Meditation ~ Blessing Or Bane?

We all hear raging positive reports of people who meditate regularly. It's recommended as a tool for personal growth, increased spirituality and psychic sensitivity. It's trance can be used to increase concentration, regain a sense of peace and help you contact your Spirit Guide(s) and Angels. However, meditation, like any tool, has it's positive and negative sides.

While I meditate regularly I do not recommend meditation without talking about some of the side effects people should be aware of. There is a reason that many cults that use brainwashing recommend meditation. In this article, I give a quick overview of some of the notable positive and negative sides of meditation. First, let's start with the benefits.

Meditating regularly will increase your capabilities to concentrate deeply and easily. Meditation helps to increase your ability to focus, so it will become easier to attain and keep your concentration. Concentration is necessary for tasks as studying new material or focusing on difficult tasks. Especially the time directly after meditation is excellent for your concentration. This is why it's now recommended in some schools before class or before an exam.

Meditating regularly does help to grow Spiritually. One of the reasons it helps is because a stable time to yourself helps you reflect on your own behavior, your choices and your own energy. The increased focus and concentration makes it easier to listen to your own Inner Voice and contact your Higher Self or other sources of wisdom. In the time of quiet of meditation you are open to receive and to acknowledge.

Regular meditation also brings an increased sense of peace as you have the time to yourself that we all so desperately need. Usually people stress through their lives and the little time to ourselves that we have are filled with tasks that we have to do. The few minutes we decide just to sit still are certainly beneficial to bring down our heart rate and stress levels.

Now that I've spoken about some of the beautiful benefits, let me tell you about some of the more negative sides of meditation. Meditation is a powerful tool and should not be underestimated.

After a meditation in which you reached trance like state you have a heightening of your senses and an increase in concentration. This last usually between 15 minutes till an hour depending on how long you meditated and how long you were in a trance like state. This means that you are more susceptible to whatever you encounter during this period. Your heightened senses leave a deeper imprint upon your mind then otherwise would have occurred. This is why it's useful to meditate before studying, yet you should be mindful what you do after meditation. Watching TV directly after might leave you with an imprint of some of societies values, violence or other negative images.

Many cults are aware of this and ask students to meditate for hours (making sure that this heightening of senses and concentration occurs and that it will last for a long time) and let them watch instructional videos direct after the meditation. Due to their heightened senses they fall prey easier and their susceptibility is then exploited.

Another type of effect that can occur if you meditate regularly is a certain sense of disassociation. Due to the regular deep trances you are in, the world suddenly seems quite different then before. You can start feeling that your body doesn't 'fit' you or just a part of you exists. That your senses are somehow different, mostly more acute and extreme then other people's. A sense of not belonging prevails. Some people only want to meditate and reach trance again.

Disassociation is a clinical psychological term as this type of behavior can also occur in people that do not meditate. It covers a whole range of behavior and feelings. If you start having this type of difficulties stop meditation immediately. Take some time in the real world and learn grounding and centering exercises. If the feeling persists go and see a licensed psychologist.

Another, much rarer symptom that can happen is a Kundalini Arising. While most people can work for years to try to get this "Mother Goddess Energy" to rise in them up from their spine through all their Chakras some people have gotten a Kundalini experience quite spontaneously. While in itself it can be a very worthwhile experience as it's meant as a type of Spiritual Growth that helps reduce Ego and increase energy it can cause quite some havoc if this occurs in an untrained individual. It can cause quite a lot of physical and psychological symptoms ranging from dizziness, spasms and pain to psychosis.

If you start noticing strange bodily symptoms that aren't connected to anything you have experienced before or a medical condition I suggest you read up more on Kundalini Experiences.