Meditation

In this essay, the author

• Explains that meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. its ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion.
• Explains that meditation thwarts all notions of modern medicine with its shocking ability to take obscure visualizations and create physical responses in the body.
• Describes meditation as the practice of bringing the mind home to awaken in us the sky-like nature of mind and introduce us to that which we really are, our unchanging pure awareness.
• Explains that the posture assumed during meditation resembles the crossed leg position of the buddha. sitting tall with a straight spine opens the body's channels with the mind.
• Explains that tibetan medicine is a 2,500-year-old tradition that incorporates the practice of meditation when treating physical or mental illnesses.
• Explains that meditation's indisputable positive effects for the eastern cultures have made some western doctors extremely curious about it.
• Explains benson's fascinating case studies of buddhist monks practicing an advanced form of meditation called tum-mo.
• Explains how benson and his team of researchers observed three buddhist monks in the himalayan mountains at an altitude of 1,800-2,800m.
• Explains that modern science knows more about the composition of the earth than the functions and workings of human mind.
• Explains that cancer and aids are a worldwide epidemic and that meditation can help reduce pain and improve the quality of t-cells.
• Explains the benefits of meditation when treating cancer and aids, and the emotional and psychological influences that are the most fascinating. meditation has reached a new modernization by being applied to psychological therapy.
• Explains how therapists aid patients through the struggles of love because they are uncomfortable with their own sense of emptiness and can't be open with another person.
• Analyzes begley, s.s., "tibetan medicine: a transcultural nursing experience," j holist nurs. vol. 12 no.3, september 1994.
• Explains that "evidence builds that meditation strengthens the brain." university of california - los angeles.
• Analyzes richard boerstler's "author’s commentary: a holistic and meditative approach to the dying process." journal of personal and interpersonal loss.
• Describes de silva, padmal's "buddhist psychology: a review of theory and practice." current psychology.
• Explains dreyfus, georges, the sound of two hands clapping, university of california press, berkley, ca, 2003.
• Opines that la torre, mary anne, "enhancing therapeutic presence," perspectives in psychiatric care.
• Explains lodro, geshe gedun, and hopkins, jeffrey. calm abiding and special insight. snow lion publication ithaca, ny, 1998.
• Explains meissner, john, and pirot, michael, "unbiasing the brain: the effects of meditation upon the cerebral hemispheres," social behavior and personality, vol. 11, issue 1.
• Opines that michalon, max, "selflessness in the service of the ego," american journal of psychotherapy, vol.55, no.2, 2001.
• Analyzes tacon, anna, "meditation as a complementary therapy in cancer," family and community health, vol. 26, issue 1.
• Explains that the eyes should be closed in the dark or open in light, and the mouth should not be fully open or closed with a separation between the upper and lower teeth.
• Opines that meditation will revolutionize the medical world as a treatment that requires no health insurance, no prescriptions, and no medically trained doctors.
• Explains how tibetan spiritual practices bring peace of mind to the dying. one popularized ancient practice is phowa, meaning transference of conscience.
• Explains that tonglen is a practice similar to the phowa, where one attempts to take on the emotional sufferings of another.
• Describes terrence, clifford, thera, nyanaponika, and roberts, peter. the heart of buddhist meditation.