Meditation

It’s becoming increasingly clear, with the growing body of scientific evidence, that meditation brings many health benefits by aiding relaxation and relieving stress. Mindfulness meditation, sometimes known as MBSR    (Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction), is of particular interest to scientists studying the effects on health. But how do you go about learning to meditate?

Background

Meditation has been practised in many cultures for thousands of years. We particularly associate meditation with the Buddhist tradition and we can all easily bring to mind an image of Buddhist monks in saffron robes with their heads bowed and eyes closed in serene contemplation. Meditation was (and still is) an important practice in many Eastern cultures but different forms of meditation appear in most religions and it could be argued that many types of prayer are, in fact, just forms of meditative thought.

Secular Meditation

Today many people can see good reasons to practice meditation but are, perhaps, put off by the religious connotations. Mindfulness is a form of secular (non-religious) meditation. It is inclusive and is not targeted at one particular group of people. The absence of religious symbolism in mindfulness means that there is no need to wear a specific type of clothing or go to a particular symbolic place to meditate. All that’s needed is a reasonably quiet space where the participant can have the peace to clear their mind of distraction.

The Process

Describing the process of mindfulness meditation is easy at one level and harder at the next. The practical elements of getting started are straightforward: find a quiet space; sit on a cushion on the floor; close your eyes and relax. But it’s harder to describe what happens next. Everybody is different and so their minds wander and focus in different ways. Some people will be able to relax immediately while others will find their minds full of all manner of extraneous ‘noisy’ thoughts. Try to become aware of the simple fact of yourself there at that moment: feel the cushion and floor beneath you; the position of your limbs in space; the simple sensations of breathing. Gradually focus in on one particular element of your breathing such as the movement of your chest or the air in your nostrils. Try to concentrate gently on that aspect, nudging your thoughts back to that aspect when your mind begins to wander. Do this for as long as feels right and comfortable for you. Try to do this five or six times per week.

Tightrope Walking

I’ve heard mindfulness meditation described as being a bit like walking a mental tightrope. You can describe the process of walking a tightrope to anyone but actually achieving the feat is a different matter. While learning to meditate you will keep losing your balance – your mind will wander and you may start to think worrisome thoughts about work, money etc. You will start to think about the future or the past when you are really trying to be in the present simple moment. This present-focus is like the tightrope in that is seems thin, unstable and difficult to walk along. But the more time you spend on the tightrope the better you will become at balancing. And it is this calm striving for balance that will physically change connections within your brain, allowing you to find greater peace of mind and freedom from stress.

D.J. runs http://www.stressmindfulness.com/, a website offering practical advice about mindfulness meditation. The main focus of the website is mindfulness and the science behind it. Mindfulness has been proven to be a powerful tool in reducing stress.