Meditation: It's Not What You Think

 

Meditation: It's Not What You Think

 

 

Excerpted from Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness

By Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

 

 

It might be good to clarify a few common misunderstandings about meditation right off the bat.  First, meditation is best thought of as a way of being, rather than a technique or a collection of techniques.

I'll say it again.

Mediation is a way of being, not a technique. 

 

This doesn't mean that there aren't methods and techniques associated with meditation practice.

There are.  In fact, there are hundreds of them, and we will be making good use of some of them.  But without understanding that all techniques are orienting vehicles pointing at ways of being, ways of being in relationship to the present moment and to one's own mind and one's own experience, we can easily get lost in techniques and in our misguided but entirely understandable attempts to use them to get somewhere else and experience some special result or state that we think is the goal of it all...

 

Second, meditation is not relaxation spelled differently.  Perhaps I should say that again as well: Meditation is not relaxation spelled differently.  That doesn't mean that meditation is not frequently accompanied by profound states of relaxation and by deep feelings of wellbeing.  Of course it is, or can be, sometimes.  But mindfulness meditation is the embrace of any and all mind states in awareness, without preferring one to another.  From the point of view of mindfulness practice, pain or anguish, or for that matter boredom or impatience or frustration or anxiety or tension in the body are all equally valid objects of our attention if we find them arising in the present moment, each a rich opportunity for insight and learning, and potentially, for liberation, rather than signs that or meditation practice is not "succeeding" because we are not feeling relaxed or experience bliss in some moment.

 

We might say that meditation is really a way of being appropriate to the circumstances one finds oneself in, in any and every moment.  If we are caught up in the preoccupations of our own mind, in that moment we cannot be present in an appropriate way or perhaps at all.  We will bring an agenda of some kind to whatever we say or do or think, even if we don't know it...

 

For meditation, and especially mindfulness meditation, is not the throwing of a switch and catapulting yourself anywhere, not is it entertaining certain thoughts and getting rid of others.  Nor is it making your mind blank or willing yourself to be peaceful or relaxed.  It is really an inward gesture that inclines the heart and mind (seen as one seamless whole) toward a full-spectrum awareness of the present moment just as it is, accepting whatever is happening simply because it is already happening...

 

Meditation is not about trying to get anywhere else.  It is about allowing yourself to be exactly where you are and as you are, and for the world to be exactly as it is in this moment as well.  This is not so easy, since there is always something that we can rightly find fault with if we stay inside our thinking.  And so there tends to be great resistance on the part of the mind and body to settle into things just as they are, even for a moment.  That resistance to what is may be even more compounded if we are meditating because we hope that by doing so, we can effect change, make things different, improve our own lives, and contribute to improving the lot of the world...

 

So, from the point of view of awareness, any state of mind is a meditative state.  Anger or sadness is just as interesting and useful and valid to look into as enthusiasm or delight, and far more valuable than a blank mind, a mind that is insensate, out of touch.  Anger, fear, terror, sadness, resentment, impatience, enthusiasm, delight, confusion, disgust, contempt, envy, rage, lust, even dullness, doubt, and torpor, in fact all mind states and body states are occasions to know ourselves better if we can stop, look, and listing, in other words, if we can come to our senses and be intimate with what present itself in awareness in any and every moment.  The astonishing thing, so counterintuitive, is that nothing else needs to happen.  We can give up trying to make something special occur.  In letting go of wanting something special to occur, maybe we can realize that something very special is already occurring, and is always occurring, namely life emerging in each moment as awareness itself.

How Meditation Affects the Gray Matter of the Brain

Article c/o David R. Hamilton, Ph.D.
The Huffington Post

I like to meditate. It makes me feel at ease and I am convinced that the sense of calm it produces helps me to handle the daily challenges of my life. There are, of course, times when I don't keep up my daily practice of sitting quietly for 10 or 15 minutes, but these are the times in my life when I experience more stress.

Stress affects everyone. I don't know a single person who doesn't get stressed. But unfortunately, it plays a major role in illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in fact, up to 90 percent of doctor visits in the U.S. may be stress related. Meditation is an antidote to stress, just as an aspirin can counter a headache. A regular practice can be a major boost to health.

It calms the nervous system. It's good for the immune system. It's also good for the heart; it helps produce nitric oxide (not nitrous oxide -- that's laughing gas!) in the arteries, dilating them and reducing blood pressure. It also smooths heart rhythms.

But thanks to an explosion of brain research we now know that it also physically impacts our gray matter.

One study to show this was led by scientists at the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Aarhus University in Denmark. Comparing MRI scans of the brains of meditators with the brains of non-meditators, they showed that meditation causes actual physical changes in the gray matter of the lower brain stem. Meditation makes the gray matter grow.

In another study, scientists Giuseppe Pagoni and Milos Cekic, from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, compared the volume of gray matter in the brains of people performing Zen meditations with another group who were not meditators.

The volume of our gray matter normally reduces as we get older and this is what the scientists found in the group of non-meditators. But for the meditators, their gray matter hadn't reduced at all with age. According to the scientists, meditation had a 'neuroprotective' effect on the meditators: It protected the brain from some of the effects of aging.

This mirrors some 2008 Harvard research that analyzed the genes of meditators against non-meditators. It was the first study of its kind to measure the genetic impact of meditation and found that 2,209 genes were differently activated in long-term meditation practitioners compared with non-meditators. And even looking at novice meditators, they found that 1,561 genes were affected after only eight weeks of meditation practice. They concluded that the genetic effects of meditation may have long-term physiological consequences, one of which was a slowing down of the rate of aging.

We have all heard the stories of people under extreme stress whose hair turns white in a matter of weeks. We know that stress can speed up aging. So why should it be a surprise to us that a technique to combat stress should be able to slow aging?

There are many different forms of meditation. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital examined the impact of the Buddhist 'Insight' meditation on the brain. Insight meditation is a technique of moving our attention over the body or focusing on our breathing. The study found that it caused an increase in thickness of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, the part just above the eyes and associated with attention.

Several areas of the brain are active when we meditate, but most pronounced is the prefrontal cortex because when we meditate we are focusing our attention on something -- whether that be the body, our breathing, a word, a candle or even a spiritual ideal. When this area is active, just like a muscle being exercised, it grows.

Neuroscientists use this analogy to describe the way the brain changes. When we exercise a muscle it becomes larger and denser with muscle mass. In a similar way, when we exercise any part of the brain, which we do when we meditate, it becomes larger and denser with neural mass -- gray matter. The phenomenon is known as neuroplasticity and describes how the brain actually changes throughout life.

When I attended university I learned that the brain is hardwired once we reach young adulthood. The analogy used is that when we are young, the brain is a bit like dough, which can be kneaded into various forms, but when we reach young adulthood we put the dough in the oven and it comes out with a bread crust on it. The brain is then 'hardwired,' we were taught.

But this analogy has since been abandoned. We now know that we never put the dough in the oven.
Our gray matter is ever-changing as we experience life; as we learn, walk, run, dance, and when we concentrate, as we do when we meditate.

Our gray matter is changing until the last seconds of our life. It grows even with our last breath.


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The Mind & Body Connection During Meditation

In this excerpt from the documentary "The Connection," which tells the stories of people adding mind-body medicine to their healing practices, Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar talks about the connection between the mind and body during meditation. (The Connection)

Q: What did you find?

Lazar: We found differences in brain volume after eight weeks in five different regions in the brains of the two groups. In the group that learned meditation, we found thickening in four regions:

1. The primary difference, we found in the posterior cingulate, which is involved in mind wandering, and self relevance.

2. The left hippocampus, which assists in learning, cognition, memory and emotional regulation.

3.  The temporo-parietal junction, or TPJ, which is associated with perspective taking, empathy and compassion.

4. An area of the brain stem called the Pons, where a lot of regulatory neurotransmitters are produced.

The amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain which is important for anxiety, fear and stress in general. That area got smaller in the group that went through the mindfulness-based stress reduction program.

The change in the amygdala was also correlated to a reduction in stress levels.

Q: So how long does someone have to meditate before they begin to see changes in their brain?

Lazar: Our data shows changes in the brain after just eight weeks.

 

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Helping Your Thyroid, Naturally

 

Include a simple yogic process into your life...

The sustained practice of yoga and meditation can go a long way towards helping you cope with a variety of chronic ailments, including thyroid dysfunction. Together, these practices create a deep sense of relaxation in the body and mind, thereby helping to relieve a number of different health issues.

...

Yogi and mystic Sadhguru says,

When you meditate, your whole system functions with ease, and you are restful all the time. There is no such thing as stress, and chronic ailments can be easily relieved. If your system is properly balanced and kept in full vibrance, psychological and physiological ailments cannot exist.

For evidence on how beneficial yoga and meditation can be to improving thyroid conditions, consider the results of a survey conducted last year by Dr. Raj Maturi that looked at the impact of Isha Yoga—a series of yoga programs conducted by the Isha Foundation—on overall health. Throughout the study, 51% (35) of the surveyed participants reported improvement in their thyroid conditions.

Adopting a healthier lifestyle. Inside and out.

We see more and more people embarking on the journey toward a healthier lifestyle.  Of course everyone knows that diet and exercise are both crucial, but feeling good on the inside matters too.  Learning to manage and overcome stressful situations is just as important as learning to exercise each day and eat your vegetables.

 

Research has shown that it takes 6 months in order to develop long-term habits and commit to them, which is why Transcend offers a 6-month Wellness Program that will help you adopt, apply, and most importantly, maintain healthy lifestyle choices.

 

 

Transcend offers a combination of Therapy, Mindful Fitness, and Meditation, where you learn to:

• Construct a clear, realistic vision of where you want to be at the end of this year

• Identify the hidden obstacles that are in your way

• Create a next step action plan 

• Develop a 3 stage long-term plan

 

 

 

Click on the link below to inquire about scheduling and fees associated with this program.

  

Wellness at Transcend

 

 

 

Mindfulness for Beginners

Here is a great article dispelling the 7 Myths of Meditation c/o elephantjournal.com

“If you ask why we meditate, I would say it’s so we can become more flexible and tolerant to the present moment.”
~ Pema Chodron

Are you intrigued by meditation and mindfulness practices but don’t know how to get started?

Mindfulness is available to all of us. Everyone deserves mindfulness, but because our lives are so hectic and full of distractions, many of us are living in a state of mindlessness.

Mindfulness can begin in the form of seated meditation and then expanded to include our other daily activities.

Because meditation and mindfulness have become so mainstream, there are many misleading myths around these subjects. I’ll do my best to dispel seven of the most common ones.


1. In meditation, the goal is a clear and empty mind.

Mental fullness is our natural state. Our minds tend to overflow with thoughts, ideas, worries, emotions, plans, hopes and dreams. Complete absence of thoughts is never going to happen.

As the wise Buddhist teacher and author, Pema Chodron, writes in How to Meditate: “You don’t need to struggle not to have thoughts because that’s impossible.” I define mindfulness as the ability to pay attention to what is right here, right now—without getting hooked on any certain idea, belief, opinion, feeling or memory. It is a practice of watching the way we think without identifying ourselves as our thoughts.

2. You need to be a calm and patient person to meditate.

Meditation practice often results in making us more calm and patient in our daily lives. However, being calm, quiet and patient are not prerequisites. Intense and difficult emotions are part of life and therefore part of meditation. We must sit with whatever we are experiencing… otherwise we’ll never sit!

3. Stick to one technique in order to get the best results.

There are widely varying opinions on this topic, but in my view, you don’t need to commit to just one style of meditation in order to benefit from meditating.


Maybe you will find a teacher and a single technique that resonates. If not, it’s okay to try a variety of techniques. The key is consistent, daily practice. It is helpful and recommended to seek out a meditation teacher or more experienced spiritual friend to guide you on your new path.

4. Meditation makes us feel good.

Meditation is simple—sitting still, breathing, paying attention to each moment. However, it’s not always easy and can sometimes make us feel downright bad. Especially at first, we become more aware of our rampant thoughts and crazy emotional swings. Old, stored emotions and long-forgotten memories can arise. This heightened self-awareness may feel like a step back, but it’s actually a key part of becoming a more mindful person.

5. Meditation is difficult and time-consuming.

Meditation is not complicated and does not require any special equipment or accessories. We don’t have to meditate for hours to feel the benefits of this powerful practice. Even just a few minutes of quiet, mindful breathing can transform us.

We tend to make things feel more difficult than they are through procrastination. When it comes to household chores, writing assignments, tax returns and meditation, we’d often rather do anything but the task at hand. However, once we sit down with intention, we discover it’s not so hard after all.

6. Meditation is for adults.

Actually, kids and teenagers need and benefit greatly from meditation, too.

7. Meditation must be done in a proper seated position and in a quiet, secluded place.

Mindfulness meditation can be done in the traditional seated position—as well as through mindful action such as walking, eating and talking. Ultimately, mindfulness becomes a natural part of our being. The key is presence. Letting go of the past and the future; focusing on the present moment at hand, even if that moment is loud and in public.

Like pretty much everything in life, mindfulness takes practice. How do we get started? How do we develop dedication and discipline? Here are a few suggested practices for beginners.


Mindful sitting

I recommend beginning with at least five minutes of formal seated meditation each day. Early in the morning works best for me, but it could just as well be in the afternoon or evening. Find the time that best suits you. There are plenty of free resources out there on beginning a meditation practice.

Mindful eating

This practice can be done anytime you sit down to eat a meal. (Yes, even during the holidays.)

Hover you palms over the plate or bowl of food. Think about where it came from. How it was planted, cultivated, transported, purchased, prepared and served onto your plate. Feel gratitude for the fact that you have something so delicious and nutritious to eat.

Place your palms together and take a breath, smelling the delicious aroma of what you are about to eat. Take small bites, taking the time to chew mindfully. Eat in super slow motion.

Mindful eating gets easier with time. Try to start with one meal a day and work your way up.

Mindful walking

Turn off your phone, unplug your headphones and walk deliberately, focusing on the soles of your feet. Look around at the scenery. Pay close attention to your surroundings.

Use your breath as an anchor; whenever your mind wanders to the past or future, bring it back to the present by feeling the sensation of breathing. You can also do this practice while driving, biking, running or any other form of transportation.

Mindful speech

Notice what you are saying. What words are you using? What is the tone of your voice? Why are you saying what you are saying? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Is it mean-spirited? Could it go unsaid?

Bringing greater awareness to our voice and verbal communication is essential. Try going one full day without saying anything—good or bad—about anyone who is not in your physical presence. It’s hard. You might not be able to do it on the first try. This practice makes us much more aware of our tendency to talk about others behind their backs.


The beauty of mindfulness is that it can be with us in every moment. The potential to be present and fully experiencing what we are experiencing—life—is always here.

May this article be of benefit to both brand-new beginners and those renewing an interest in this practice of simple presence and openness.


via Michelle Margaret Fajkuson Nov 24, 2013