Meditation

Introduction

The use of Meditation for healing is not new. Meditative techniques are the product of diverse culture and people around the world. It has been rooted in the traditions of the world's great religions. In fact, practically all religious groups practice meditation in one form or another. The value of meditation to alleviate suffering and promote healing has been known and practiced for thousand of years.

Of the religions that use meditation, perhaps Buddhism, practiced widely in eastern and central Asia, is the best known. To Buddhists, the practice of meditation is essential for the cultivation of wisdom and compassion and for understanding reality. Buddhists believes that our ordinary consciousness is both limited and limiting. Meditation makes it possible to live life to the full spectrum of our conscious and unconscious possibilities.

In spite of its rich history and traditions, it is only in the past three decades that scientific study has focused on the clinical effects of meditation on health. During then 1960's, reports reached the west of yogis and meditation masters in India who could perform extraordinary feats of bodily control and altered states of consciousness. These reports captured the interest of western researchers studying self-regulation and the possibility of voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system. At the same time. new refinements in scientific instrumentation made it possible to duplicate and substantiate of these reports at medical research institutes. Healthcare professionals who were often dissatisfied with the side effects of drug treatments for stress-related disorders embraced meditation as a valuable tool for stress reduction, and today both patients and physicians enjoy the health benefits of regular meditation practice.

What is Meditation?

There are various types of meditation - prayer is probably the best known, but there is also TM (Transcendental Meditation), mindfulness meditation, and from the Eastern tradition, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation, and Taoist meditation. The meditation encompasses such diverse methods as:

Formal sitting in which the body is held immobile and the attention controlled e.g., Zazen, Vipassana.
Expressive practices, in which the body is let free and anything can happen e.g., Siddha Yoga, the Latihan, the chaotic meditation of Rajneesh.
The practices of going about one’s daily round of activities mindfully e.g., Mahamudra, Shikan Taza, and Gurdjieff’s “self-remembering”.

All these practices have one thing in common - they all focus on quietening the busy mind. The intention is not to remove stimulation but rather to direct your concentration to one healing element - one sound, one word, one image, or one's breathe. When the mind is "filled" with the feeling of calm and peace, it cannot take off on its own and worry, stress out, or get depressed.

Types of Meditation-Classification

All the meditation techniques can be grouped into two basic approaches:

Concentrative meditation
Mindfulness meditation

Concentrative Meditation

Concentrative meditation focuses the attention on the breath, an image, or a sound (mantra), in order to still the mind and allow a greater awareness and clarity to emerge. This is like a zoom lens in a camera; we narrow our focus to a selected field.
The simplest form of concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and focus the attention on the breath. Yoga and meditation practitioners believe that there is a direct correlation between one's breath and one's state of the mind. For example, when a person is anxious, frightened, agitated, or distracted, the breath will tend to be shallow, rapid, and uneven. On the other hand, when the mind is calm, focused, and composed, the breath will tend to be slow, deep, and regular. Focusing the mind on the continuous rhythm of inhalation and exhalation provides a natural object of meditation. As you focus your awareness on the breath, your mind becomes absorbed in the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation. As a result, your breathing will become slower and deeper, and the mind becomes more tranquil and aware.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation, involves opening the attention to become aware of the continuously passing parade of sensations and feelings, images, thoughts, sounds, smells, and so forth without becoming involved in thinking about them. The person sits quietly and simply witnesses whatever goes through the mind, not reacting or becoming involved with thoughts, memories, worries, or images. This helps to gain a more calm, clear, and non-reactive state of mind. Mindfulness meditation can be likened to a wide-angle lens. Instead of narrowing your sight to a selected field as in concentrative meditation, here you will be aware of the entire field.

How Meditation Works

As you go along with your meditation, you will feel calm yet aware; a feeling that most experts say cannot be described by words. Only experiencing it will give you a clear idea of how it feels.

As you go along with your meditation, you will eventually experience a development in your physical and mental health. According to some studies, this is manifested by a generalized reduction in multiple physiological and biochemical markers, such as decreased heart rate, decreased pulse rate, decreased respiration rate, decreased plasma cortisol which is a major stress hormone and increased EEG (electroencephalogram) alpha which is a brain wave associated with relaxation. During meditation, one goes through a state of deep relaxation, while is mind awareness level is increased. This results in faster reactions, greater creativity and broader comprehension.