meditation now let's begin number one slower aging  as you age your body gets slower and you start to  

lose your edge but meditation can actually slow  down the aging process in your brain this comes  

from a 2015 study from UCLA they found that  long-term meditators had healthier brains  

than non-meditators you know the crazy thing  is even the researchers were shocked by their  

findings they expected a small difference if any  in the size of their brains but instead they found  

significant changes in brain volume by meditating  regularly these people developed more gray matter  

and their brain volume stayed far more consistent  in other words meditation held back many of the  

most detrimental effects of Aging in the brain  awarding them a healthier more productive mind for  

years to come number two structural transformation  but meditation doesn't just make your brain bigger  

it can change the physical shape of your brain  too according to a 2011 study from the journal  

psychiatry research meditation transforms to  specific structures in the brain the hippocampus  

and the amygdala the first the hippocampus is  a tiny structure located in your temporal lobe  

despite its small size your hippocampus plays a  major role in critical cognitive functions like  

memory and learning without your hippocampus  you couldn't even remember your own name after  

eight short weeks of meditation training  researchers found that participants had  

larger thicker hippocampus which means faster  learning and a much more efficient memory the  

second structure the amygdala is the emotional  center of your brain known for its almond like  

shape the amygdala processes fundamental emotions  like fear and anxiety but the same 2011 study  

found that meditation reduces that negativity it  shrinks areas in your amygdala related to stress  

and other damaging emotions you know words by  meditating frequently you may actually transform  

the shape of your brain and change your life for  the better number three deactivating your network  

your brain is full of systems and networks like  the default mode network or dmn this large pack  

of neural structures spans across the majority of  your brain and it handles all kinds of cognitive  

functions from creation of selfhood to episodic  memory it even covers theory of mind to put it  

simply your dmn helps you understand the past  the future and the people around you so you  

couldn't really live without it but your dmn isn't  always your friend an overactive network leads to  

something called mind wandering mind wandering  is when your brain gets caught up in a cycle of  

what-ifs worries and doubts these self referential  ideas come directly from your dmn and can really  

bring you down in fact a 2010 study from the  journal Science explains that too much wandering  

makes people unhappy and unfocused luckily  meditation may be the answer a 2011 study from  

Yale University found that people who meditate  have less activity in their DMN why is that well  

because meditation slows down this neural network  it encourages you to live in the moment to focus  

on the present and spend less time worrying about  your past or your future and that can really lift  

your spirits the same 2011 study found that  meditation can significantly improve your mood  

participants felt happier overall and when their  mind started to wander they were much quicker to  

recover number 4 perception of pain meditation is  more than just a mental process if you practice  

meditation on a regular basis you can reduce both  mental and physical pain let's say you took a long  

hike yesterday and your legs are aching is there  anything you can do to minimize that pain well  

meditation may do the trick this was discovered  in 2011 by a study in the Journal of Neuroscience  

they found that meditation directly impacts pain  mechanisms in your brain because pain in many ways  

is a mental process while injury isn't something  you can control your experience of that injury  

takes place in your brain so if you can control  your mental states you may be able to control  

your pain to number five finding your flow state  have you ever been so absorbed in your work you  

forgot the outside world even existed this state  of mind goes by a few different names some call it  

the zone others say absolute focus but most call  this a flow States it's a short period of time  

when you're 100% focused on one specific thing  most people just can't snap in and out of this  

flow state whenever they want but meditation  makes that transition a whole lot easier by  

practicing mindfulness you can isolate yourself in  any environment and you can focus the entirety of  

your attention on small tasks like breathing  regular meditators are amazing at this kind  

of attentional isolation which can boost their  concentration their performance and their time  

in a state of flow number six unexpected happiness  the next major benefit of meditation hits you when  

you least expect it according to a 2008 study in  the annals of behavioral medicine many people who  

meditate experience a small boost in their mood  it's one of the most reliable ways to increase  

well-being and quality of life ah but here's  the part most people don't expect meditation  

can also help you find happiness in the world  around you frequent meditators view people in  

places in a new light their meditation helps them  discover new perspective they find joy in small  

unexpected events and they learn to appreciate  everything that life has to offer number seven  

social gratitude gratitude comes naturally  when you meditate you'll begin discovering  

value and many of the things you once took for  granted especially the people who matter the  

most in your life meditation provides a newfound  appreciation for the connections you've made and  

the bonds you've built you may even reflect on  all the ways your life has been shaped by your  

relationships for better or for worse as you  discover yourself and learn to live in the  

moment you can truly enjoy the time you spend  with your friends and loved ones because the  

unfortunate truth is many people don't know how  you see they're so focused on making new friends  

they never develop the ones they have so by  meditating regularly you can learn to value  

the people in your life and appreciate the power  of real human connection number eights bonding  

with compassion there's another reason meditation  creates these deeper social bonds yeah you can  

learn to live in the moment and yeah you're more  appreciative of the people that love you but you  

also care more about people in general meditation  makes you a more compassionate individual someone  

who listens empathizes and truly invests in the  people you meet in a 2012 study from the clinical  

psychology review researchers tested whether or  not this was actually true does meditation make  

people more compassionate well to test this they  use two different meditation techniques one was  

called loving-kindness meditation and another  called compassion meditation in theory these  

practices should develop areas in your brain  related to kindness and compassion so what did  

they find researchers found significant increases  in those exact parts of the brain resulting in a  

higher capacity for both compassion and empathy  hey that's already impressive but there's more  

these two techniques gave people more than they  bargained for by increasing their capacity for  

empathy meditation ease their social anxiety and  reduced any pent up anger so meditation doesn't  

just help you bond with others it teaches  you to be more compassionate toward yourself  

number nine accelerated concentration meditation  is a great way to tighten your focus a 2013 study  

published by the Association for psychological  science found that mindfulness meditation helps  

you retain more information it helps you learn  faster and stay on task for longer periods of  

time they tested this hypothesis with two groups  of standardized test takers applying either to  

college or graduate school one group was taught  how to meditate and the other wasn't if meditation  

really does improve focus the first group should  out focus and outperform their counterparts hey  

and that's exactly what happened the meditating  test takers were significantly more accurate and  

they received better overall scores but that's  not all these students were also much better  

at something called concentration correction  when they felt themselves getting distracted  

they quickly caught themselves redirected their  attention and got right back to work so what's  

the secret meditation doesn't actually change  the way you concentrate it simply trains your  

brain to ignore distractions because your  brain has this bad habit of jumping from  

one new stimulus to the next obviously that  scatterbrain thinking can really impact your  

memory and your performance so try meditation  to help yourself stay focused when it matters  

most number 10 lasting confidence few people  realize how much meditation can affect your  

self-confidence this comes from a 1995 study  from the General Hospital of Psychiatry they  

found that meditation has a neutralizing effect  on social anxiety as little as fifteen minutes  

a day can soothe your general nervousness and  reduce self-inflicted stress which gives you  

more confidence in all kinds of nerve-wracking  situations but this burst of confidence is not  

just a one-time thing no meditation can soothe  your nerves years after you stopped practicing in  

that 1995 study participants took an eight-week  course on mindfulness meditation and it did  

decrease their anxiety but those improvements  held up over three years later even if they  

hadn't practiced meditating since their original  my point is a short stent of meditation can have  

lasting effects on your attitude your anxiety and  most of all your self-confidence hey thank you  

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