Meditation

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Meditation

• Group 1

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What is Meditation?

• A mental exercise that benefits body processes
• Has certain physical benefits
• Tradition grounded in Eastern cultures- India,
  Tibet
• Popularized by Western cultures

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What is Meditation?

• Not a worship or prayer
• It is Awareness
• "Watching your breath" is meditation listening
  to the birds is meditation
• As long as these activities are free from any
  other distraction to the mind, it is effective
  meditation.
• Mind is free of scattered thoughts

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What is Meditation?

• A Tibetan Lama was being monitored on a brain
  scan machine by a scientist wishing to test
  physiological functions during deep meditation.
  The scientist said - "Very good Sir. The machine
  shows that you are able to go very deep in brain
  relaxation, and that validates your meditation".
  "No", said the Lama, "This (pointing to his
  brain) validates the machine!".

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Meditation

• Derived from two Latin words
• Meditari(to think, to dwell upon, to exercise the
  mind)
• Mederi (to heal). Its Sanskrit derivation 'medha'
  means wisdom.
• With regular practice of a balanced series of
  techniques, the energy of the body and mind can
  be liberated and the quality of consciousness can
  be expanded
• Not a subjective claim but is now being
  investigated by the scientists and being shown by
  an empirical fact

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History
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History of Mediation
Meditation is BOTH

• Ancient spiritual practice

• Contemporary mind-body technique

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History of Mediation

• Originated from Asia- India, China, Japan
• Primary Purpose
• Past Religious Practice
• Present Health benefits appeared around 1970

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History of Meditation

• Dr. Benson demonstrated that the effects of
  meditation are essentially the opposite of the
  fight-or-flight response. Meditation Decreases
• Heart Rate
• Respiratory Rate
• Blood Pressure
• Oxygen Consumption
• Muscle Tension

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Transcendental Meditation (TM)

• Founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1957
• Practiced 15-20 minutes twice a day
• Sit comfortably, eyes closed
• Silent, mental repetition of a simple sound or
  mantra
• Allow the repetition to spontaneously become
  quieter and quieter until it disappears and one
  is left conscious, but without thoughts

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Physiological Research

• TM technique gives rise to a relaxed state marked
  by
• Reductions in metabolic activity
• Increased cerebral blood flow
• Skin resistance changes
• Reductions in plasma cortisol

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Mental Health

• TM more effective in reducing anxiety than other
  techniques
• TM has been found to reduce
• depression
• hostility
• emotional instability
• TM is 3x more effective than other techniques in
  increasing
• self-actualization
• emotional maturity
• a resilient sense of self
• a positive world outlook
• TM techniques have also been linked with
• Reductions of major risk factors for disease
• Reductions in blood pressure
• Reductions in the use of alcohol and drugs
• Note A meta-analysis in 1990 indicated that
  meditation techniques involving explicit
  concentration produced the least effect of all
  techniques studied

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Types of Meditation
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2 Approaches

• Concentrative- opening up of attention
• Mindfulness- focusing of attention

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Transcendental Meditation

• Mahest Prasod Varma
• 2 years of isolation in a Himalayan cave

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Chakra Yoga

• Originates from Samkhya philosophy
• The chakra model is a map of the Human Energy
  System
• This system is made up of 7 points along a
  central channel

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Rinzai Zen

• Began in India and spread by a Buddhist monk to
  Asia
• Meditation was practiced in hope to discover
  ones true nature while rejecting the academic
  approaches to Buddhism
• Uses koans which are unanswerable,illogical
  riddles

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Mudra yoga

• Hand and finger yoga positions
• Enhances health, relieves stress, prevent illness
  and heals physically and emotionally
• Madonna uses it in her performances

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Sufism

• Central concept or focus is love
• It is a tradition of Islam

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Other forms of meditation

• Soto Zen focuses on external objects
• Tibetan Buddhists use a mandala, nadam and mantra
• Zazen focuses on a subjective state of
  consciousness
• Hindu uses pranayama
• Zen uses anapanasati

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Benefits of Meditation
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Physiological Effects

• First discovered in 1946
• Found that meditation could affect the heart
  rates and respiration rates of Indian yogis and
  Zen masters
• More recently, researchers found meditation can
  decrease muscle tension

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Physiological Benefits contd

• Positive effects on blood pressure
• Decreases heart rate
• Prevents hypertension
• Decreases blood lactate levels and carbon dioxide
  production
• Increases peripheral blood flow to arms and legs

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Physiological Benefits contd

• Lowers baseline cortisol
• Can efficiently treat pain
• Reduces alcohol consumption
• Decreases oxygen consumption
• Decreases alpha brain-wave emissions
• Increases skin resistance

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Cnn.com article

• People who have been practicing Buddhist insight
  meditation have a thicker cortex in some parts of
  their brain than people who do not meditate
• The longer they had practiced for, the thicker
  their cortex was

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Cnn.article contd

• Other studies have shown that meditation
• Can decrease stress
• Can decrease anxiety and depression
• Has beneficial effects for a variety of other
  illnesses.

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Relaxation Response

• This is the physiological state achieved when one
  is relaxed and has beneficial effects upon ones
  health
• Meditation specifically produces this response
• Also termed the trophotropic response

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Psychological Benefits

• Can produce a general state of positive mental
  health
• Decrease anxiety
• Reduced fears and phobias
• Headache relief
• Improvements in sleep

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Psychological Benefits

• Shows potential for stress management
• Associated with positive subjective experiences
• Relates to an internal locus of control, greater
  self-actualization and more positive feelings
  after encountering a stressor

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Behavioral Effects

• Decreased cigarette smoking
• Decreased drug abuse
• Eating disorders have been found to be positively
  affected by mediation

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Other Benefits

• Decrease in the use of health services among
  meditators
• In effect, that saves companies money on health
  insurance premiums

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Yoga Exercise
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How to Meditate

• Meditate Regularly
• Until you have gained enough experience, meditate
  at the same time and place every day.
• Find a quiet, comfortable, and clean location.
• Make sure no one disturbs you.
• Sit so comfortably that you forget your body.
• Be patient.
• Have fun.
• Be aware of yourself.
• BREATHE, RELAX, AND CONCENTRATE

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DO NOT MEDITATE

• In a dirty place
• Where there are dangerous wild animals, potential
  for fire or flood, or bad people.
• If you feel tired, sick, sorrowful, or miserable.

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Quick Meditation Technique

• Remind yourself that you exist HERE and NOW
• Be aware of the activities going on in and around
  you at moment.
• From now onwards, start doing everything with
  AWARENESS.

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Yoga Exercise

• Practice poses if your energy or mood is low.
• Do different poses for five minutes at a time
  throughout work or study.
• Get in the habit of taking frequent breaks, if
  only to look out a window or stand up.
• Yoga is a great way to relieve physical and
  mental stress it improves posture, relieves eye
  stress and muscle stiffness, sharpens mental
  focus, and helps to calm and revitalize.

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Yoga

• The following are a few quick and easy yoga
  techniques to practice at work or in study.
• Balancing Breath
• Ocean Breath
• Breath of Fire
• Eye Exercises and Cupping
• Face Massage
• Warrior Breath
• Joints Alive
• Lion