The Power of Meditation

The Power of Meditation

• As of 2019, an estimated 200 million to 500 million people around the globe were meditating regularly. Considering its many psychological and physical benefits, this is good news. There is a large body of evidence demonstrating the mind-body connection is real, and that your mind has a direct impact on your physical health
• Brain imaging has revealed meditation alters your brain in a number of beneficial ways, such as increasing gray matter volume in brain regions involved in the regulation of emotions, memory, learning and self-referential processes
• Meditation has also been shown to alter the expression of 2,209 different genes. Examples of genetic effects include the down-regulation of genes involved in inflammation and stress
• Clinically, mindfulness-based meditation practice has been demonstrated in randomized trials to improve depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia and to have lasting anti-anxiety effects after only eight weeks of group practice
• Studies suggest meditation can help a wide range of health problems, including cardiac arrhythmias, bronchial asthma, cold sores, cough, ulcers, diabetes, constipation, infertility, high blood pressure, psoriasis, pain and much more

According to the featured BBC Documentary “The Power of Meditation,”1,2 originally aired in 2008, more than 10 million Westerners practice daily meditation. More recent statistics3 suggest people are turning to meditation in droves, with the number of practitioners tripling since 2012. As of 2019, an estimated 200 million to 500 million people around the globe were meditating regularly.

Considering its many psychological and physical benefits, this is good news, especially in light on the pandemic we are all going through. There is a large body of evidence demonstrating the mind-body connection is real, and that your mind has a direct impact on your physical health.

Meditation Changes Your Brain and Body for the Better

For example, brain imaging has revealed meditation alters your brain in a number of beneficial ways — such as increasing gray matter volume in brain regions involved in the regulation of emotions, memory, learning and self-referential processes4 — and studies show meditative practices even alter your genetic expression.5,6,7,8

• 1 BBC Alternative Therapies, Meditation June 19, 2008
• 2 YouTube, The Power of Meditation
• 3 The Good Body, Meditation Statistics 2019
• 4 Frontiers in Immunology June 16, 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00670, Introduction
• 5, 9 PLOS ONE July 2, 2008 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002576
• 6 Frontiers in Immunology June 16, 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00670
• 7 Institute of Science in Society May 21, 2014
• 8 Nexus Magazine, How the Mind Changes Genes Through Meditation
• 10 Frontiers in Immunology June 16, 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00670, Gene Expression and Bioinformatics Analysis in MBIs
• 11 PLOS ONE July 2, 2008 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002576, Methods/Principal Findings
• 12 PLOS ONE May 1, 2013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062817
• 13 PLOS ONE May 1, 2013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062817, Discussion
• 14 Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Feb 15;57(1):77-85
• 15 Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 1995 May;17(3):192-200
• 16 YouTube, The Power of Meditation, aprox 13 minutes
• 17 PLOS ONE October 13, 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140212
• 18, 19, 20 Journal of the American Heart Association 2017;6:e002218 (PDF)
• 21 Transcendental Meditation June 14, 2017
• 22 Quora, How is the brain of a person who regularly meditates different from one who doesn't?
• 23 Mindful October 18, 2021
• 24 UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center
• 25 Unteatheredsoul.com