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nothing can be good for your health |
The use of meditation to promote healing is not new, but in the Western world, many people don't know that meditation can play a key role in our health. Practiced for thousands of years, the roots of meditation lie deep within the traditions of many cultures.
If you have never tried meditation, you may find the notion of sitting quietly
and doing nothing a bit strange. The good news is that anyone can enjoy the benefits
of meditation.
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Meditation promotes Relaxation
Response
Meditation reduces stress because it promotes what Harvard University
researcher Dr. Herbert Benson famously described in the 1970s as the Relaxation
Response. The Relaxation Response counteracts the body's fight
or flight response to stress
affecting profound changes in our bodies and minds including metabolism,
blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, and even the rate of our breathing.
All of these activities in the body are controlled by the parasympathetic
nervous system–control centre for the rest and repair aspects
of the nervous system.
There is growing evidence that changes in physiological processes controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system can help counteract the impacts of stress. Published research shows that stress reduction techniques like meditation can improve health conditions including hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, pain, insomnia, allergies, premenstrual syndrome, menopausal symptoms and infertility.
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" Just a few minutes can relax the body and calm a racing mind. "
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Even a few minutes of
meditation works
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There are many different types of meditation, but basically the idea goes like
this: you concentrate on your breathing as you sit quietly, either on the floor
or in a chair with your hands loose in your lap. Even just a few minutes of
focused breathing can relax the body and calm a racing mind. Some people find
that as their experience with meditation grows, they can increase the length
of time they meditate.
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Mindfulness meditation—a growing
practice in North America
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One type of meditation that is increasingly practiced is mindfulness meditation,
developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, a molecular biologist at the University of Massachusetts
Medical Center in Boston. Incorporating many features of traditional Eastern meditation
practice, Dr. Kabat-Zinn developed an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR)
program initially aimed at helping hospital patients cope with injury and illness.
Today, there are hundreds of MBSR programs around the world and tens of thousands of graduates who are coping with stress through mindfulness meditation with the goal of mobilizing their inner resources for coping and healing.
Also known as conscious living, the practice of mindfulness requires
you to become aware of the constant stream of judgments (like this; don't
like that) that each of us makes on a minute-to-minute basis. This is replaced
by simply observing the activity of one's own mind, according to Kabat-Zinn.
We become fully present in our bodies and our lives.
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A fresh perspective on life
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Kabat-Zinn feels by letting life unfold instead of making judgments,
we can begin to develop what has been called the beginner's mind — one
who sees things as if for the first time. The mindfulness meditation
technique teaches that when we are receptive to new possibilities instead of
seeing them through the lens of past experience, we can start to appreciate
how extraordinary each everyday moment is. Mindfulness teaching helps us to
appreciate all that is familiar around us – our surroundings and the people
in our lives.
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Learn the value of doing
nothing
Mindfulness encourages us to observe things as they are. As Kabat-Zinn says, "If you are tense, then just pay attention to the tension. If you are in pain, then be with the pain as best you can. If you are criticizing yourself, then observe the activity of the judging mind. Just watch. Remember, we are simply allowing anything and everything that we already experience from moment to moment to be here, because it already is."
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Reducing stress helps
our physical and mental health
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More and more healthcare providers are recommending stress reduction techniques such as meditation. Reducing stress is good for both our physical and mental health. To find out more about mindfulness meditation or other stress reduction programs, talk to your healthcare provider.
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This article was written by Kristin Jenkins, a Toronto writer and editor who specializes in health and medicine.
