Meditation 101: Coming to a Campus Near You

Somehow, of all the habits one could pick up while in college -- living on pizza and ramen noodles, sleeping few and odd hours, drowning one's sorrows in the free flow of a keg -- I got hooked on something entirely different: meditation.

During my sophomore year, I serendipitously became involved with a new interfaith project at Georgetown University called the John Main Center. Named after a Benedictine monk who, in the late 1970s, helped to reignite the practice of meditation within the Catholic tradition, the center was established to bring together individuals of various faith traditions to share in the practice of silent meditation.

My only notion of meditation up to that point in my life was essentially the image of an ascetic, bearded Yogi, chanting in a lotus position atop a mountain in India. Could it work for me?

Figuring that college is all about experimentation, I agreed to sign on in 2005 as one of four student directors. In exchange for the sweet deal of living in housing normally reserved for upperclassmen, we agreed to facilitate the twice-daily meditations and periodically plan special events at the center. (MORE)

Meditation Can Reduce Stress Among Managers

Managers often have to perform under constant work pressure. They are constantly involved in analysing, planning and operational decision-making which results in many feeling stressed by the end of the day.

Stress can affect almost every area in our life. It is often one of the major reasons why women experience absence of menstruation. People can often feel fatigue, various aches and pains, headaches and sleep disturbances because of excessive stress. Stress often leads to colds and infections due to lowered immune system responses.

Stress at work is causing depression and anxiety in one in five Britons and costing the country £100 billion a year in lost output.

The most practical and effective tool to decrease stress among managers is the daily practice of the meditation which reduce harmful stress and develops
the power of the brain.

After meditation one can feel more balanced and calm. This enables one to take the right and effective decision. One can feel more energetic and develop more focused attention.

In addition meditation can also help in determination. All our physical actions begin as a thought in our mind first and when strong enough, then only transform into physical activity. (MORE)

Source: Journalism.co.uk

Meditation Leads to Greater Pain Relief Than Morphine

Meditation has been part of the human experience for a long, long time. The earliest reports of defined meditation practice date back to about 1500 BCE in India, and became part of Western practice during the Roman Empire. As neuroscientists have studied meditation, they’ve discovered some interesting ways in which it affects the physical structure of the brain. These include effects that can be seen in autonomic functions and neurotransmitters as well as changes in blood flow and brain wave activity.

Meditation has been extensively studied for its effects of stress reduction and other clinical functions, and there have been several preliminary studies in its potential as a pain relief treatment. Now researchers at Wake Forest have published a study measuring the physical effects of meditation on pain — and it turns out it might be more effective than morphine.

“This is the first study to show that only a little over an hour of meditation training can dramatically reduce both the experience of pain and pain-related brain activation,” said Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., lead author of the study and post-doctoral research fellow at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. (MORE)

Source: Forbes

Mindfulness Meditation Improves Connections In The Brain

When I’m stressed, I listen to a 20-minute mindfulness meditation tape. It always helps me feel calmer and more relaxed. Many meditative practices can do this. But mindfulness meditation is getting a lot of attention because it seems to help with so many physical and psychological problems—like high blood pressure, chronic pain, psoriasis, sleep trouble, anxiety, and depression. It’s also been shown to boost immune function and stop binge eating. No one knows for sure what’s behind these benefits, but physical changes in the brain probably play a role.

Mindfulness meditation is a mental discipline. You start by focusing your attention on your breath, a sensation in the body, or a chosen word or phrase. You note the thoughts, emotions, and background sounds that arise from moment to moment, observing them without analyzing them or making judgments about what’s going on around you. If you drift into thoughts about the past or concerns about the future, you bring your attention back to the present, for example, by refocusing on your breathing. It takes practice. (MORE)

Source: Harvard Health

Meditation Works After Only 80 Minutes of Instruction

A study on 18 healthy young adults who had never previously practiced meditation shows that just over an hour of instructional meditation can help reduce the feeling of pain when meditation is employed during a burning sensation.

The study examined 18 young adults who had never practiced meditation before in their lives. The participants attended only four 20-minute classes and were exposed to a 120°F heat on their right calf both before and after the meditation classes. After they were taught Shamatha meditation, also called “focused attention”, they experienced an average of 57% less unpleasantness and 40% less intensity when they were burned.

Shamatha meditation teaches people to observe what’s going on inside their minds and shows them how to release their thoughts without judgment, continuously focusing on their breath or a spoken phrase. “There’s not just one thing happening”, said Dr. Fadel Zeidan of Wake Forest University in North Carolina. “Mindfulness meditation incorporates multiple mechanisms, multiple avenues for pain relief”.

The study itself raised another important question which needs to be explored by further research, and that is whether or not such meditation can have the same effect on chronic, real-life pain, especially since this type of pain is much more complex than the pain created inside of a lab or testing facility.

Source: Frenchtribune.com

In Pain? Try Meditation

You don't have to be a Buddhist monk to experience the health benefits of meditation. According to a new study, even a brief crash course in meditative techniques can sharply reduce a person's sensitivity to pain.

In the study, researchers mildly burned 15 men and women in a lab on two separate occasions, before and after the volunteers attended four 20-minute meditation training sessions over the course of four days. During the second go-round, when the participants were instructed to meditate, they rated the exact same pain stimulus -- a 120-degree heat on their calves -- as being 57 percent less unpleasant and 40 percent less intense, on average. (MORE)

Source: CNN Health

Making Meditation Work for You

Meditation is one of those things that makes me go hmmmmmmm...It's a rather simple thing, right? Essentially, you're supposed to sit and be. There's no doing, which can be a tough thing for our minds, which are made to run around in circles like an excited dog nipping at his tail. Sounds easy, right? No, I'm not talking about the mind doing its excited thing because that's par for the course. I'm talking about the fact that sitting in stillness is pretty basic. Yet when one begins a relationship with meditation, things get complicated.
First off, there are teachers that try to help us sit in stillness (do we need someone to tell us how to sit still?!?!). They answer our questions (which is funny in and of itself -- meditation isn't about thinking and asking questions, it's about being, remember?), they give us techniques (sit...get ready...stay -- yeah, that's quite a technique), they provide us with instruction and advice regarding our posture. That sounds like an awful lot of work to just sit still. Like I said -- complicated. (MORE)

Source: Opposing Views

Meditate To Reduce Stress

While most people are aware that meditation can help us to relax, a group of UniSA researchers hope to prove that a daily dose of meditation can do much more.

They have begun a research project investigating stress responses in people who meditate regularly compared to people who are long-term carers and who do not meditate.

Behavioural neuroscience researcher Dr Maarten Immink says ultimately the project aims to show that meditation reduces stress and that it can have physical as well as mental function benefits for people who live in higher stress situations.

“Previous research has already shown that meditation helps with attention, memory and decision making,” he says. (MORE)

Source: HealthCanal.com

The Best Reason to Meditate

I grew up in England, where I attended a "public school," which confusingly is the English term for a private school. I dressed up every day in a black suit, wing collar, black tie and waistcoat. This was the bootcamp training for becoming an English gentleman. I was born into a way-above-average unhappy family, and I was much more interested in sorting out my emotional pain than in being trained to be an aristocrat.

One day I was walking beside Canterbury Cathedral (The King's School, Canterbury is the oldest school in England and lives within the cathedral precincts) when I spotted a man sitting cross-legged on the ground, chanting. He was a Hare Krishna monk. This was 1972, only a few years after The Beatles hooked up with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and then later George Harrison joined up with the Hare Krishna movement. I was intrigued. I waited timidly until he stopped chanting, and approached hesitantly.


"Excuse me, sir," I squeaked in my pre-pubescent English voice. "Do you speak any English?" I imagined he must be from Tibet, or a temple in Varunasi, India. (MORE)

Source: Huffington Post

Meditation On the Rise in America

Meditation is becoming more popular in America, according to the Daily Iowan.

2007 Census Bureau Survey statistics indicate that about 10 percent of the population over 18 practices some form of meditation, and increase from 8 percent in 2002.

Highlighted in the article are students, who benefit from the relaxing effects of transcendental meditation to help them study.

“I felt like I almost had an advantage over other people because I wasn’t panicking over the test,” said Yosra Elkhalifa, a freshman at the University of Iowa. “I’ve been able to focus better, which is crucial, because I’m taking 17 credit hours.”

Susan Taylor, founder of the National Meditation Specialist Certification Board in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, has seen her practice grow from a class of five in 1996 to a group of 200 certified instructors. The program requires 100 hours of intensive training and meditating.

“Each year, more and more people use meditation for health and healing,” Taylor said.

She also stressed that hers is a secular practice. “I’m not preaching Buddhism or Hinduism." (MORE)

Source: ThirdAge.com

Students Relieve Stress In Meditation Class

Fifteen students are choosing to relieve stress in a class called Meditation and Mindfulness.

The class is taught by Joanne Pfeiffer, nursing professor, and offered on Mondays from 8 - 10 a.m. The class is currently held in the Krumm building, Room 5. This is the first semester the two-credit class has been offered.

The class teaches the different types of meditation, and the benefits to meditating. The class currently has 15 students, and Pfeiffer said she is hoping to expand and offer a second session in the upcoming semesters. Through use of a textbook and Pfeiffer teaching the class, students are able to explore all aspects of meditation.

The class is a more in-depth look at what meditation truly is. Pfeiffer said, "We are exploring what meditation is from the most simplest to the most evolved form."

The class allows students to learn and individualize what meditation technique works best for them.

Bri Perry, nursing senior, said, "Once you find out what works for you, which is what the class teaches, it's a life-long thing." (MORE)

Source: The Grand Views

Study Shows Meditation Is Powerful Medicine To Conquer Fears

What do you do if you've been diagnosed with cancer but you're scared of the treatment? Studies show meditation can be powerful medicine when it comes to overcoming fears.

Sore tonsils led 44-year-old Danilo Ramirez's doctor to suspect he had more than just a sore throat.

"He did surgery and a week later, 'Mr. Ramirez you got lymphoma,'" said Ramirez.

Stage Two Lymphoma. Those words sent the Burbank father of two into a tailspin. But the specialized radiation treatment he faced scared him even more. Danilo is claustrophobic. Even though his life depended on it, he refused to wear the required mask.

"Mentally it was really hard on me," said Ramirez. "There were nights I couldn't sleep at all knowing I had to face that."

"So he almost was willing to refuse treatment for a potentially curable cancer," said Dr. Rex Hoffman. "Without treatment he would die." (MORE)

Source: ABC.com

Meditation Improves Lives Of Menopausal Women

Menopausal women suffering from hot flushes who undertake mindfulness classes have improved quality of life, new research has revealed.

The classes, which incorporate elements of meditation and stretching exercises, boost women's sleep quality and reduce stress and anxiety when they are going through the menopause, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, US, found.

"There are certainly many, many women who don't want to take hormones [during menopause]... and don't want to take other drugs either," Dr Ellen Freeman, a menopause expert at the university, told Reuters Health.(MORE)

Source: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Meditation, Hypnosis Change 'Brain Signature'

Amir Raz gets some funny looks when he talks about using hypnosis and meditation techniques to build attention spans in a hyperactive MTV world.

"Mention contemplation to a lot of people, and all they think of is some kind of (wacky) spiritualism, people sitting around a darkened room with candles, chanting," says Raz, a McGill University professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention.

"Our ideas are shaped by Hollywood movies. So you talk about hypnosis, and people see something out of a Woody Allen movie, a guy in a turban with bushy eyebrows who wants to put you to sleep."

But "trim away the folkloric fat," and Raz, a cognitive psychologist who worked his way through graduate school doing magic tricks, sees mindfulness training as a valuable, drug-free tool in the struggle to foster attention skills, with positive spinoffs for controlling our emotions and even making us smarter.

"We live in a time when modern medicine is weighted heavily toward pharmaceuticals.

"Everyone wants a magic bullet that will help them lose 40 pounds, or a surgical procedure that will cure all our ills," says Raz, who will be speaking Wednesday about the chemical benefits of brain science and chicken soup as part of McGill's Mini-Science lecture series. (MORE)

Source: montreal Gazzette

Staying Centered During Stressful Times: How Meditation Can Help

Opening The Huffington Post to scenes of political confrontation, revolution, earthquakes and meltdowns, I watch with awe and compassion as our planet heaves and reels with transformation -- masses of people demanding reform, while others stagger from the terrifying impact of natural disaster.

Whether it's one's own world crashing down or others' lives falling apart, one feels vulnerable. Can strengthening our connection to the calm, unchanging depths of our being through meditation bring steadiness and resilience in the face of change?

As a meditation teacher, I find that people are often drawn to turning inward during periods of personal crisis, seeking to anchor themselves. It's not uncommon for someone to come and learn meditation after receiving a devastating medical diagnosis, while going through a divorce, after losing their job or when just feeling overwhelmed by life. Rather than numbing fears and anxieties with alcohol, drugs or something from outside themselves, it's encouraging that more and more people feel confident that the mind is powerful enough to provide strength and stability from within. (MORE)