I am always surprised when people ask me, “Are there any real benefits of meditation?” It’s like asking “Why do you breathe?” When my meditation practice is strong, I sleep well, rise early and the freshness of morning seems to last all day. I like people more and even the nuisances are tolerable. My thoughts are lucid, and I feel “on top of things”.
The benefits of meditation ripple through everything we do. It is to have more energy, to be healthier, to think and work more efficiently and enjoy life more. Being relaxed and aware is the mental equivalent of being fit and healthy.
People often have a precise reason to wanting to learn how meditate – to heal an illness or to study better, for example. They often get something different, or more than they expect. They come for relief from insomnia and find their relationships improve. They come for hypertension, and find peace and purpose in life. They may discover they are smoking or eating less, or that they don’t need their glasses or asthma medication.
I often feel embarrassed talking about the benefits of meditation. Like those patent medicines of the last century, meditation seems to cure everything. I feel like a snake-oil salesman: “Meditation will help your insomnia, stomach cramps, poor memory, melancholy, PMT, and self-esteem. Oh yes, and your warts will disappear also?’
As a teacher, I don’t need to sing the praises of meditation. In the class, people soon discover the benefits for themselves. This direct experience is worth a thousand words. They may have been thinking about meditation for years. Thirty minutes later, and they finally know what it feels like.
People often say to me “I hear meditation can cure cancer”. I prefer to say that meditation supports a cure, rather than causes it After all, even doctors don’t “cure” anything. They only assist the natural healing processes of the body.
As support, meditation may be vital for healing. If we don’t support a young tree, for example, it may blow over and die. But it would be only one of many factors in producing a healthy tree. Meditation may be the crucial factor that helps a person overcome cancer. But it is unlikely to be the sole cause. Lifestyle, diet and psychological factors would all play a part
Wonderful as meditation is, I feel ashamed of the way some people promote it. Practicing any of the many meditation techniques is like building good health. It takes time and effort, and you should try to avoid having unrealistic expectations about what you can achieve. Yet some New Age advertisements depict the benefits of meditation as a magical route to boundless wealth, sexual vigor, power over others and physical immortality. (I am not exaggerating!)