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Meditation
Meditation
usually refers to a state of extreme relaxation and concentration,
in which the body is generally at rest and the mind quieted
of surface thoughts. Several major religions include ritual
meditation; however, meditation itself need not be a religious
or spiritual activity. Most of the more popular systems
of meditation are of Eastern origin.
Another
form of meditation is more closely akin to prayer and worship,
wherein the practitioner turns spiritual thoughts over in
the mind and engages the brain in higher thinking processes.
The goal in this case is the receipt of spiritual insights
and new understanding.
From
the point of view of psychology, meditation can induce —
or is itself — an altered state of consciousness.
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Meditation
generally involves discounting wandering thoughts and fantasies,
and calming and focusing the mind. Meditation does not necessarily
require effort and can be experienced as "just happening".
Physical postures include sitting cross-legged, standing,
lying down, and walking (sometimes along designated floor
patterns). Quietness is often desirable, and some people
use repetitive activities such as deep breathing, humming
or chanting to help induce a meditative state.
Meditation
can be done with the eyes closed (as long as one does not
fall asleep), or with the eyes open: focusing the eyes on
a certain point of an object or image, and keeping the eyes
constantly looking at that point.
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Purposes of meditation
The purposes for which people meditate vary almost as widely
as practices. It may serve simply as a means of relaxation
from a busy daily routine, or even as a means of gaining
insight into the nature of reality or of communing with
one's God. Many have found improved concentration, awareness,
self-discipline and equanimity through meditation. The disciplined
self-cultivation aspect of meditation plays a central role
in Taoism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Generally, there
is religious meditation, where one meditates to commune
with or on the Divine, and focus meditation, where one meditates
to improve health or mental faculties. Very often there
is significant overlap between these two positions in many
meditative traditions.
Samadhi
In the Samadhi or Shamatha, or concentrative, techniques
of meditation, the mind is kept closely focused on a particular
word, image, sound, person, or idea. This form of meditation
is often found in Hindu and Buddhist traditions (especially
the Pure Land school), as well as in Christianity (Gregorian
chant, for example), Jewish Kabbalah, and in some modern
metaphysical schools.
Mindful awareness traditions
Vipassana (insight) and anapanasati (observance of breath)
are parts of the broader notion of mindful awareness, which
is part of the Noble Eightfold Path, which is held to lead
to Enlightenment, and expounded upon in the Satipatthana
sutta. While in anapanasati meditation the attention is
focused on the breath, in vipassana the mind is instead
trained to be acutely aware of not only breathing, but all
things that one comes to experience.
The
concept of vipassana works in believing that the meditator's
mind will eventually take note of every physical and mental
experience "real-time" or as it happens, the goal
being that it will gradually reveal to the practitioner
how one's mind unknowingly attaches itself to things that
are impermanent in nature. Thus, when such things cease
to exist, one experiences suffering from their loss. This
in turn can gradually free one's mind from the attachment
to the impermanent that is the root of suffering. In other
words, in vipassana (insight, or seeing things as they are)
meditation, the mind is trained to notice each perception
or thought that passes without "stopping" on any
one. This is a characteristic form of meditation in Buddhism.
However,
in at least some forms of vipassana, notably the Burmese
Theravada school as taught by S. N. Goenka, one does not
attend to whatever perceptions arise, but purposely moves
one's attention over their body part by part, checking for
sensations, being aware and equanimous with them, and moving
on. This form of meditation has some resemblance with "choiceless
awareness" — the kind of meditation that J. Krishnamurti
addressed.
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Christian meditation
Jesus, according to the New Testament, often left his apostles
and the crowds to distance himself in the wilderness areas
of Palestine to engage in long periods of spiritual meditation
and fasting wherein he is reported to have communicated
with God. The 40 days following his baptism were spent in
such a manner. Christian traditions have varying approaches
to the subject of meditation, but they are especially to
be found in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions,
often associated with monastic practices.
Health applications and clinical studies of meditation
In the recent years there has been a growing interest within
the medical community to study the physiological effects
of meditation (Venkatesh et al., 1997; Peng et al., 1999;
Lazar et al., 2000; Carlson et.al, 2001). Many concepts
of meditation have been applied to clinical settings in
order to measure its effect on somatic motor function as
well as cardiovascular and respiratory function. Also the
hermeneutic and phenomenological aspects of meditation are
objects of growing interest. Meditation has entered the
mainstream of health care as a method of stress and pain
reduction. For example, in an early study in 1972, transcendental
meditation was shown to affect the human metabolism by lowering
the biochemical byproducts of stress, such as lactate (lactic
acid), and by decreasing heart rate and blood pressure and
inducing favorable brain waves. (Scientific American 226:
84-90 (1972)) The meditative aspects of T'ai Chi Ch'uan
and some forms of yoga have also become increasingly popular
as means of healthful stress management in recent years.
As a
method of stress reduction, meditation is often used in
hospitals in cases of chronic or terminal illness to reduce
complications associated with increased stress including
a depressed immune system. There is a growing consensus
in the medical community that mental factors such as stress
significantly contribute to a lack of physical health, and
there is a growing movement in mainstream science to fund
and do research in this area (e.g. the establishment by
the NIH in the U.S. of 5 research centers to research the
mind-body aspects of disease.) Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist
at the University of Colorado, reported that Zen meditation
rewires the circuitry of the brain in his landmark book
Zen and the Brain (Austin, 1999). This has been confirmed
using sophisticated imaging techniques which examine the
electrical activity of the brain.
Dr.
Herbert Benson of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which
is affiliated with Harvard and several Boston hospitals,
reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and
physical changes in the body collectively referred to as
the "relaxation response" (Lazar et.al, 2003).
The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism,
heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry.
Benson and his team have also done clinical studies at Buddhist
monasteries in the Himalayan Mountains. Among other well-known
studies within this particular field of interest we find
the research of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the
University of Massachusetts who have done extensive research
on the effects of mindfulness meditation on stress (Kabat-Zinn
et.al, 1985; Davidson et.al,2003).
One
of the most important invitatons to study the clinical effects
of meditation comes from The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader
of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has had many dialogues with Western
scientists about this subject and it was at the top of the
agenda when he visitied Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in September 2003 for the "Investigating the Mind conference".
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Adverse effects of meditation
Predominantly, studies of meditation report positive effects.
However some studies claim that Meditation might, in certain
circumstances, have adverse effects.
If practiced
improperly or too intensely, meditation can lead to considerable
psychological and physiological problems. It is not uncommon
for teachers of meditation to warn their students about
the possible pitfalls of a contemplative path. Since the
practice of meditation might include a powerful confrontation
with existential questions it is not considered wise to
engage in intense meditation techniques without an extended
period of psychological preparation. Preferably in contact
with a credible teacher or clinician. In the case of Asian
contemplative traditions there often exist major challenges
connected to the way the particular tradition is to be applied
to a Western culture, or a Western mindset. The import of
eastern contemplative concepts into popular Western culture
has not always been sensitive to, or familiar with the cultural
matrix that the meditative concept originated from.
A growing
body of clinical literature is now starting to address the
phenomenon of meditation-related problems (Lukoff, 1998;
Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000). Several side-effects
have been reported, among these we find uncomfortable kinaesthetic
sensations, mild dissociation and psychosis-like symptoms
(Craven, 1989). From a clinical study of twenty-seven long
term meditators Shapiro (1992) reports such adverse effects
as depression, relaxation-induced anxiety and panic, paradoxical
increases in tension, impaired reality testing, confusion,
disorientation and feeling 'spaced out'. The possibility
that meditation might trigger strong emotional reactions
is also reported by Kutz, Borysenko & Benson (1985).
Within the context of therapy, meditation is usually contraindicated
when the therapeutic goal is to strengthen ego boundaries,
release powerful emotions, or work through complex relational
dynamics (Bogart, 1991). The tendency of meditation to disturb
object-relations and release unconscious material implies
that the beginning meditator should approach the practice
with moderation. It usually takes years of dedication to
become stable in a contemplative practice, a perspective
that is often overlooked by many new religious movements
and New Age therapies.
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Specific traditions
Sikhism encourages the divine meditation on God's name,
through simran.
Hinduism's two major meditative traditions evolved with
the schools of Yoga and Vedanta, two of the six limbs of
Hindu philosophy.
Theravada Buddhist practice involves both samadhi and vipassana,
as well as the developing of "loving kindness"
(metta).
Mahayana Buddhism practice involves various forms of dhyana
(Chan or Zen), visualizations, invocation and chanting.
There are religious meditations associated with Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.
Taoism has a long history of meditative studies.
Many martial arts schools teach forms of meditation, especially
based on Buddhist or Taoist models.
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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