The Scientific Benefits of Meditation and Prayer, Part 2 of 2

An article published in Forbes Magazine in 2015, “7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain,” identifies meditation and prayer as good tools to enliven a healthy mind and well-being in cognitive, therapeutical, and neurological senses.

To Dr. James Doty, M.D., professor of neuroscience and founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research at Stanford University, compassion is the source of psychological health and can be trained through meditation.“Studies have now shown that when you are compassionate, when you recognize the suffering of another, engage another, it has a profound effect on your blood pressure, your heart rate, it boosts your immune system and decreases those stress hormone levels down to baseline. And you have a sense of calmness.”

Why can meditation and prayer cultivate compassion and kindness? It has to do with the work of brain waves. Respected Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard (vegan), who shocked Dr. Davidson with his off-the-chart gamma wave readings when focused on compassion, calls meditation “the habit of happiness.” As a result, meditation on compassion can therefore sculpt a healthy and compassionate mind.

Meditation teaches us things unattainable from standard education. Never before has science affirmed the importance and value of meditation and prayer in such a clear, powerful way.

Many years ago, due to her profound compassion for the suffering of all beings in the world, Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) forsook the comforts of worldly life to embark on a spiritual journey to the Himalayas. She brought back the invaluable gift of the Quan Yin method of meditation. “So the only source of happiness is inside. Whenever you meditate, try to get in touch with that source. For your sake, for your own happiness, contentment, satisfaction, you must always try to get in touch with that joyful center which is inside all of you. That is where the Master power is. That is where every miracle in the Universe can manifest. That's where all Loving-kindness is born. That's where all the Virtues, Beauty and Truth lay dormant there for you to discover. It’s an honor, it’s a privilege, it’s the best fortune of our life to be able to know such a secret.”