Meditation. It’ll Change Your Life!
Meditation. Meditation feels like it is everywhere these days. Or maybe that’s just me. I suspect it isn’t just me though. As we have moved further into the 21st Century, phrases like mindfulness, meditation, and yoga have become increasingly familiar. I’m not sure about where you live but around me it feels like there was a new yoga studio popping every month before COVID ended our ability to be around each other. On top of that, we see corporate offices, schools, colleges, and gyms offering an increasing array of meditation classes. And then there are the apps! Oh, the apps!! So, what is the big deal with meditation? How does it work? How does it help? That is what we are going to get into today. Before we move on, a quick plug for my email list. If you sign up, you will get an email reminder when a new post is up. Go ahead and take a minute to sign up. With that out of the way, let’s talk about meditation!
What is meditation?
What is meditation anyway? I suspect that when you hear that word a few things come to mind. One may be a Buddhist monk wearing bright orange robes, sitting on the ground in the full lotus position, chanting a long and low ohm. Another may be a group of hippie looking folks sitting in a park, crossed legged, and chanting some mystical sounding mantra. It may even bring to mind visions of ancient Christian monks in their brown robes wandering around a monastery chanting in Latin. And when we are talking about what meditation is, it is all of these things and also none of them.
According to the Mayo Clinic meditation is “considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind.” Is that vague enough for you? Wikipedia, that ever reliable well of information, is a bit more specific. They define meditation as, “a practice where an individual uses a technique — such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity — to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.” Essentially, meditation boils down to a practice that allows us to focus on the present moment and teaches us to allow the anxieties and frustrations of life to pass by without judgement or comment. This can take a variety of forms depending on the inclination of the individual who is meditating, as well as, the spiritual orientation of the meditator. By far the most common form of meditation in America is mindfulness meditation but there are other ways to meditate if mindfulness meditation isn’t for you.
Types of Meditation
You may be thinking, “There are different kinds of meditation?! Psh. No way. Meditation is just sitting around and humming.” I suspect you might be thinking that because I used to think that myself. While meditation can certainly look like that it can also be much more than that. Let’s take a look at a few types of meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation
As I already mentioned, mindfulness meditation is far and away the most common form of meditation in America right now. Mindfulness meditation finds its roots in Buddhist practices and philosophies. The idea of mindfulness meditation is to sit comfortably, pay close attention to your own breathing, and to allow your thoughts to pass by without engagement or judgement. The best way I have heard that described is to sit, breath deeply and steadily, and allow your thoughts to pass by as though they are being displayed on a movie screen. You’re simply watching them as though they were a movie. This is far more difficult than it sounds when you first get started. If you can get the hang of it, it does bring a sense of calm to your mind.
Spiritual Meditation
Spiritual meditation is functionally similar to mindfulness meditation. You sit and breathe deeply. But rather than focusing on allowing your thoughts to pass by without judgement, with spiritual meditation you focus your mind on a sense of connection with the deity of your choice or a passage of a sacred text. The intent of spiritual meditation is to obtain that same sense of calm and peace in your mind but to do so through your spiritual life rather than simply your own mind. The Christian orientation of this practice is what we will be taking a deeper look at at some time in the near future.
Active Meditation
There are a variety of ways to engage in active meditation. The gist of this is that you meditate while you are physically active. Some examples of active meditation would be tai chi, qigong, yoga, or walking meditation. This method can be really helpful for people who find that their ability to focus increases when they are physically active. It allows us to engage our bodies and our minds simultaneously as we seek to calm and focus our minds.
Loving Kindness Meditation
Loving Kindness Meditation is a specific meditative practice that seeks to increase our ability to be compassionate. Its focus is on opening our minds to the love in the universe around us and to send our own love to others within the universe. I will be interviewing a friend of mine who regularly practices this type of meditation before this series ends.
There are plenty of other types and styles of meditation including transcendental meditation (popular with celebrities and the wealthy), progressive relaxation, guided meditation, focused meditation, and more. If you are considering getting started with a meditation practice, I would encourage you to try out a few different types of meditation before you settle on one. Many of the meditation apps that are available are focused on mindfulness meditation. There are thousands of guided meditations on YouTube for free. And, like I said above, there are plenty of yoga studios around. Check a few methods out before you give up or settle on one.
Benefits of Meditation
Meditation first came onto the national radar back in the 1970’s due to the increasing influence of Eastern philosophy and theology associated with the hippie movement. Over time the theological and philosophical influence of Eastern thought has waned significantly and meditation has become a part of our pluralistic cultural milieu. I would be willing to wager that for many current meditation practitioners, there is little if any spiritually attached to their practice. One of the predominant reasons for this is that the medical and mental health communities have spent the last several decades conducting research studies investigating the physical and mental health benefits of a mental health practice. These studies have, for the most part, divorced meditation from its spiritual aspects in order to investigate the impact of the practice itself, apart from any benefits of an associated spirituality. So what are the benefits of a meditation practice?
Reduced Stress and Anxiety
A slew of research studies over the years have consistently pointed to meditation as a stress and anxiety reliever. These studies have primarily focused on mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation is focused on teaching us to remain in the present moment. As we are increasingly able to do that, our stress and anxiety related to the past and the future decreases because we are less focused on them. This benefit has been observed in numerous studies. Consistent meditation will reduce our levels of stress and anxiety. This is a good thing, especially given our current cultural context here in the US.
Decreases Symptoms of Depression
Back in the 1960’s, Dr. Aaron Beck developed what is known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) while working as a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania. CBT has been revolutionary in the field of mental health and has been proven to be effective for an enormous number of mental health challenges. I bring this up because one of the primary tenets of CBT is that many of our mental health challenges are driven by irrational thoughts. We experience these irrational thoughts, perceive them as true and rational, and then act on them. However, because the thoughts are, in fact, irrational they often lead to behavior that leads us into depression and anxiety. The premise is that if we can learn to identify, challenge, and eliminate our irrational thoughts, then we can likely eliminate many of the challenges we face in life. To be clear, this is a massive oversimplification of the science behind CBT. But. If we look at that one aspect, irrational thoughts, it becomes clear why meditation would help. If we can learn to sit, breathe, and allow any thought (rational or irrational) to float by without judgement or action, we can likely avoid many of the negative behaviors associated with those thoughts. This will lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms! Thanks Dr. Beck and meditation!
Increases Focus
If you have ever meditated, this one will make complete sense to you. Meditation is to attention as lifting weights is to big muscles. Meditation is a workout for our attention muscles and the more we do it the better we get at being able to focus. And that ability extends beyond our meditation practice into the rest of our lives. It is not easy to sit for 5 or 10 minutes and focus on our breath and being present and still. But the more we do it the better we get and the more we can focus on other tasks throughout our day.
May Reduce Age Related Memory Loss
Memory loss is all too common in our culture. We see our older relatives slowly begin losing their ability to recall portions of their lives, what they had for breakfast, or even who we are. Memory loss can be an exceptionally difficult road for a family to walk and we don’t know very much about the causes or what we can do about it. Early stage research is beginning to indicate that meditation’s ability to increase our focus may also have a positive effect on our memories. This research has primarily been focused on age related memory loss, not dementia. But, there has been some limited research related to dementia and initial results appear to be positive. All of the information related to this is new and very unsure. However, it appears to be generally positive, so we really don’t have anything to lose!
There are an enormous number of other benefits that are beginning to be attributed to meditation including improved pain management, decreased blood pressure, improved sleep, and assistance with addictive behaviors. Much of the research related to these is in its early stages but the initial results appear to be positive and that is an encouraging reality.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully this has given us a better understanding of meditation, what it is, ways to practice it, and some benefits we can expect when we regularly meditate. I have a regular meditation practice that I have been trying to make more consistent for a number of years. Mine is a Christian practice that focuses on facilitating a connection between God and me through meditating on Biblical truth. I have found that taking 6–10 minutes a day to sit quietly, focus on a portion of the Bible, and use that as a means to move closer to God has been extraordinarily helpful. I have an increased sense of calm throughout the day, I am more patient with my kids, and I find that I am able to control my speech more effectively. Prior to utilizing an explicitly Christian meditation practice, I did engage in mindfulness meditation and found similar results with that method (minus the improved connection with God). I would encourage you to give meditation a try, even if you’ve tried it before and felt unsuccessful, try again. If you asked me to go outside right now and run 26 miles, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But if you gave me 5 months to train, you would come back and find a man ready to crush those 26 miles. Meditation is like that. You won’t be good at it at first or at second or at fifteenth. But as you stick with it and engage in a regular practice you will find that it becomes easier and more natural. If you’re interested in trying out a meditation practice and aren’t sure how to do it, go to your app store and search “meditation apps.” You will get a gazillion options. Try a couple out and see how it goes.
Originally published at https://www.graceanddepravity.com.
