Why meditation is being used as a personal growth device or practice these day?

Question

Why meditation is being used as a personal growth device or practice these day?

Answer 1

Meditation is simply learning to live in the moment, when nothing distracts you and when you are not tied to the past or anxious about the future. In meditation you become peacefully aware of your real self. The more you use it, the more aware you become. When you learn to live life for each moment, to enjoy and appreciate life to the fullest at that moment, you suddenly become impervious to the myriad of doubts and fears that you've lived with all your life.

There are a couple of simple techniques for silent meditation as well. You do not have to sit on the floor. You can sit with erect back on a chair. Many people say try for 15 minutes twice a day. I say start with a simpler goal - 5 minutes twice per day. The benefits include stress management and relaxation which help the body, increased mindfulness and focus, and increased energy. The mindfulness can be a benefit to your spiritual life, but meditation also has "non-spiritual" physiological benefits. Here are two easy techniques:

Breathing meditation - 1) Check posture. 2) Close your eyes and relax. 3) Focus on your breath entering and leaving your body. 4) Count breaths mentally one to four. Repeat. 5) Don't fight a wandering mind, but calmly direct it back to task. 6) Sit for a minute afterwards.

"Mantra" technique (choose a personal "calm" word or phrase that you will repeat in your meditation – I use the nonsectarian "Be One. Be Love. Be Peace.") - 1) and 2) as above in the Breathing meditation. 3) Listen to your breathing and let it relax you with each breath. 4) Once you are relaxed, mentally "hear" your "calm" word or phrase in your mind. Let it repeat in your mind. 5) Don't fight a wandering mind, but calmly direct it back to task. 6) Sit for a minute afterwards.

Answer 2

There's very much a connection between mind and body.  We can fool ourselves with our minds all day long.  We can repress emotions and thoughts; we can suppress them, deny them, ignore them, and pretend they're something else.  We can even project them onto other people.  But our bodies don't lie to us.  The strains and pleasures of our mental, emotional, and social live are visible in our bodies.  This is something I learned about in health psychology.  The connection between the mind, body, and society, and its effects on our health, is referred to the biopsychosocial model of health.

Meditation allows us to settle down with our minds and bodies and see how it plays out.  For my part, I've spent so much time suppressing what I think and feel--a throwback to a very authoritarian upbringing--that a lot of the time, I'm simply not aware of what I think and feel.  So I feel emotions in my body before I'm ever aware that they're there.  For me, meditation is a way to allow those things to come back up so I can watch them.  I can watch my mind and body at work together, and it lets me untangle a lot of knots I've made over the years.

If I need a rest, meditation allows me to rest quietly and mindfully.  Samatha practice cultivates this restful tranquility.

So essentially, meditation puts me in touch with myself. What better way to engage in personal growth than by getting to know yourself?

Answer 3

Meditation unfolds innate capacities.

Answer 4

Becoming still and quiet balances body, mind and spirit.

It's an opportunity to relieve stress and release negative issues from the past - giving you an opportunity to start fresh every day.