I have read many
articles on the effects of meditation and even science shows us
that meditation can reduce stress and depression in the people
affected by these conditions. Do you have to be a person with
serious problems to get any benefit from meditation or can normal
people benefit too?
More than
150 pieces of research have been conducted on meditation by scientists
since 1935. Meditatation has indeed been shown to help people
with physical and spiritual problems. Meditation has been shown
to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, aggression, neuroticism
and addictions. Meditation has also been shown to increase mental
stability, self-actualization, self-confidence, sociability and
scores on intelligence tests. As for people who do not consider
themselves to have problems, meditation has also helped to create
more happiness and fulfilment in life. Meditatin has helped to
increase peoplesí flexibility to environmental change, boosted
performance in sports, improved job satisfaction, increased work
production efficiency, development of work skills and study scores.
Some of the most convincing scientific evidence that meditation
benefits the lives of normal people, is the research by Pupatana
and Sribundith reported in The Light of Peace 8, p8-10 which shows
clearly that those who previously lacked a variety of virtues
in their character and personality, managed to increase their
virtue as the result of six weeks on a Dhammakaya meditation course.
In fact, you can get benefit from meditation at your own level
of spiritual health, no matter what your starting point. If you
are a person in suffering, meditation can help you to reduce that
suffering. If you are a person who already experiences happiness,
meditation can enhance that happiness further. As we have seen
from the scientific evidence, if you have the problems of stress
of depression, meditation can help you to overcome these. If on
the contrary you are someone who has no problems, but you want
to develop your personality or improve your character further,
then meditation can also help you to increase the level of virtues
you possess. You donít need to be a person with problems to benefit
from meditation ó but whatever you have will certainly be enhanced
and improved.
