Healing the mind through meditation and relaxation

“The ancient human activity of meditation involves self-regulation of attention, an awareness that arises with attention, and subsequent insight and understanding of inner and outer experiences. There are many ways to meditate, and it can be practised whether a person is still or moving. The purposes of meditation are best defined by context and may differ significantly between religious or spiritual contexts and contemporary health settings. Experiences common to practically all meditation methods include physical relaxation and quieting the mind.
Various forms of meditation have been used for millennia in different religious and cultural practices, primarily in Asia. Meditation is a prominent part of practices such as Yoga, the martial arts and Buddhism. Most techniques aim to help the practitioner achieve understanding, inner peace and enlightenment, often with a spiritual component.
In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists began to study what appeared to be the extraordinary abilities of some experienced meditators to control physical functions previously assumed to be outside awareness, such as heart rate, blood pressure and the production of stress hormones.
Meditation came to the attention of influential physicians such as Herbert O Benson, professor of medicine at Harvard University who called the physiological changes produced during meditation ‘the relaxation response’. Benson demonstrated this occurred regardless of technique or underlying religious belief. Similar responses occur in other practices that induce deep relaxation.
In 1979, a mindfulness-based stress reduction programme began at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre, and during the 1990s, programmes there and at Harvard University began to use meditation to accompany conventional medical treatments.
Benson has used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the brains of people meditating and found increased activity in sites associated with attention and control of the autonomic nervous system (which controls automatic functions such as digestion and blood pressure and is usually beneath conscious awareness). Other studies have found increases in blood flow in areas of the brain associated with cortical activity, and altered brain chemistry. Meditation has even been linked with changes in brain structure. Recent evidence shows that certain cortical areas are thickest in those people who meditate regularly.
Meditation is becoming a well-accepted technique, as increasing evidence emerges of its benefits in healthcare and disease prevention...”

This article on meditation continues to outline the practice, the types of meditation, and some of the benefits. It is extracted courtesy of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW MEDICINE by the Center for Integrative Medicine at Duke University, published by Rodale, hard back £25. The book is a comprehernsive guide suggesting integrative treatments for over 200 common conditions, with a helpful overview of nearly 100 complementary therapies. It is available on SPECIAL OFFER of £22 (inc p &p) to readers of Yoga & Health magazine. See page 16 of the December 2006 issue or telephone 01256 302699 quoting reference: M35, ISBN 1405 0957 25. Offer applies to UK only and is available only until 31 December 2006.

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