Meditation is a technique that has been practiced for thousands of years by different cultures throughout the world. Meditation is thought to help drive out our negative mental attitudes and feelings that create tension and unnecessary stress in our lives. It is also intended to purify the mind while allowing for a phase of reflection and consciousness of the present time. According to Manosha, meditation if practiced regularly, it helps develop habitual unconscious behaviors that produce positive effects both physically and psychologically (1138). Western societies have adopted meditation in their daily lives to help alleviate stress, improve concentration, memory, and overall physical wellness. Studies have proven that meditation has help diminish frequent visits to the doctor and in turn reduce some unnecessary medical expenses. Stevens describes two stages of meditation, passive and active, along with four different stages of meditation: Pratyahara; Dharana; Dhyana; and Samadi (16-18). A positive aspect of meditation is the ability to neutralize negative thoughts of the daily stresses we encounter from past events in our lives or excessive worry of future events. Meditation involves achieving a state of “thoughtless awareness” according to many practitioners.
There are two general categories of meditation, Mantra and Open Mindfulness.
The word mantra has two parts: man, which is the root of the Sanskrit word for mind; and tra, which is the root of the word instrument. Mantra meditation requires the use of a selected instrument to concentrate your focused and attention to. Repetition of this selected mantra will help you enter in a deep state of meditation and disconnect you from negative thoughts filling your mi...
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... first did not help at all! I needed more time to meditate at first. I had to dedicate time and conscious effort and go out to my back yard by my pool and away from distractions to meditate. After the second day and a good rest, meditation, if I am doing it correctly, it relaxed me, it gave me answers to a couple of issues distracting me at my work, and I literally enjoyed the quiet time by myself. I heard my pulse and heart beat along with my uneasy breathing. I made it a point to get rid of my wrist watch during this time since I am time driven and it distracted me. By the third day, I was actually listening to specific sounds of birds and insects behind my property. Now, I think that I am enjoying my quiet time and the stillness of meditation, although I am not totally sure if my experience in this very short time is real meditation. Only time will tell.
When the customary time for practice of meditation had passed, Godiva rose. It was now evening.¨ (Hesse 5-6). Siddhartha´s actions represent the last step, Right Contemplation, of the the Holy Eightfold Path. Meditation self-teaches the practitioners to clear their minds of
In Eastern cultures, meditation has been practiced for over two thousand years. Through this training a culture has developed in which an individual is empowered to engaged in preventative behaviors, which reduce stress and morbidity, resulting in a general state of wellbeing, with stability and mental peace in the face of everyday challenges (Richardson and Lutz, 2008). Over the last half-century, the western-scientific community has begun to evaluate the efficacy of the eastern methods of meditation. In the modern western world there is an over abundance of stress, pressure and over stimulation. These conditions often result in stress-related morbidity, high levels of anxiety and mental illnesses. This cause and effect relationship is well established, and typically emphasis is placed on symptom control and less on preventative behavior modification. There are clinically documented see table 1, meditation practices that can be taught over a short period of time to an individual which have been shown to have positive results. Meditation can be used preventatively in supporting immune function and during illness as a method to aid healing and wellbeing for nominal costs. This paper will make an literary examination of a variety of studies of which examine the role of meditation training in regards to promoting immune function in athletes, recovering cancer patients, in addition to reducing stress and promoting well being in business professionals, cancer patients and seasoned meditation practitioners.
Rene Descartes was born in 1596. At the age of 10, he began school at College Henri IV. Descartes received a classical education at College Henri IV and learned many subjects, including math, at the Jesuit institution. Many years later, he received his baccalaureate and licentiate degrees in law and then joined the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau. Descartes never served combat, but he did have a life changing moment while in the army. While meditating about the uncertainty and disunity of knowledge, he had an epiphany about how he could make knowledge more certain and unified, such as mathematics. After a period of not focusing on how to make his idea a reality, he finally sat down and focused after receiving encouragement from Cardinal de Berulle. In 1637, he wrote “A Discourse on the Method for Conducting One’s Reason Well and Searching for the Sciences” Part IV of this book explored the beginnings of how knowledge could be unified and have absolute certain. After many questions and comments on Part IV he wrote “Meditations in First Philosophy” to expand on his ideas in 1640. “Meditations” was a very controversial book and made a lot of people outraged. Descartes went on to write more books before passing away from pneumonia in 1650.
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).
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.
The studies showed that while meditated, the subjects showed signs of thought processes slowing down and changes occurring in the brain. The purpose of meditation, and mindfulness meditation as mentioned in this course, is to increase awareness while calming the normal thought processes that often overcrowd the mind with ideas that are deemed not-true by Buddhism. These brain scans clearly show that the purpose of meditation is achieved in doing so.
OK. So you’ve heard, that meditation is beneficial for you, maybe you’ve read lists about the advantages of meditation. A ton of different kind of meditations are on-line, and you found several resources, articles, blog posts about the theme to select from. These articles state, that the meditation has countless benefits, which are also proven by scientific research. You can believe them, since eminent scientists carried out extensive research on this subject. And they suggest, you should try them, and of course you should practice it each day. Every day - or you won’t have those benefits.
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.
Andy Puddicombe stress that we need to do nothing for 10 minutes because we are so busy that we have lost time to do nothing. When Andy was 20 years old, number of things happened in his life, which made him confused of thoughts. His way of dealing with it was becoming a monk and studying meditation. By then, He started to learn how to be present. Most people think meditation is just stopping thoughts but It is seeing the thought clearly without judgment, but with a focused mind. He said that taking 10 minutes out a day to meditate will get you to experience a greater sense of focus, calm and clarity in your life. Listening his lecture, I was very shocked that I was not really know about meditation. Like other people as he said, I thought
When one thinks of meditation, what comes to mind? Does one think of group of 1970’s hippies sitting in a circle singing about peace? How about relaxing music being played? How about trying to form one’s body into a pretzel-like shape? What if meditation has nothing to do with the background music being played or what position one’s body is in? Meditation is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the act or process of spending time in quiet thought” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meditation). Meditation is just simply sitting in a quiet room and thinking about one’s life. The act of meditating is much simpler than many people think. Through deep concentration and relaxation, meditation becomes an altered state of consciousness.
The first grant proposal addressed the effects of meditation on life-span cognitional developmental processes. From my understanding, there is a strong connection to the mindset and self-awareness, as one chooses to mediate for their own reason. Based on the informed information, meditation is used to decrease stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The provided background information and predicted research study will help determine the pros and cons of the process, using the meditation techniques.
The Mantras are very spiritual things used by the ancient in Asia, now a days this form of meditation has expanded and everyone has access to it. A Mantra can improve your life style by teaching you the art of meditation, by bringing peace to your soul and by helping you control difficult situations.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). (2010). Health info. Meditation: An introduction. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm
It is well known and proven that over time the benefits of meditating on a regular basis promotes the development of inner calmness, connectedness, focus, flow, a clear clarity of mind, a focused and more stable grounded concentration, along with coherency of thought, increased creativity, being more open and receptive to receive insights, solutions to problems and new ideas, a balanced and harmonious centred inner equilibrium, a relaxed happy body, mind and spirit, which in turn assists as a preventative tool that creates and maintains positive overall vibrant health and wellbeing.