Meditation Musings- what is it & it's benefits

I was introduced to meditation when I went to University whilst studying psychology. It was a book on Zen psychology. From that moment on, it became a part of my life. To be honest I’ve never really given it a second thought about how it has helped shape the person I am today. I do know I’m considered to be a fairly calm sort of person, someone who just goes with the flow. Is this a result of meditation or is it simply the person I am? I think the two cannot be separated. So let’s explore meditation, what it is and its benefits. Perhaps you may find the path to enlightenment with me.

Meditation to me, means stilling my mind. Allowing all other thoughts to drift away. It can be a practice in which one can train their mind or find an alternate state such as a trance or an alternate state of consciousness. Consciousness is what is known as being aware of yourself and your connection to a Universal energy, the intricate connection of all creation.

There are many ways to meditate. Most involves techniques to help with relaxation, build internal energy or life force (qi, chi, prana, etc.) and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. It is used to clear the mind, and help with health issues, for concentration and focus, to keep the body and mind in alignment and much more. It can be a spiritual quest, but not necessarily so. Those who are of no particularly affinity with any spiritual or religious practice can also benefit from regular practice.

For those who are, such as Buddhist monks, meditation can involve awareness in their day-to-day activities as a form of mind-training. Prayer beads or other ritual objects are commonly used during meditation in order to keep track of or remind the practitioner about some aspect of the training.

Meditation may involve focusing on an emotional state for the purpose of analyzing that state — such as anger, etc. — or cultivating a response such as empathy and compassion. The term "meditation" can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques used to cultivate the state. Meditation may also involve repeating a mantra (such as “om shanti shanti” “baba num kevalum”) and closing the eyes. The mantra is chosen based on its suitability to the individual. Meditation has a calming effect and directs awareness inward until pure awareness is achieved, described as "being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself."[11]

There are many styles of meditation practice, and many different types of activity commonly referred to as meditative practices. Here are just some of them:

Concentrating on the breath – consciously noticing the movement of air in and out of your nostrils, or counting the breath in various ways

Mindfulness – cultivating awareness of inner experiences (such as bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts and memories) and simply observing them without judgment

Emptying the mind – allowing the mind to clear and ‘float’, gently pushing aside any stray thoughts, or allowing thoughts to float in and out of awareness

Looking at an object – focusing your attention, but not necessarily your thoughts, on the shape, sound and texture of an object such as a tree, a candle flame, or a spiritually significant painting or ‘diagram’ known as a mandala.

Movement – using a physical technique like yoga, qi gong or tai chi to still the mind by coordinating the breath and the body with gentle movement

Using a mantra – repeating a word or phrase over and over ( such as “Om” or “Baba num kevalum”), either aloud or silently, sometimes timed with the breath, to focus the attention and release different energies that benefit our bodies and minds.

Using meditation regularly has been found to assist in our health. Not only does it help us mentally, but also physically. Better Health, a Victorian Government initiative had the following information on the benefits of meditation.

1. It lowers stress -- literally. Research published just last month in the Journal Health Psychology shows that mindfulness is not only associated with feeling less stressed, it's also linked with decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

2. It lets us get to know our true selves. Mindfulness can help us see beyond those rose-colored glasses when we need to really objectively analyze ourselves. A study in the journal Psychological Science shows that mindfulness can help us conquer common "blind spots," which can amplify or diminish our own flaws beyond reality.

3. It can make your grades better. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that college students who were trained in mindfulness performed better on the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and also experienced improvements in their working memory. "Our results suggest that cultivating mindfulness is an effective and efficient technique for improving cognitive function, with wide-reaching consequences," the researchers wrote in the Psychological Science study.

4.  It changes the brain in a protective way. University of Oregon researchers found that integrative body-mind training -- which is a meditation technique -- can actually result in brain changes that may be protective against mental illness. The meditation practice was linked with increased signaling connections in the brain, something called axonal density, as well as increased protective tissue (myelin) around the axons in the anterior cingulate brain region.

5. It could help people with arthritis better handle stress. A 2011 study in the journal Annals of Rheumatic Disease shows that even though mindfulness training may not help to lessen pain for people with rheumatoid arthritis, it could help to deal with the stress.

6. It helps you sleep better. We saved the best for last! A University of Utah study found that mindfulness training can not only help us better control our emotions and moods, but it can also help us sleep better at night. “People who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviors during the day. In addition, higher mindfulness was associated with lower activation at bedtime, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress," study researcher Holly Rau said in a statement.

The benefits of meditation can be felt almost immediately. A sense of inner peace and calm, and ability to focus may be attained with as little as 20 minute session. After a couple of sessions the individual may become more aware of their thoughts and how cluttered the mind can become with day to day matters. With further practice the meditator is able to let go of incessant thoughts and mind wandering. They may be able to achieve a higher level of focus during their meditation. More and more practice yields more consistent results. Eventually this will creep out into everyday life. The peace and calm remain the sense of awareness and focus becoming increasingly evident, and reactions to life’s challenges become more fluid and in control.    

So what are the negatives? Are there any? There have been accounts of auditory hallucinations, feelings of being “spaced out”, even epilepsy-like brain seizures and relaxation-induced anxiety. These seem to be extreme cases and in the minority. What isn’t clear from these accounts are the types of techniques used and any other factors that may have influenced these results. Overall I think there is a lot to be said for meditation. From what I have read and experienced, the good seems to outweigh the bad. Infact, I personally have never had a negative experience from meditating. It is a great way reduce stress, it’s natural and has minimal side effects. Meditation has much to offer, why not give it a go?


References

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/mindfulness-meditation-benefits-health_n_3016045.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Meditation

http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/brundage_sandy_warningmeditatingmaybehazardous.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2012/10/25/3617513.htm#.UgVJ1z-rSfl 

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