Introduction to Meditation
(Page 2 of 3)
Dec. 31, 2008
By Michael Castleman
Beyond deep relaxation, after a while, the relaxation response and all other types of meditation — including prayer — produce something extra, a feeling of wholeness that lingers long after you resume normal activities. Religious meditators describe this as “feeling the divine presence.” Mind-body researchers suggest that meditation’s residual effects are an “emotional vaccine” that “immunizes” practitioners against emotional distress.
RELATED CONTENT
The Many Uses of Meditation
Benson’s work spurred doctors to prescribe meditation as part of treatment for many conditions, among them:
Blood pressure. University of Kentucky researcher analyzed 107 studies of meditative approaches to blood pressure control. They showed that meditation reduces blood pressure significantly.
Stress/Anxiety relief: Harvard researchers taught meditation to half of a group of 58 doctors and nurses. Eight weeks later, the meditators reported significantly less stress and enhanced mental health. Meditation has also reduced stress for military veterans and students facing exams.
Depression. University of Louisville taught meditation to women who were depressed because they had fibromyalgia. Compared with a control group, the meditators reported significantly less depression.
Pain. British researchers subjected 42 university students to mild pain and recorded their reactions. Then the students were taught to meditate. When subjected to the same amount of pain, they reacted less. Another study scanned participants’ brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Longtime meditators showed 45 percent less activation of the areas of the brain that react to pain.
Hot Flashes. Menopausal women with severe hot flashes were taught to meditate at the University of Massachusetts. After 11 weeks, their hot flashes caused 40 percent less discomfort.
Diabetes. The latter study also showed that meditation improves the body’s ability to use insulin, thus reducing risk of diabetes.
Health care costs. Meditation improves so many measures of well-being, it stands to reason that it should also reduce health care costs. That’s what Blue Cross found in a study of members in Iowa: significantly lower health care costs for meditators.
Mindfulness Meditation: Living in the Moment
There’s another kind of meditation, a practice Buddhists call vipassana, or insight meditation. Dr. Kabat-Zinn calls it “mindfulness,” the art of becoming deeply aware of the present instant. Mindfulness turns down the noise in our heads, the guilt, anger, doubts and “shoulds” that upset us moment to moment. Mindfulness encourages us to stop and smell the roses.
