- To relax, physically and mentally
- To keep the heart open and soft
- To accept life on its own terms
- To feel more alive, connected and content
- To find inner peace
- To make contact with other realms of consciousness
So just what is meditation? Here is the Medical Dictionary's definition: Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.
Everything in our lives creates stress. Even wonderful events create stress. The original definition of stress is by Hans Selye who coined the term, as it is presently used, "the non-specific response of the body to any demand". This includes mental, emotional and physical demands.
The Mayo Clinic is now suggesting that an effective way to deal with stress besides getting good quality sleep and doing yoga is to meditate. Mediation can improve your heart health, stave off premature aging and help us to be more calm and focused. There are now many research studies showing this. Here are a few of the latest.
A study published in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society reported that after 8 weeks of mindfulness classes that included meditation and stretching exercises their severe hot flashes and quality of life improved.
Massachusetts General Hospital study using MRI scans found that people who meditate cortices in the brain where much thicker (a sign of neuronal growth) than those who did not meditate. This was a very positive finding showing that meditation may slow down age-related cognitive decline. The study leader Sara Lazar, PhD. explained "meditation exercises the same part of the brain used for memory and attention, so regular practice is thought to keep it sharp, flexible, and active".
Researchers at Benson Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine also at Massachusetts General and the Genomic Center at Beth Israel Deaconess medical Center have found that attaining a deep state of rest know as the "relaxation response" is capable of changing how genes behave in response to stress. Dr. Jeffrey Dusek, a co-lead author of the study at Benson-Henry Institute, and now with Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, remarks that, "the relaxation-response-associated changes were the opposite of stress-associated changes," and were much more pronounced in long term practitioners.
The relaxation response involves a form of mental focusing. Dr. Henry Benson, one of the first Western doctors to conduct research on the effects of meditation, developed this approach after observing the profound health benefits of a state of bodily calm he called the "relaxation response". He taught patients to focus upon the repetition of a word, a sound, prayer or phrase for 10-20 minutes a day. Patients were also taught to pay attention to distracting thoughts and to return their focus to the original repetition.
Meditation can be difficult. When we make the choice to "Go Within" for certain we will find a travel mate on the journey, our thinking mind. How we relate to this travel mate is the key to finding our own "relaxation response". While meditation hones some of our better qualities, it also holds up a mirror to some of our worst. We do it to see ourselves clearly, to love ourselves warts and all, as Elizabeth Lesser says. To crack through the hard crust of the personality until the gem of the Self is revealed.
"Going Within" is a continuing series. Next post will discuss the different types of mediation.
~ Elizabeth Botta Brandes
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