What are the health benefits of meditation?

Meditation isn’t about switching off or forcing relaxation. It’s about staying alert while loosening your focus. Letting go of thoughts, content, even your sense of self, without losing clarity. This, as Daniel M. Campagne describes, is where its real power lies.

What does meditation do to the brain?

There is a body of research exploring the physiology of meditation, although much of it is not recent. Broadly, it shows that meditation activates areas of the brain linked to attention, awareness, and regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

When you meditate, your stress hormones reduce, your system settles, and the body moves out of an anxious state into something calmer and more regulated.

But meditation is not simply relaxation. The state it creates is different. It is a kind of quiet alertness, where the mind is steady, clear, and fully present. 

Meditation for healing

According to Ajahn Amaro, we should approach meditation in the way the Buddha described, which was to help us develop qualities of peacefulness and clarity, to learn how to understand our own lives and to learn how to live harmoniously with the world. For centuries, people have used meditation for healing. Although meditation can have positive impacts on those with chronic health conditions, pain and stress-related conditions, when I speak about healing, I mean reconnecting rather than fixing.

Studies into mindfulness-based stress reduction show the health benefits of meditation. After just eight weeks of training, improvements in chronic pain can last for up to a year, even in patients who previously found little relief. Other studies suggest these effects may last for several years.

Although mindfulness and meditation are not the same, meditation is one of the main practices through which we develop mindfulness.

Why meditate?

You can use meditation to settle the mind and support healing, as described above. Research suggests that mindfulness and meditation-based approaches may help improve quality of life and reduce symptoms such as chronic pain, stress, and depression, although effects can vary and the evidence is still developing. Practised alongside movement-based approaches such as yoga, it may also support immune function and joint health.

For many people experiencing anxiety, meditation helps steady a restless mind and ease the physical symptoms that come with it. As the body shifts out of a state of threat, the system begins to settle. With regular practice, the brain becomes more familiar with this regulated state, making it easier to return to, rather than being pulled back into patterns of anxiety.

How to meditate

As someone who likes structure, it is reassuring to have a simple checklist, something I can tick off to know I am “doing meditation right”. But this doesn’t really exist, and perhaps it isn’t the point.

Researchers, led by Roberto Cardoso, have proposed an operational definition of meditation. This can be helpful, particularly for beginners. But meditation is an ancient and deeply personal practice. It has evolved across cultures, traditions, and purposes. Because of this, no single definition is the gold standard.

Trying to define meditation in one fixed way is a bit like trying to define prayer in a way that fits all religions and all contexts. It misses the depth and individuality of the experience.

The operational definition of meditation

The recommended approach begins with a specific technique, one that has clearly defined steps to practise regularly. While the effects and progression of meditation will differ from person to person, the starting point benefits from structure, almost like following a simple recipe.

One part of that “recipe” is psychophysical relaxation, creating a sense of physical ease in the body. This might come through deliberately relaxing the muscles or using breathing techniques that influence the body’s automatic processes.

Another element is “cognitive relaxation”. This involves stepping away from analysis and judgement, and letting go of expectations about what should happen. Rather than trying to control the experience, you allow it to unfold. Ideally, this state is self-induced. An instructor can offer guidance, but the practice is something you learn to do for yourself, without relying on cues or triggers from someone else.

Finally, it helps to have an anchor, something to gently return your attention to when the mind wanders. You could use your breath, a sound, or a simple visual point. Not something to hold tightly, but something to come back to, again and again.

Is meditation the same as hypnosis?

If you have experience with hypnosis or hypnotherapy, you will recognise that the components of meditation and hypnosis have little difference. In fact, they achieve the same physical and mental state. You can say self-hypnosis is meditation.

However, the above operation definition suggests that hypnotherapy is not meditation, because the hypnotherapist is the guide, and the relationship has dependency due to the therapeutic work involved.

That being said, when you choose hypnotherapy as a tool to help you overcome any difficulties, you also get the benefits of meditation. Your hypnotherapist can teach you the steps to the meditative state so that you can use meditation easily when you are alone as a tool to continue your journey to optimal health.

References

Campagne, Daniel. (2013). Theory and physiology of meditation. Cuadernos de Medicina Psicosomática y Psiquiatría de Enlace. 2013. 39-54.

Amaro, A. (2018). Finding the missing peace: A primer of Buddhist meditation. Amaravati Publications.

Cardoso, R., de Souza, E., Camano, L., & Leite, J. R. (2004). Meditation in health: An operational definition. Brain Research Protocols, 14(1), 58–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresprot.2004.09.002