According to the studies from The American Journal of Physiology, Scientific American, Lancet, the Journal of Counselling Psychology, the International Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, the British Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution: Meditation Practitioners (MP) on average have the biological age of a person 5 to 12 years younger, as well as significantly reduced incidence of illness and risk of heart disease. Studies also show that MPs have warmer interpersonal relationships, less anxiety, increased self-esteem and self-confidence, increased problem-solving ability and greater creativity. The individual spontaneously radiates a purifying and nourishing influence of positivity and harmony in society as a whole.
MPs gain inner strength, physiological balance, contentment, and awareness, and reduced stress, enabling them to give more attention, appreciation, and love to family and friends, and continually grow in effectiveness in their professional and personal lives. Moreover, with this growth, dependence on any external substances naturally disappears.
The research findings include:
• Increased happiness
• Reduced stress
• Increased intelligence
• Increased creativity
• Improved memory
• Improved health
• Reduced high blood pressure
• Improved relationships
• Increased energy
• Reduced insomnia
• Reversal of biological aging
• Reduced crime and improved quality of life in society
Research findings resulting from more than 500 scientific studies conducted at 200 independent universities and institutions in 33 countries and published in over 100 leading scientific journals have documented that meditation brings benefits to every aspect of life: physiological, psychological, sociological, and ecological. A comparison of the results of these studies indicates a high degree of consistency. There is no question about the fact that meditation causes a wide range of benefits in mental potential, health, and social behavior. These results are reliable in terms of the methods of validation utilized.
Meditation and Education:
Meditation, in any of its many forms, practiced on a consistent basis, has the potential to reveal and facilitate the development of the special gifts of each student. If everyone truly has the potential for genius in some respect, meditation and the higher level of consciousness that it produces in practitioners, is the most totally reliable pedagogical method for its realization and development. Through meditation the mind becomes clear, inducing greater alertness and comprehension. Thoughts become more positive and nourishing. One begins to make fewer and fewer mistakes in life and effortlessly begins to live more in harmony with the universal order.
Numerous studies indicate that meditation produces a significantly larger reduction in tobacco, alcohol, and nonprescribed drug use than standard substance abuse treatment and prevention programs. The effects of conventional programs are short lived, showing declines within 3 months. The effects of meditation increase over time, with total abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and nonprescribed drugs ranging from 51%–89% over an 18–22 month period. The effects of Meditation are based on fundamental and naturally occurring improvements in the individuals' psychophysiological functioning.
Additional Educational Findings:
Increased Intelligence in Secondary and College Students
Journal of Personality and Individual Differences 12 (1991): 1105–1116.
Perceptual and Motor Skills 62 (1986): 731–738. |
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