Why Meditate ? by Karen T

My favourite quote of the moment is from Charles Darwin who maintained that “it is not the strongest of the species that will survive - it is the one which can adapt”.

And adapt is what we must do in order to stay buoyant amidst the pressures of life today. We must learn to create a gap every now and again.

With Meditation we breathe more deeply and everything slows down. This gives our body an opportunity to calm down, to regulate itself, reduce our stress response and create a gap. When we are stressed huge amounts of cortisol are 'dumped' into our bloodstream.

One minute of proper breathing will rid the ENTIRE bloodstream of cortisol!! We have 1440 minutes in a day so imagine if we all took one minute every day to breathe deeply what an enormous change that will make to our bodies and in our lives.

Elevated cortisol levels affect our sleep patterns, play havoc with our digestive system, can cause acne, increase blood pressure and blood sugar levels and lower our immune response.

MRI scans have shown that the after 8 weeks of regular meditation practice the amygdala actually shrinks – that part of our brain that recognises fear and threat actually shrinks!

With these benefits you cannot afford not to meditate :).

Here at Natural Light we teach regular guided mediation classes which are suitable for beginners and experienced mediators alike.

Visit our website for the details.