Meditation, Breathing and Exercise

It surprises me that when I mention meditation to people that most of them still raise an eyebrow and look at me like I am some kind of magic-believing weirdo. The truth is that meditation, concentration, contemplation, awareness practice, practiced relaxation or whatever one might call it, has a myriad of proven, positive effects on our physical body and mental state as well as having millennia of experiential evidence as to its efficacy.
Although it is catching on more and more, most Westerners refuse to listen to anything about it and many Easterners view it as something which is purely spiritual. While I have my own beliefs on the latter aspect, I will not be discussing that here. This article is about the worldly applications of the practice as they can be more immediately observed and also are obviously more practical to the public. So let us see what meditation can do for us!
To start it is important to define what is meant by meditation. A common assumption is that meditation is kind of like being half asleep; this could not be farther from the truth. Meditative states are states of exceptional awareness with the goal of clearing mind chatter so that the individual can become better attuned to the person's relation to the universe that surrounds us.
While this sounds spiritual in nature, and it can be for some, it also has utile attributes that are well documented as well as personally experienced to great benefit by the author. These positive developments include, but are not limited to, more controlled and deeper breathing, improved concentration, enhanced pain tolerance, body and posture awareness, raised energy levels and, perhaps most importantly, a greater sense of self-worth and wellbeing.