Meditation


	"Learn to pause ... or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you." Doug King

Meditation

Background Science Meditation Techniques Meditation Types

Background

Most of us first encountered the words "prayer" and "meditation" as part of our family's religious practice. It is difficult to separate prayer from meditation because these activities are frequently done together. All prominent religions -- Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Muslim (Islam), Shamanism, Taoism -- contain at least one prayerful practice that creates a state of meditation. If you are fulfilled by your cultural and religious context of prayer and meditation, embrace it. If not, consider redefining "prayer" to mean a simple statement of wants, and see if your life moves in a direction that brings you greater joy and clarity.

I define "prayer" as silent asking or telling, and "meditation" as listening for clues and answers. I gladly leave the task of defining "to whom" or "to what" entirely in your hands. Any activity that keeps our attention pleasantly or neutrally fixed in the present moment can create a meditative state, and allow our spirit to get a word in edgewise. I find it interesting that "listen" is an anagram of the word "silent."

Meditation is the practice of focusing on a single word, phrase, image or activity, while objectively witnessing then dismissing any other images, thoughts, or concerns that come into our mind. Only four things are required for successful meditation:

A quiet place (or the ability to tune out the external environment)
A comfortable position or posture
An object, word, image, or activity to focus upon
A gentle, self-accepting and receptive attitude

There is a simple key to making meditation fun and easy to learn -- choose a style of meditation that fits your natural personality type. Forcing yourself to meditate according to Eastern religious meditation guidelines is stressful for many of us, and, therefore, counterproductive.

Remember that one form of meditation is not better than another, especially when you are first learning how to maintain mental focus. Throw away that "how to" book, and start with a style that is easy and comfortable for you. As you gain skill with maintaining mental focus, you can switch to methods that are more challenging.

Notice that meditation does not have to be done by yourself, and it does not have to done sitting still. In fact, most fitness and community centers offer group moving meditation classes such as Tai Chi, Chi Gong and yoga. In addition, many fitness activities can be safely converted to moving meditations. Choose a mental focus object while lap swimming, running on an indoor or outdoor track, or while on the rowing machine, exercise bike or stair climber. Many alternative medicine practices also incorporate elements of meditation, including aromatherapy, massage, and shiatsu.

Meditation is effective even when it isn't religiously based. You don't have to chant foreign or exotic sounding words or sit in a symbolic posture. Use familiar and secular words such as "peace and calm" or simply count repeatedly from one through ten. Sit or stand with good breathing posture -- head centered over an erect spine, shoulders back yet relaxed. The physiological effects of meditation are measurably enhanced when paired with your personal belief system, even when that belief system is not a religious one. If you have strongly held spiritual beliefs, you may want to incorporate them into your chosen method.

Be patient and kind with yourself as you learn. Mental focus takes practice, especially if you are naturally energized by the external world. The major effects of meditation come from doing it consistently, rather than from doing it well. Religious leaders must have intuitively known this, as most faiths instruct followers to perform their ritual, or meditative, prayers on a daily basis.

You don't have to do it perfectly. As a matter of fact, when you first begin, you may spend over three-quarters of your time gently dismissing unwanted thoughts. Do not expect this to change rapidly. Start with five or ten minutes, and build to fifteen or twenty minutes a day over the first few weeks. See if you can increase your time to 30 or 45 minutes a day -- whatever you can do consistently. Remember, I am not asking you to do all 45 minutes at once, or use the same style of meditation each time you meditate. If you want variety, choose a guided imagery one day, yoga the next, and swim laps or run on a treadmill later that week. Also be aware that meditation may lead to remembering past traumas that need to be resolved. Seek appropriate help from a professional if this happens.

Do you spend fitness time on the treadmill or stair climber, reflecting on the day's "to do" list, or processing the day's problems? For just five minutes, substitute a positive or neutral "mental focus object" for your list of worries and see what happens!


	"There is only one journey. Going inside yourself." Rainer Maria Rilke

Stress activates our sympathetic nervous system through the release of adrenaline. Our heart rate increases, our breathing turns rapid and shallow, our blood pressure goes up, and our large muscle groups contract. We are ready for "fight or flight". We typically experience about fifty adrenaline surges each day. Our body responds identically to real or imagined stress. In other words, thinking or believing a threat is possible, creates the same physiological response as experiencing the threat. Think back to the last time you had a nightmare. Did you wake up with a pounding heart, glistening with sweat? The threat was only imagined, yet your body responded as if the threat was real.

Meditation induces our body's natural remedy for stress. It activates our parasympathetic nervous system through the release of acetylcholine -- our heart rate slows, our breathing slows and deepens, our blood pressure decreases, and our large muscle groups relax. Our body temperature and metabolic rate drop during prolonged periods of meditation (hours). This reduces our body's need for oxygen. Most importantly, our brain waves switch from a predominantly beta-wave state of alertness to an alpha-wave state of relaxation. This physiological response is the exact opposite of our body's response to stress. The physiological changes created by meditation continue beyond the actual time period we are meditating. When meditation is practiced regularly, the changes last throughout the day.

Medical research teams have spent decades documenting the biochemical and medical benefits of daily meditation. Biochemically, our nerve endings become less reactive to adrenaline, our immune cell function improves, including T-cells and natural killer cells, and we have lower levels of free radicals, the unstable oxygen molecules that are related to the tissue damage of aging and cancer. The list of medical conditions successfully treated by the regular use of meditation include: anxiety and panic attacks, asthma, cancer and chemotherapy side-effects, child birth, chronic pain syndromes including arthritis and fibromyalgia, depression, distractibility and forgetfulness, headaches (tension and migraine), various types of heart disease, high blood pressure, infertility, insomnia, irritability, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), moodiness, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and psoriasis. In other words, if you eat your "apple a day" in a meditative way, you can keep more than one doctor away.

Meditation is a process that is often likened to mental exercise. Just as physical exercise tones and improves the physical body, eliciting the relaxation response (meditation) disciplines the mind. It is challenging work, but rewarding work. Results are not usually immediate, just as the results of a new exercise program are usually not immediately apparent.