Meditation as an Preventative Measure to Reduce Morbidity and Stress:
Meditation Promotes Immune Function and Reduces Self Reported Stress in Practitioners
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.
Meditation and Immune Response Examined
Solberg et al. examined the ef...
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Proponents of the Transcendental Meditation program initiated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have expressed their ideas in various web sites on the World Wide Web, through pages such as The Transcendental Meditation Program at http://www.tm.org and the Scientific Research on Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program of the Maharishi University of Management at http://www.miu.edu/TM_Research. In these sites positive messages are conveyed about the benefits of meditation to its practitioner within the physiological, psychological, sociological, intellectual, and interpersonal realms. Within these sites, the web-browser is presented with an abundance of information relating the vast array of health benefits offered to an individual through the regular practice of what is described as the simplest, most natural form of awareness--what practitioners of the technique term "transcendental consciousness." Through this technique, its advocates assert, one can:
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Plant (2014) describes Christian Spiritual writings as texts that help Christians in deepening or discovering their relationship with God. The mysteries of God are spiritual facts known by people only by the exposure of those mysteries. God reveals His unknown to only the people who are obedient to the Gospel (Intellectual Reserve, 2014). The Gospel is the revelation or the teaching of the unknown of Christ, but some of God’s mysteries have not been shown to the world yet (Oxford University Press, 2014). Meditation helps Christians form a deeper relationship with God. Christian meditation is a different type of prayer where the meditator makes the effort to become more alert of and in which there is an attempt made to be able to become aware of and reflect upon the exposures of God (Zanzig & Kielbasa, 2000).
IV- The myriad benefits that mindfulness meditation brings about on our mental, physical and emotional health
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.
The purpose is to investigate the following; “Meditation in Christianity and Buddhism are different pathways leading to the same destination.” Buddhism is a philosophy than a religion was originated about 2,500 years ago in India and about 376 million followers worldwide. Prince Siddhartha Gotama (Buddha) worshipped for years to enlighten himself and found a “middle way” between his two lives, meaning finding moderation and balancing life’s extremes. Whereas, Christianity has about 2.4 billion followers worldwide and based on his teachings of Jesus, who lived about 2000 years prior. In Christian meditation, metaphysics and transcendentalism are used as philosophies because individuals think during their prayer to reflect on unseen things in a spiritual way, including Holy spirit and are observed to connect with God intellectually and spiritually. Nevertheless, Buddhist meditation is to focus on relaxing the brain by forgetting about the meaningless things.
Though Buddhism has long been a disciplined and strict religion since its’ beginning in the 3rd Century, it has recently gained positive utilitarian use within the psychological and neurological fields of science. Programs dedicated to improving and helping the lives of those who suffer from mental illness have started to incorporate the use of meditation as a form of treatment. Meditation is enforced in many schools of Buddhism as a method, or a way of life, to becoming enlightened. With growing qualitative and quantitative research on meditation, it becomes more evidential of the positive and life changing impact meditation serves in improving overall health of the mentally ill. Additionally, meditation can be implemented as a preventative
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.
...biology of Meditation and its clinical effectiveness in psychiatric disorders. Biological Psychology, 82(1), 1-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.04.003
Western medicine has recently discovered the powerful affects of meditation, by allowing doctors to treat the body and the mind. In reality, the mind is a very misunderstood and unexplored region of the human existence. Modern science knows more about the composition of the earth than it does about the mechanics of the human brain. Yet, meditation thwarts all notions of modern medicine with its shocking ability to to take obscure visualizations and create physical responses in the body. Mahayana Buddhism, found mainly in the autonomous region of Tibet, has become the main reference and standard for meditation practices in the west. Tibetans have used meditation for centuries as treatment for illness, and now, modern medicine of the western world is just beginning to reap the benefits of this unique and unconventional treatment for a variety of physical and mental ailments. Once a practice reserved strictly for Buddhist monks, meditation has become a worldwide phenomenon. Simply enter “Buddhist meditation” into the any Inter...
Apart from the role compassion plays in the advancement of the path to Enlightenment, compassion meditation practices have been found to impact physiological pathways which are modulated by stress and are also relevant to disease development and progression. Examples of these types of compassion practices include loving-kindness (metta)...
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). (2010). Health info. Meditation: An introduction. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm
In the past two decades, many philosophers, spiritual leaders, and psychological transitions have accentuated the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being. One of the characteristics of consciousness that has been discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. In concentration with the psychology discipline, mindfulness meditation practices have been increasingly used to treat a majority of pain, stress and anxiety-related conditions and also, increasing well-being. The ideology of mindfulness meditation has core roots in Buddhist philosophy and other pensive traditions where awareness and conscious attention are actively cultured (Brown, Kirk Warren,2003).
What are your thoughts, views, musings and experiences etc. regarding meditation? As we all can learn from each other when it comes to sharing ways of creating a healthy, happy and vibrant life work balance.
First, I will present the research of the physical effects that meditation has on our body’s major internal systems and other common physical chronic conditions. Secondly, I will discuss how meditation practices can impact one 's mental and emotional health. Lastly, I will offer a definition of spirituality and how meditation can bring positive spiritual results.