves, release tension, relax the body, and induce peaceful sleep. It is also helpful for people with sleep problems.

Improves Self-Esteem & Self-awareness:

Our thoughts define who we are. But more often than not, we aren’t aware of our thoughts. Leave the mind free and we are left with wandering thoughts throughout the day or in the times we are not thinking anything in particular. Hence, the mind is called “Monkey Mind” for a reason. In scientific terms, it is called Default Mode Network (DMN) that gets activated when we aren’t thinking something productive. It sways the thoughts in all directions and we are left with an uncontrolled line of thoughts that even affect our moods and behaviors. Controlling your thoughts is an important aspect of life and to lead the day productively. You can’t let the wandering thoughts consume your time and mind and then leave you with a bunch of work that is left incomplete.

Meditation, especially Mindful Meditation helps you to become aware of, understand the thoughts better and thereby increase self-awareness and improves self-esteem.

Improves Decision-making:

Decision making is an essential part of our lives today. Studies claim that the average adult makes 35,000 decisions per day. If your profession requires decision-making and if you would like to improve it, meditation practice can help you with that. According to studies, two types of meditation: transcendent and mindful are said to help improve cognition abilities and thereby decision-making.

Makes you stronger against pain:

Studies show that Meditation helps you experience a reduced level of pain in the body. A study by PubMed on 3500 participants concluded that meditation is associated with decreased pain in the body. In another research by the University of Montreal, two groups of people received an equal amount of heat exposure to their bodies for an equal amount of time. One of those groups comprised of Zen Masters who were regular meditators and the other group had non-meditators. The research found that the bodies of the Zen Masters reported less heat to the brain than those in the other group who were non-meditators.

Improves Memory & learning:

Do you need to remember a lot of things related to work? Tired of referring to a diary or other notes every time you needed information? Meditation practice can help you increase your memory. Certainly, sleep is linked with memory. Good sleep will help you have a better memory.

Nonetheless, a study by a team of Harvard Medical School led by Sara Lazar found that Mindfulness meditation, a type of meditation for eight weeks resulted in thickening of the cortisol that governs learning and memory. Meditation also boosts Creativity & Imagination.

Improves Compassion & Empathy:

Practicing Metta, a type of Loving-Kindness Meditation is said to increase self-empathy and self-compassion. It increases positive emotions like empathy and kindness towards others as well. Empathy and compassion play a vital role in relationship-building both personal as well as professional life. The way we maintain relationships with your colleagues, seniors, customers & clients, and all the other involved parties go a long way in our success.

What is Mindful in May?

Mindful in May is the World’s largest Online Mindfulness Fundraising Program. It is a platform through which you will be guided on meditation and you can experience a month-long meditation practice calming and training your mind. They provide you with the education, tools, and support to make Meditation a sustainable practice to become mentally fit in a month.

You get an opportunity to listen to and learn from established individuals and speakers on mindfulness. You will be a part of this interactive online community of Meditators worldwide. Additionally, you could also choose to donate for a cause of providing clean water to needy people. The funds raised through these additional donations are utilized for providing clean, safe drinking water to the people who need it. More than $800,000 have been raised so far and more than 16,000 people have been given clean water.

How can you join this community?

You can join this community by registering for their flagship ‘The Mind Life Project’ program. By becoming a member, you will be entitled to:

- An online live guided meditation and teaching session monthly

- Have questions regarding the process or if you could do it? You will get access to the community to get the questions answered

- Opportunity to access monthly video teachings from the experts

- Access to guided meditations

- Like reading books? You will get access to the book club with carefully curated books relating to meditation, and the brain

What will you get by registering for Mindful in May:

1. Weekly modules that include video interviews of experts and audio of guided mindfulness meditations

2. You get access to a private membership platform to listen to teachings throughout the month of may

3. Simple exercises that you can perform anytime in your busy schedule and create calm and focus

4. Digital journal to keep a track of your progress

5. Daily reminder emails to keep you on track

6. Access to the private Facebook group of MIM Community

Testimonials:

Conclusion:

Meditation has several benefits on our performance and our life holistically. We can’t afford to miss out on these benefits if you want to be a performer in your field and become successful. The majority of the people who have become successful attribute a lot to their meditation practice.

Starting up, it might get difficult to set the routing and follow it with discipline. That’s when the power of the community helps you. Moreover, we might lack the knowledge of how to do the best way to optimize results in our lives. The expert teachings, video interviews through Mindful in May act as a source for us to set on the right path. You can register for Mindful In May here.
Have you been practicing meditation? What positive effects do you experience in your life? Do share with us in the comments below.