Meditation Versus Mindfulness: Pros and Cons
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Before we begin exploring the pros and cons, it’s important to know the difference between meditation and mindfulness.
→ Meditation: On the simplest level, this activity is a focused pursuit. It could be paying close attention to your breathing, repeating a mantra or otherwise becoming very still and clearing your mind of everything beyond your chosen focus.
→ Mindfulness: Paying attention to what is going on within and outside of yourself without judgment or attachment. For example, simply listening to all the sounds you can hear without describing, categorizing or deciding if the sounds you hear are good or bad. Rather, you simply listen with an open-minded curiosity. You can mindfully do ANYTHING, and can remain mindful no matter what.
You can practice mindfulness as a part of your meditation practice, but you can’t always practice meditation when you are being mindful, such as mindfully driving or operating machinery.
Getting that out of the way, let’s start with the cons of meditation and mindfulness.
Cons:
Meditation: Requires time set aside in order to effectively meditate.
Mindfulness: The only con I could come up with is if you make the mistake of focusing your mindfulness on one thing and end up failing to pay attention to something else – such as listening to the birds singing and running into the wall in front of you as you are walking (Yes, I’m guilty of this!). Try for remaining globally mindful unless you are sure it’s safe to focus on one thing at a time!
Despite the cons, practicing both meditation and mindfulness daily, even for just a few minutes can help anyone attain the following benefits. OR just practice one or the other for the same benefits. If you only choose one, mindfulness is the best choice because you can do it all the time. Do both for the best results though.
PROS:
Physical Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness:
- Lowers oxygen consumption
- Decreases respiratory rate
- Increases blood flow and slows the heart rate
- Increases exercise tolerance
- Induces restorative relaxation
- Helps regulate blood pressure
- Lowers blood lactate levels to decrease anxiety symptoms
- Relaxes muscle tension
- Helps relieve symptoms of chronic diseases
- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms
- Helps promotes post-operative healing
- Enhances immune system
- Reduces activity of viruses
- Reduces symptoms of emotional distress
- Enhances energy and stamina
- Aids weight loss
- Reduces free radicals to promote deep tissue healing
- Reduces cholesterol levels
- Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Improves flow of air to the lungs
- Decreases aging process.
- Increases levels of DHEAS
- Helps relieve pain
- Decreases sweat
- Relieves migraines
- Promotes overall brain functioning
- Reduce need for medical care
- Reserves energy
- Relieves asthma and other types of breathing problems
- Enhances athletic performance
- Harmonizes the endocrine system
- Relaxes nervous system
- Promotes enhanced electrical activity in the brain
- Reduces stress to help promote fertility
- Improves sex life
Mental Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness
- Increases feelings of self worth
- Boosts serotonin levels for mood support
- Relaxes fears and phobias
- Helps control thoughts
- Increases focus and concentration
- Increases creativity
- Increases brain wave coherence
- Improves learning ability
- Sustains an improved memory
- Rejuvenates positive emotions
- Increases emotional stability
- Slows brain aging
- Makes it easy to remove bad habits
- Increases intuition
- Increases productivity
- Expands your thinking to see additional alternatives
- Decreases reactivity
- Increase problem solving
- Purifies character
- Develop will power
- Increases self regulation capacities
- Opens up left-brain, right-brain communication
- Allows faster response times
- Increases perceptual ability
- Increases motor performance
- Increases intelligence growth rate
- Increases feelings of satisfaction
- Decreases behavioral health symptoms
- Helps in all aspects of recovery, including addictions
- Induces more restorative sleep
- Decreases insomnia symptoms
- Decreases restless and ruminative thinking
- Decreases worry thoughts
- Improves powers of discernment
- Creates a more balanced personality
- Increases emotional intelligence
Spiritual Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness:
- Provides peace of mind, happiness
- Helps gain clarity to better live your purpose
- Induces self-actualization
- Increases wisdom
- Provides a deeper understanding of self and others
- Harmonizes the mind, body, spirit connection
- Increases feelings of self-acceptance
- Helps release resentments
- Increases ability to forgive self and others
- Improves attitude toward life
- Creates a deeper relationship with higher power/God/nature
- Allows the attainment of enlightenment
- Improves inner strength and fortitude
- Increases emotional and mental resiliency
- Improves ability to live in the present moment
- Leads to discovery of TRUE self, beyond the ego
- Allows you to live from an inner sense of knowing
- Increases feelings of oneness with the cosmos
- Increases experiences of synchronicity
Social Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness
- Improves all relationships
- Builds tolerance for self and others
- Improves patience
- Promotes healthy responses versus mindless reactions
- Increases capacity for intimacy
- Opens abilities to give and receive love
- Decreases feelings of social anxiety
- Increases self-efficacy skills
- Increases sense of personal-responsibility and accountability
- Reduces road rage
- Increases listening skills
- Increases empathy for others
- Creates composure to act in constructive ways
- Increases compassion
- Allows you to be more present for others
- Decreases negative feelings such as jealousy and non-productive judgment
Ultimately, practicing meditation and/or mindfulness helps you feel better, look better, work better, love better and experience life on deeper levels. So, what are you waiting for?
