Apart from calmness and concentration, a significant benefit provided by such practices is emotion control, meaning you can choose the emotion you want to experience. Not only stimulus and reaction decouple, but you conciously produce stimulus, and choose reactions to foreign stimuli. This concept of real choice is hard to imagine for those who haven't experienced it.

you say "these beliefs are not scientifically proven, which is important for me". What constitutes scientific proof? what do you suppose ought to be proved, that isn't proved? You already admit that there are very real benefits.

A followup question for you: if you meditate regularly now, what do you meditate on? Mindfulness based stress reduction? That's like dipping your toes into an ocean.

> People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it.

I interpreted that sentence as stating that people absorb thoughts and ideas via communication with other people expressing their views. The process of adopting an idea can often be a subconscious one. On more than one occasion, I’ve had friends impart to me some useful piece of knowledge, an interesting piece of trivia or some observation about the world, only for me to point out to them that it was me that shared those thoughts with them in the first place.

It’s useful to understand the source of my thoughts but for my own part, if my memory works at all, it’s doing well to retain thoughts, knowledge or ideas. I’m doing very well if I can also remember the source of the thought. My interpretation of the quoted sentence was that meditation would help one achieve that awareness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhi

> Siddhis are spiritual, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwise magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of spiritual advancement through sādhanās such as meditation and yoga.

Incidentally, these are some siddhis mentioned in that article:

* Reducing one's body to the size of an atom

* Expanding one's body to an infinitely large size

* Becoming infinitely heavy

* Becoming almost weightless

* Hhaving unrestricted access to all places

* Realizing whatever one desires

* Possessing absolute lordship

* The power to subjugate all

* Knowing the past, present and future

* Tolerance of heat, cold and other dualities

* Knowing the minds of others and so on

* Checking the influence of fire, sun, water, poison, and so on

* Remaining unconquered by others