Now here is the long answer as to "how" and "why". :)
NOTE: I was able to find a great article from Lifehacker on this topic - so I have incorporated bits and pieces of her research below as well (which will be indicated by a *).
There is numerous scientific research available now that shows the positive effects of meditating and what it can do for your brain. For instance, you can achieve better focus throughout your day since the practice trains us to focus our attention on our inner thoughts and becoming more aware of them. Meditation actually improves our focus when we're NOT meditating, as well. It's a lasting effect that comes from doing a simple meditation every day.
Another benefit of meditation is that the more we meditate, the less anxiety we have, and it turns out this is because we're actually rewiring the connections of particular neural pathways in our brain. You essentially go from the "Me Center" which is the part of the brain that processes information relating to ourselves and our experiences ( the "fight or flight" area of the brain) to the "Assessment Center". Which is part of the brain that is known for reasoning. Meditation weakens your "fight or flight" response and allows you to look at a situation more rationally.*
Did you know that Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands studied both focused-attention and open-monitoring mediation to see if there was any improvement in creativity afterwards? They found that people who practiced focused-attention meditation did not show any obvious signs of improvement in the creativity task following their meditation. For those who did open-monitoring meditation, however, they performed better on a task that asked them to come up with new ideas.* Check out the link above to see what I'm talking about. :)
Research on meditation has shown that empathy and compassion are higher in those who practice meditation regularly. One experiment showed participants images of other people that were either good, bad or neutral in what they called “compassion meditation.” The participants were able to focus their attention and reduce their emotional reactions to these images, even when they weren’t in a meditative state. They also experienced more compassion for others when shown disturbing images.*
One of the things meditation has been linked to is improving your memory recall! For instance, Catherine Kerr, a researcher at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and the Osher Research Center found that people who practiced mindful meditation were able to adjust the brain wave that screens out distractions and increase their productivity more quickly than those that did not meditate. She said that this ability to ignore distractions could explain “their superior ability to rapidly remember and incorporate new facts.” This seems to be very similar to the power of being exposed to new situations that will also dramatically improve our memory of things.*
Mindful meditation has been shown to help people perform under pressure while feeling less stressed. A 2012 study split a group of human resources managers into three, which one third participating in mindful meditation training, another third taking body relaxation training and the last third given no training at all. A stressful multitasking test was given to all the managers before and after the eight-week experiment. In the final test, the group that had participated in the meditation training reported less stress during the test than both of the other groups.*
Mindful meditation has been shown to help people perform under pressure while feeling less stressed. A 2012 study split a group of human resources managers into three, which one third participating in mindful meditation training, another third taking body relaxation training and the last third given no training at all. A stressful multitasking test was given to all the managers before and after the eight-week experiment. In the final test, the group that had participated in the meditation training reported less stress during the test than both of the other groups.*
Is there an App for this?
Well - of course! I personally love to use the "Insight Timer" app (it's free!). It is a timer that has a bunch of different sounds of bells, gongs, etc - that you can use to time your meditations. In addition, it connects you with all of the other people in the world (and there are many) that are meditating at the same time as you. It is kind of a neat way to see that you're not the only doing it and that we are all connected. Someone is always meditating out there.
Another great (free!) app I’ve been using helps you get started with meditation is called Headspace.* It was Invented by former Buddhist monk and the meditation is geared towards busy people like you and me. He guides you through 10 minutes of simple meditation every day. You don’t have to do anything except sit down and turn on the app and let his calm voice explain how to approach meditation. I have fallen asleep a few times listening to him - he is THAT peaceful. :)
Well - of course! I personally love to use the "Insight Timer" app (it's free!). It is a timer that has a bunch of different sounds of bells, gongs, etc - that you can use to time your meditations. In addition, it connects you with all of the other people in the world (and there are many) that are meditating at the same time as you. It is kind of a neat way to see that you're not the only doing it and that we are all connected. Someone is always meditating out there.
Another great (free!) app I’ve been using helps you get started with meditation is called Headspace.* It was Invented by former Buddhist monk and the meditation is geared towards busy people like you and me. He guides you through 10 minutes of simple meditation every day. You don’t have to do anything except sit down and turn on the app and let his calm voice explain how to approach meditation. I have fallen asleep a few times listening to him - he is THAT peaceful. :)
