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Superhuman Benefits of
Meditation
Ive written posts on the myths of motivation in the past going into the science of
what makes people tick, but what I didnt mention is what I believe the ultimate
motivator is: reasons to act.
Simple I know, but when you have enough reasons to do something, motivating
yourself to do it becomes a non-issue this is why I tell everyone to read a
book on a habit they want to change.
Bombarding your brain with reasons to act makes motivation easy.
I didnt eat any vegetables until I was 20. I read a book on the benefits of healthy
eating and Ive eaten them every day since. Vegetables are good for you is not
a good reason to eat them.
But after I read that book I had so many compelling reasons to eat nutritionally
dense food it was harder not to. The same goes for any habit.
Want to give up smoking? How many books on anti-smoking have you read?
I decided to take this bombard your brain approach with meditation. For the last
few months Ive researched countless books, studies, and lectures to find out the
benefits of meditation and now Im going to share these 26 Scientifically Proven
Superhuman Benefits of Meditation with you!
This off the chart prefrontal cortex activity ratio asymmetry suggests insane
levels of equanimity, well-being and resilience to setbacks.
But this is not the only thing they looked at in Lama Oser
Ekman has tested hundreds of people on their ability to detect these subtle
expressions from FBI agents to clinical psychologists and college students.
When they tested Lama Oser nobody could have predicted the results.
Lama Oser was the best at detecting these subtle expressions Ekman had ever
recorded.
Ever.
Along with body language expertise this tells us two further superhuman traits
Lama Oser had.
3. Empathic Intelligence
The ability to recognise emotions in other people is associated with levels of
empathy. If Lama Oser was the best at detecting these micro expressions
theyve ever tested, by default, he also had more empathy than any other
person theyve ever tested.
5. No Startle Response
Paul Ekman has been studying the startle response in people for decades. The
startle response is what happens if something loud or surprising happens to us
suddenly. Im sure youve experienced it. We blink for a millisecond; its an innate
reaction.
They find it in every single person. Even in policemen and women. They practice
their shooting all the time, constantly, yet every time the gun goes off they blink
slightly they startle. Everyone has a startle response.
Or so they thought
Lama Oser was the first person in recorded history to suppress his startle
response. When he is meditating, he is so relaxed, so focused on whatever hes
meditating on that nothing startles him.
Because there is a strong correlation between levels of anxiety and how easily
somebody startles, the implications for this are huge.
6. Negotiation Expertise
Practicing meditation didnt just affect Lama Oser, it also influenced everyone he
interacted with. They did this experiment where they had him sit down with
Western scientists and talk about controversial issues such as why scientists
should give up science and become monks and reincarnation.
He interacted with two people. The first was a chilled out scientist. They both had
a good chat and remained calm. Then they brought in the second scientist and
they picked this scientist because he was extremely contentious, harsh and
intolerant. I guess they were just curious what would happen.
Here is what that argumentative scientist had to say after the discussion:
The scientist was calm and friendly, something totally unexpected. Lama Osers
levels ofequanimity rubbed off on him. Emotions are contagious.
But what does this prove? Its fantastic and shocking but do we also have to
meditate for 30 years to reap similar benefits?
Lets find out.
7. Less Anxiety
There are a few problems with the Lama Oser studies. The sample size was very
small. The study showed correlation not causation (perhaps it was genetics), and
well, the guy was a monk. We dont all have 30 years to spare.
This is where Jon Kabat-Zinn comes in.
Jon Kabat-Zinn came up with an experimental design that had a control group
and an experimental group. The control group signed up to a mindfulness
meditation program but remained on the waiting list. The experimental group,
who were compared to the control group, did a meditation program.
The program was 8 weeks long. They meditated on average for 45 minutes a
day, they did a little bit of yoga, mindful breathing, body scans and had
workshops talking to them about meditation.
In this experiment Jon Kabat-Zinn showed that the benefits of meditation dont
just apply to monks. In just 8 weeks, those who meditated achieved significant
changes, both mentally and physically.
The first was a significant decrease in anxiety levels during the program and after
compared to the control group.
8. Better Mood
The scanned the participants brains in the Jon Kabat-Zinn study. Like Lama
Oser their left-to-right prefrontal cortex activity ratio changed compared to the
control group.
Their positive emotions increased and their negative emotions decreased.
Jon Kabatt-Zinn also injected participants with a cold virus to see how their
immune system would respond. Those who were in the program had a stronger
immune response and recovered faster.
The benefits of meditation are not just psychological, but physical.
The Lama Oser experiments and the Jon Kabat-Zinn experiment made the world,
and the science community, start to take notice. From here on out Im going to
list some really unexpected superhuman benefits of meditation.
But you dont have to meditate for thousands of hours to reduce the sensation of
pain. A brief intervention of 20 minutes of meditation for three days has been
shown to have lasting pain-reducing effects.
Wim Hof can withstand cold temperatures that would kill an ordinary person. To
find out how, Dr. Peter Pickkers and his team at the Radboud University
Nijmegen Medical Centre measured Hofs immune response after being injected
with bacteria during his meditation. He was able to suppress his immune
response by 50% compared to the other 240 participants studied. He also had
hardly any flu-like symptoms and had decreased inflammation.
Wim Hof really is a superhuman. He claims its due to his meditation practice.
Ive listed 26 superhuman benefits of meditation. The truth is I could have listed a
100. There are new studies constantly coming out showing how meditation can
improve our lives and the people we come into contact with.
Meditation has been around for 2,500 years but was never taken seriously until a
small group of positive psychologists had the courage to break the mould and put
these ancient ideas to the test.
Even though I write about a variety of topics here at Comfort Pit, I class this site
primarily as a positive psychology site because at the heart of positive
psychology is the idea that we can look at the most incredible individuals in the
world in hopes to incorporate a little bit of that incredibleness into our own lives.
With meditation you can do this. Start today.
Breathe out.