Have you ever thought about meditating and quickly dismissed it? Or have you tried it and felt after the first or second attempt that it was not working and quit? If you are feeling tired much of the day, in pain throughout the day or night, or simply over-stressed, you may want to give meditating a try. It is a no-cost practice that millions of people all over the world use to improve their health. The benefits are many. Today I would like to discuss three.

• Reduce Stress. Do you feel like you have more and more stress with each passing day? Too many bills, too much work, problems with your children, problems with your aging parents. Problems with your spouse. The list goes on and on, and the stress just keeps piling up. If you take the time to learn to meditate one of the first benefits that you will notice is a reduction in the daily stress that you feel. Meditation slows your breathing, calms your mind, and increases your focus. The more you meditate the more you will feel the benefits of feeling less stressed.

• Reduce Pain. Even those who are new to meditating can reduce chronic pain through this practice. Through meditating, the mind's ability to literally reduce the level of pain signals is increased. With repeated practice, those who meditate regularly often note that the severity of their pain decreases.

• Improve Sleep. One of first and easiest benefits to be achieved through meditating is the improvement of sleep. Often people who experience sleepless nights focus on trying to relax. This 'forced' relaxation usually makes the problem worse. Meditation can help to relax the body and mind, which in turn, makes sleep come more easily.

During meditation you learn to breath deeply. This is the first step to calming the mind, which can reduce stress, reduce pain and aid in falling asleep. As thoughts appear, instead of trying to force them out of the mind, through meditation you learn to acknowledge them and let them go.

Your mind may be easily distracted, but through practice it will become easier. You may find that having an object to focus on, or music playing in the background will help you in your meditation practice.

If you are struggling with stress, chronic pain or sleepless nights and want to try a natural approach to feeling better, give meditation a try. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results.