Upfront disclaimer: stress is my big issue. I have most everything about my life pretty well dialed in, but I just don’t handle stress the way I probably should (or the way I tell other people they should).
Most people have the vague notion that meditation is good, usually in a psychological, somehow “not physical” manner. It reduces stress. It’s relaxing. Well, these emotional mindstates have physical or neurological corollaries. You aren’t “just stressed,” as if stress is some concept floating there independent of physiology. Chemicals and hormones induce these states, and meditation can affect their secretion and production.

There’s also compelling evidence for the negating effect of meditation on certain marks of aging. This study found that, when compared to controls, trained Buddhist meditators had enhanced cortical thickness. Older meditation experts displayed the most dramatic differences, suggesting that “meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning.” A new study digs even deeper. Subjects […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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