By Sara Novak / Source: Ecosalon

New research shows the health benefits of meditation both physically and mentally. Publishing in the journal Pschoneuroendocrinolgy, researchers from Wisconsin, Spain, and France have found that mindfulness meditation can cause molecular changes.

I am proof positive of the benefits of meditation. Before I started meditating seven years ago I spent little time in the present moment. I was stressed by the future and hurt by the past, constantly worrying what people thought of me. Meditation has reduced that weight dramatically. It’s made me feel lighter and more engaged in the present moment. And scientists are backing my experiences up with more and more research that shows the health benefits of meditation.

The study followed a group of practiced meditators and a control group of untrained subjects who engaged in quiet non-meditative activities. After eight hours of mindfulness meditation, the meditators showed a range of genetic differences in levels of pro-inflammatory genes.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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