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Essay for health benefit of meditation
Meditation and health essay
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The Efficacy of Mindfulness Meditation
What physical exercise is to your body, meditation is mental exercise to your mind. Many Eastern cultures practice meditation and have done so for thousands of years. Only since the 1970’s did the West slowly begin to research and study the use of meditation as an intervention and treatment in patients. Mindfulness meditation technique involves the expansion of attention in a nonjudgemental and nonreactive way to become more aware of your current sensory, mental and emotional experiences (Ivanovski, 2007). To truly be awake and aware is to live a mindful life, basically, to pay attention and experience living in every moment. Anyone can practice mindfulness meditation after learning the basic concepts.
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There are many symptoms of stress that affect a person physically such as; high blood pressure; fluid retention; muscles contracting; and an increase of serum stress hormones. Meditation can reduce the levels of stress hormones in the blood (Budilovsky, 1999). General stress can be treated more effectively with meditation rather than the use of medication in many cases. Have you ever noticed during stressful situations like your graduation or giving a speech often afterwards you can’t even recall the experience. Mindfulness can help change that. The Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center teaches its patients deep breathing exercises as a form of mindfulness meditation (Budilovsky,1999). A study documented by Kabat-Zinn and colleagues researched the efficacy of an intense mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) treatment program lasting 8-10 weeks. The goal was to change the individuals’ relationship to their thoughts. The result of the change would reduce stress and improve emotion regulation. The scientific community is becoming more willing to admit that the mind contributes to how a person heals. A positive attitude can lead to a longer life, decrease illness and accelerate
Mindfulness is a concept or practice that was founded nearly 2600 years ago. It is a very integral component of the Buddhist faith and is believed to be associated with many benefits including self-control, tolerance, flexibility, objectivity, concentration, mental clarity, emotional intelligence, kindness, compassion, acceptance, and equanimity.
People with GAD dwell on their worries excessively, give to much attention to their fearful thoughts, and respond emotionally to negative images. Meditation can help the person to step back from these thoughts, emotions and images and view them as an observer watching from the outside this helps to reduce the stress response and put negative thinking into perspective. Meditation helps control of physical tension by inducing the relaxation response (Wilson, 2009).
Impulse control and decision-making, both executive functions, are believed to center in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994). Damage to this area increases deficits in decision making (Bechara et. al.,1994). Research has shown that chronic heroin use negatively impacts an individual’s ability to restrain impulses, leading to lack of planning and decreased adaptive and social cognition (Pau, Lee, & Chan, 2001). Heroin is a powerful opiate that crosses the blood-brain barrier and produces potent euphoria (Pau, Lee, & Chan, 2001). Impulse control is defined as an individual’s tendency to act on arising wishes or urges (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Greater mindfulness has been shown to decrease substance dependent individuals’ urge to use substances (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Mindfulness focuses on the emphasis on staying in the present moment, the natural impermanence of things in an individual’s environment, and the awareness of actions such as noticing what is experienced without judgment or reactive behavior (Murphy & Mackillop, 2012). Research on the implementation of mindfulness techniques and their ability to decrease impulsivity is necessary in order to examine the ways heroin-dependent adults react cognitively, behaviorally, and physiologically to external stimuli.
Last Spring, as part of a senior project, I took Tai Chi classes and researched how meditation is used in mind/body medicine. I read several books by doctors who use meditation as a form of healing, in stress-reduction clinics and as treatment for people suffering from severe pain and panic disorders. One doctor in particular, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches a method he calls mindfulness, in which he has his patients meditate in order to achieve total mind/body awareness. Zinn instructs patients to focus on their pain and to become aware of it. This often helps them realize that they can live with their pain. No pain is too extreme, he says, in the same way that no emotion is a wrong emotion. Awareness is the only absolute, and the only thing that allows people to live in the moment. Not live for the moment, but live in the moment.
Meditation aims to develop and master mindfulness, insight, and equilibrium. It allows its followers to obtain indifference to worldly attachments, experience the mind as it is and its original nature. The mind continuously engages with internal and external stimuli, constantly at work. Meditation is a way in which one can gain control over this constant flow of stimuli, by focusing the mind. Within the practice of Theravada Buddhism, meditation is seen as the most crucial way of reaching enlightenment, escaping samsara, and gaining the full understanding of what nature is. Whereas Mahayana buddhism utilizes mantras and incantation as a form of buddhism that also allows its practitioners to use this form of meditation to reach enlightenment. Despite its origination in religious practice, it has been loosely defined as a self regulating technique of having control over one's physical and mental
In today in America we live in a fast pace society where people take on a lot of responsibilities. Taking on too much can lead to stress and physical illnesses. There are a number of things people can do to reduce stress like exercise and eating healthy. Practicing meditation can be influential on both a person’s physical and mental health.
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
One of the most well-known types of meditation is Mindfulness Meditation, or Vipassana. This is part of the Buddhist tradition and involves becoming aware of everything happening around you in the moment, as well as self-awareness of the things you say, do, think and feel. This type of meditation can be practiced anytime and is particularly wonderful while you're engaged in your daily tasks. Its goal is to awaken you to the miracle of the present moment.
Meditation is adopted by many, not only as a cultivation of mind, but also significant in the physical dimension. Vidyamala, co-founder of Breathwork who had injured her spinal cord and dealt with chronic pain, made a detailed description of how meditation soothed her pain like never before, ‘ suddenly, my experience completely changed when I heard a quiet inner voice saying: “You don’t have to get through till morning; you only have to get through the present moment”. It was like a house of cards collapsing, revealing the space that had been present all along, if only I
“Keeping your attention on the breath for the full duration on each in-breath and full duration of the out-breath. Riding the waves of your own breathing as a raft would ride up and down on the waves at the seashore.” Two days in class, we started off our session with Professor Deifelt, leading us in mindfulness meditation. Personally, I really appreciated this five minute exercises because it allowed me to focus on my breathing instead of everything else I normally stress about. After the exercise was over I found myself paying closer attention to class since I was not worrying about the rest of my life. After reflecting on this I asked three other classmates on their opinions about mindfulness meditation. Kari said “she liked the meditation
Don't just do something-Sit there!: Mindfulness is to strive to focus on the present, paying attention. Regularly practicing mindfulness can improve well-being, lower stress and lead to improved psychological functioning. I learned that "Mindful" and "Mind full" are totally different things. Also, "Meditation" and "Silent prayer" are not different but not same, it depends on the situation. I'm from Japan, So, probably I have that situation more than others. For example, I have an experience called "Zazen", Zen meditation, usually performed in the lotus position. During Zazen, my mind was nothing. I just kept my position and devoted the whole things. Only time was going. After that it made me feel lighter than before. I also
Meditation and its many forms has been used years and years for spiritual, and relaxation purposes. While the more traditional Buhdist or Tibetan monks meditate to obtain a higher spirituality or to lucid dream; meditation has also been used for both clinical populations and the general public to treat stress and stress related conditions, as well as to encourage better health. Numbers of hospitals now days offer special programs and courses in meditation to patients seeking treatments other than medication to relieve their ailments or to better their general well being. There has been a growing amount of meditation across large numbers of conditions such as chronic pains, anxiety, stress, improving heart health, boosting mood and immunity, and resolving some pregnancy problems.
Back to Presentations Meditation Relaxation lowers blood pressure, calms the nervous system, releases tension in muscles, enhances immune system function, and reverses the damage done by negative stress. For relaxation to work its magic on the body, both the body and mind need to be still, and calm. As left side activity of the brain decreases, the intuitive, creative, right side of the brain becomes more active. We need to quiet the rational side and draw on our inner wisdom, capacity for empathy, ability to love, and faith that you will be given answers. Meditation is a state of deep relaxation in which breathing slows, alpha and theta brainwaves increase, and the mind becomes calm, yet alert.
“The practice of meditation can facilitate exploration of emotional states that support the process of self-actualization and improve overall college student well-being” (Crowley & Munk, 2017, p.91). In this quote, authors Claire Crowley and Dana Munk clearly state the major benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation can be defined as a practice which helps a person self-regulate their mind and emotions, thus affecting mental states by engaging a specific skill set for attention to tasks (Sjöstedt, 2012). Generally speaking, the desire to try meditation comes from two types of people: first, one who is interested and perceives some type of benefit; and secondly, one who has experienced a significant amount of stress and anxiety and is seeking some kind of relief from these
The most common response I hear these days when I tell someone I teach meditation is “I’m so stressed out. I could really use some of that.” I am also amused to hear fairly often “My friend should really meet you!” I’m happy to see that meditation is known more and more as something that could be directly helpful in our day-to-day lives. Anywhere stress plays a role in our problems, meditation can have a potential role in its relief.