Meditation is an age-old religious practice, an end in itself or a path toward spiritual benefits for many who practice it, as well as a way to free the mind from the problems of daily life. It can also induce potentially such changes as lower blood pressure and reduced heart rate. It has been shown that accomplished practitioners can lower their oxygen consumption and body temperature, too. Thus, meditation is sometimes recommended to people with heart disease or other medical problems, as well as to anybody who’s trying to control emotional stress.
Herbert Benson, M.D., founder of Harvard’s Mind-Body Medical Institute, first showed in the late 1960s that meditation counteracts stress by generating what he termed a "relaxation response," decreasing heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension. Since then, numerous studies have confirmed that the simple act of sitting, relaxing the body, and quieting the mind, can be immediately beneficial – and experts say that meditating on a daily basis may be the closest thing to an antidote to the ills of a stressful lifestyle.
Meditation can not only dampen the immediate effects of stress but also change the way the body reacts to stress when we’re not meditating. People who practice meditation report an increased ability to cope with short and long-term stressful situations, as well as greater energy and enthusiasm for life, and heightened self-confidence. Meditation also has many physical benefits. In one study of transcendental meditation (TM), Dr. Benson and his colleagues found that their oxygen consumption fell below levels achieved in deep sleep. So this meditatively-induced hypometabolic state can be as restorative as a good night’s sleep.
Another study found that people who meditate can not only lower their blood pressure, but widen constricted arteries as well. Meditation can also help the immune system. Researchers have found that during meditation, brain chemicals called endorphins, mobilize white blood cells – the front-line defense force of the immune system – from the spleen where they are stored, into the bloodstream, strengthening the body’s resistance to bacteria, viruses, and toxins.
Because of its many effects, meditation is now being prescribed for stress-related anxiety, insomnia, depression, and substance abuse. People with such disease ailments as hypertension, chronic pain, premenstrual syndrome, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, headaches, insomnia, HIV/AIDS, cancer, asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and psoriasis also benefit from practicing meditation.
• Pick a time. Ideally, you’d want to meditate at the same time each day. Find a time when you can literally escape for a while from work and family demands.
• Choose a place. Any clean, warm, quiet corner of your home (or office) is fine for meditation. If you want, dim the lights.
• Start by stretching. Wear loose, comfortable clothing, do slow motion stretching and deep breathing.
• Get comfortable. You can assume a meditation posture or simply sit or lie in a comfortable position. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a chair or on the floor.
• Relax your body. With eyes closed, scan your body from top to bottom, sequentially releasing muscle tension with each breath (start with your toes and work up or vice versa). Repeat three times, sensing and relaxing successively deeper places in your body.
• Mind each breath. Pay close attention to the location, feeling and rhythm of your diaphragm lifting and falling naturally on your belly. Sense the ebb and flow of the breath, without pulling or pushing it.
• Focus your thoughts. Repeat a focus word or phrase with each exhaled breath. You can also focus on anything that relaxes you: a prayer, a peaceful scene, colors.
The most common meditation poses are:
• Sitting pose. Sit with your legs loosely crossed, the back of your hands resting on your knees. The key is to straighten your spine by "lifting" it, then balance and relax down your center of gravity. It may help to place a firm, thin pillow under your tailbone to allow your torso to lift slightly forward instead of backward.
• Kneeling pose. Sit with your thighs and buttocks resting on the back of your calves, the backs of your hands slightly resting on your thighs. Place the pillow between your hips and calves to give the spine the forward lift to straighten properly.
• Classic sitting pose. Sitting in the crossed-legged position, press the top of your index finger against the tip of your thumb in each hand. This is a classic meditation posture. The loop formed by the fingers is thought to keep the vital energy contained in the body.
• Mindfulness. It’s what most people associate with meditation. While its origin is Buddhist, it’s purely a non-sectarian mind-training technique. Mindfulness is usually developed by focusing on breathing and other bodily sensations, then on whatever thoughts and emotions spontaneously arise.
• Transcendental meditation. "TM" is a school of meditation introduced to the west in the 1960s by Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It is based on the technique called mantra, a mentally repeated phrase that focuses on attention and excludes agitating extraneous thoughts.
• Zen. It’s an ancient Eastern practice similar to mindfulness. The "object" of Zen meditation is awareness itself. In Zen, you try to empty your mind of thoughts and distractions.
• Religious meditation. Religion and meditation have long been linked to each other. The traditional religious acts of prayer and worship combine well with meditative awareness. In fact, prayer, chanting, and the ritual use of beads, incense, pictures and icons are similar to other mindfulness techniques.
For many people today though, meditation may serve less as a religious experience than as a daily practical measure in everyday life – for relaxation therapy and stress control.