Meditation Consciousness and Perception: Meditation\'s

Meditation

Consciousness and Perception:

Meditation's Effect on Brain, Body and Mind

Meditation has its beginnings in the spiritual traditions of the East. Hinduism and Buddhism both incorporate the practice as an essential part of their search for spirituality and their connection with the universe. Being more practical, the West has embraced meditation for its usefulness in managing stress and improving health and well-being overall. While these benefits were likely experienced by the monks who practiced it as well, these benefits were secondary to their primary religious intentions. In the West the practice is more often than not of a more self-serving nature. Since the 1970s, meditation has become increasingly popular in the West and is promoted as a way to reduce stress, bring about relaxation, and even manage depression. It's now being used in a variety of ways in classrooms, hospitals as well as prisons. (Garden 20)

The word meditation may mean different things in different cultures and have varying approaches that can range from simply focusing on the breath to repeating a rhythmic sound known as a mantra. Regardless of the type of mediation there are some basic principles that have become the Western standard of categorizing a discernable meditative practice. The primary step to all meditation is the focusing of the mind's attention by restricting the minds awareness to a single task as previously mentioned such as the breath, a prayer, a word or even an object. This single-minded attention is the key. The meditator is also maintaining a relaxed and quite passive attitude and, "…becomes a silent witness to his/her thoughts, accepting whatever they may be with a nonjudgmental attitude." (La Torre 103) if that attention wanders the meditator brings it gently back to the focus.

As the ability to meditate and focus increases, a number of physiological changes have been shown to occur in the participant. Benson (1974) termed these changes "the relaxation response" and noted they include a decreased heart rate and breathing rate and a lowering of blood pressure. Further studies also have shown changes in EEG brain-wave activity as well as increased hormonal levels of cortisol and serotonin. (La Torre 103)

The practice of mediation is also known as mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply the ability to focus on the here and now, to pay attention, to be present and not trapped in the fantasy world of past thoughts or future projections. Buddhists believe that dwelling on these fantasies often create added suffering and stress over unchangeable events of the past or the possible events of the future that may or may not happen. Mindfulness helps to end the ruminative cycle, especially of negativity. Just noticing that the mind is running and affecting your stress levels and being able to stand back from it, distance yourself to get a better perspective can relive the stress and eventually promote a more non-judgmental attitude when dealing with problems. "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by Kabat-Zinn and colleagues at the university of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic is a generic program based on a psychoeducational rather than a clinical treatment model" (Broderick & Blewitt, 2006p. 461). In this technique meditation is used to develop skills for paying attention and for moment to moment awareness, "A core feature of mindfulness is learning to transform stressful situations by going through them in a skillful way, not trying to avoid or eradicate them" (Broderick & Blewitt, 2006, p. 461).

Western practitioners who are also more spiritually based agree with this. Charlotte Joko Beck, an adept of Zen Buddhism, is one of them:

The first stage in practice is to recognise that we are rarely present: we're not experiencing life, we are thinking about it, conceptualising it, having opinions about it…A major component of practice is to realise how this fear and unwillingness dominates us…. [In] the second stage we slowly begin to be conscious of the ego barriers of our life: the thoughts, the emotions, the evasions, the manipulations can now be observed and objectified more easily. [The]third stage is the direct experience of whatever the scenery of our life is at any moment as we run in place…We grow by being where we are and experiencing what our life is right now. We must experience our anger, our sorrow, our failure, our apprehension; they can all be our teachers, when we do not separate ourselves from them. When we escape what is given, we cannot learn, we cannot grow. (Beck, 1989, p. 123 -- 124)

One of the earliest studies on Transcendental Meditation indicated that it produces a unique physiological state of functioning.

TM produces a profound state of rest (reduced oxygen consumption, decreased heart rate, increased basal skin resistance), while at the same time a higher density and amplitude of alpha brain waves, characteristic of relaxed wakefulness. Several studies corroborated the concurrent experience of a deep state of relaxation and alertness during TM

With this new focus of attentive observation comes an increased awareness of the content of one's thoughts and images, of ones own process of thinking. Things we have taken for granted such as patterns and habits begin to be realized. Traumatic feelings that may have been at first so overwhelming that they were suppressed can begin to emerge. This aspect has been used by psychotherapist for many years now and assists in helping the patient deal with emotions in a more receptive yet observational and detached way, making them more assessable and less painful. There is a dropping of defenses, "an emotional receptivity, which allows for the emergence of repressed material. This heightening of emotional awareness occurs in a quiet soothing state, which allows for feelings to be owned and felt from a greater place of safety." (La Torre 103)

There is also evidence that mediation can assist in repairing bodily damage more rapidly. In one research experiment patients in a state of meditation, doing guided imagery, visualization, prayer, etc., showed that the regeneration of new skin cells increased dramatically.

Indeed, while being relaxed in the process of doing guided imagery, the body starts to physically shift: the heart rate slows, the blood pressure likewise decreases, the immune system is strengthened, and the metabolism speeds up. As a result, the body can heal more quickly. (Leviton, and Leviton)

Other studies have shown that meditation also produces heightened coordination and other physical improvements to the movement of body and mind. "Meditation allows the mind to become calm and focused. It produces physical relaxation and states of grace that enhance performance skills." (Alfaro 28) In Alfaro's article she interviews several dancers who espouse the benefits of mediation as regards their art. They profess that it helps them eliminate the clutter in their minds that hinder their focus on dancing and allows the mind and body to work as a unity, as one.

As a great deal of research to date has shown, for example, that psychological stress can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease and decreased immune system functions. Almost as much research has also discovered that open minded attitudes and positive belief values, as well as social support, prayer, and meditation can reduce psychological stress and contribute to positive health outcomes. ("Research on Mind-Body Interactions and Health" 662) Initially the health profession was hesitant to incorporate mindfulness and other meditative procedures fearing, mostly, lack of health insurance coverage. However, today, due to overwhelming positive evidence, "two out of three HMOs provide some coverage for alternative therapies." (Paquette 7)