A Recent Study On Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

By rubyblossom @Flickr

This article was first published as This is Your Brain on Meditation: It’s Growing! by Kala Viv Williams, on Technorati (where I’m a contributing writer.) It’s here at Embark to encourage taking up meditation as it’s the key tool to putting the Yoga of Manifestation into action in your life!  Check it out.
A recent NY Times article: How Meditation May Change the Brain

sites new studies that seem to show that meditation causes actual physically measurable changes in the brain. This caught my interest and apparently that of many others as well, (it was the second most shared piece that day.) The official study followed those who meditated for 30 minutes a day over eight weeks. They were found to have:

• “measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.” Before and after MRI’s were done on the subjects to see these changes. Other findings are interestingly for those who suffer from anxiety and stress.
• Scientists also found a lessening of gray matter in the amygdala, a brain region connected to anxiety and stress. The control group showed no such changes.

As a longtime (over 15 years) meditator, and graduate of the Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation Training at Spirit Rock in CA. I can truly say that starting a meditation practice is the most beneficial thing one can do for oneself to improve the quality of life! The findings were a confirmation of what I’ve found from experience: that meditation lessens the tendency to obsessively worry. I also notice increased feelings of calmness and tolerance for ups and downs in daily life.

So am I saying that meditation can have a bigger impact than adding exercise and watching ones diet, would? In my opinion yes, here’s why: the meditation will impact and improve both of the latter too. It’s already been used to help those who overeat, to become more mindful of why they are eating. Emotions-fear, loneliness that may be provoking that raid of the fridge for leftover cake become clearer as a result of meditation practice. In terms of exercise several benefits that meditation could add include- more awareness of your body as you workout (less chance of pushing too hard) or simply allowing you to stick with your new regimen as you are more aware of how good you actually feel . Meditation brings that increased awareness in daily life, not just when your butt is on a cushion.

Try it, don’t sneer or think it’s “too hard” or a “waste of time.” It absolutely will leave you with so much mental clarity, focus and emotional stability that you find you have more time, things go smoother, and when they don’t-GET THIS: you are better able to deal without emotional reactivity. This can help in dealing with your children or an irritating boss. I highly recommend it.

Of course the benefits of meditation have been noticed by scientists starting over 30+ years ago when Dr. Herbert Benson began studying TM meditators at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term the “relaxation response” noting such then unheard of physiological changes as drop in blood pressure. Benson concluded that the relaxation response can be elicited in any number of ways including yoga, tai chi and even knitting! The two necessary components according to his findings are “repetition,” of a movement, sound, phrase or word, and the bringing back of the mind to the activity or focal point. Knitting while worrying or watching TV for example will not have the same effect. It’s the degree of mindfulness brought to the activity combined with the ability to bring the concentration back to it.

Learn mindfulness meditation:

Here are two places in the U.S. were one can learn mindfulness meditation, http://www.spiritrock.org/ in California. And on the east coast http://www.dharma.org/they teach it in the context of the Buddhist tradition which is the origin of mindfulness meditation, which was the type used in the study. But honestly most types of meditation are going to give benefit, do your own research to find one that’s suitable for you.

Resources:

see some of my posts on meditation:

5-reasons-meditation-is-better-than-sex-a-beginners-meditation-guide (my most popular post to date!)

Breath Awareness Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation

Or these books on Meditation: