Mini Post: The Spirituality and Science of Meditation
For all of us that have incorporated meditation into our daily routine, we know it makes us feel better. It's made people feel better for thousands of years. Spiritual teachers have taught the importance of meditation in every religion.
Krisha, in the Bhagavad Gita, teaches us, “When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a candle in a windless place.”
In the beautiful book of Psalms, we are instructed at 4:4: Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, one of the founders of the Baha'i Faith, gave us this inspiration:
..while you meditate you are speaking with your own spirit. In that state of mind you put certain questions to your spirit and the spirit answers: the light breaks forth and the reality is revealed. Meditation is the key for opening the doors of mysteries. In that state man abstracts himself: in that state man withdraws himself from all outside objects; in that subjective mood he is immersed in the ocean of spiritual life and can unfold the secrets of things-in-themselves. To illustrate this, think of man as endowed with two kinds of sight; when the power of insight is being used the outward power of vision does not see.
Current scientific research backs up this timeless wisdom, and many neuroscientists recommend starting off the day with meditation. "Meditation alleviates stress and anxiety by reducing cortisol and epinephrine, which help to regulate blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing patterns," says Kristen Willeumier, PhD and neuroscientist. Her research has shown that meditation creates whole-brain synchronization to enhance creativity, learning, focus, and attention.
Since the early 2000s, advancements in neuroimaging have enhanced how we look at the brain. Recent studies done on the effects of meditation have come from outside the field of yoga, and have “re-proved” what the ancient reshis (wise yogis) concluded from research on themselves. Here are some samples from this research, which you may find interesting:
It has been shown that meditation changes our brain waves from BETA, a waveform associated with arousal during waking hours, to waveforms found during various states of relaxation. Meditation may change our brain wave patterns to ALPHA (found during states of both light meditation and dreaming), THETA (common to medium meditation and regular sleep) or, in deep states of meditation and sleep, DELTA.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a secular meditation technique developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, has been shown to increase the number of brain cells in the areas involved with learning, memory, executive decision-making, and flexibility of perspective. His work has also proven that meditation can decrease brain cells in the amygdala (which are known to increase with stress).
Dr. Dan Siegel, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, found that focusing on breathing for 10 minutes a day improved prefrontal cortex functioning and reduced bullying in school-age children.
Dr. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist working at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, has published research showing that meditating 40 minutes a day increases the grey matter in the hippocampus, which usually has less grey matter in people who are depressed or have PTS. The hippocampus is an area crucial for learning, memory, and aggression regulation.
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