I was born in Nepal where the founder of Buddhism, Lord Gautam Buddha was born. Though the majority of the people were from Hindu culture, they tend to follow Buddhism as well. Therefore, since my childhood, I started meditating. Each day I could feel a change within myself. I realized meditation was therapy for my stress and it was helping me improve my defense mechanism, memory as well as concentration.
What are meditation and mindfulness??
Meditation is a method for developing mindfulness of the current moment. It comprises of concentrating on present understanding and clearing one’s mind of other thoughts. This is frequently practiced by centering attention on the physical impressions of breathing (Hanh, 1999). Mindfulness is characterized as purposeful, nonjudgmental, present-second mindfulness, and is the mental state acquired on by meditation (Park & Pyszczynski., 2019).
Are meditation and mindfulness important?
Mindfulness and meditation have been seen as related to numerous health impacts, including improved physical wellbeing, the increased effect on cerebral and physical assignments, decrease side effects of mental clutters, and more significant levels of abstract prosperity. From the religious point of view, meditation is associated with Hinduism and Buddhism culture which aimed in acquiring a calm state, enhanced wellbeing, and spiritual fulfillment.
(Park and Pyszczynski ., 2019)
The eight weeks long study by Park and Pyszczynski in 2019 in South Korea showed that mediation was effective in reducing arousing distress and psychological distress. According to their study, the higher levels of dispositional mindfulness was directly associated with lower levels of defensiveness. The psychological analysis of this study suggested that meditation helps reduce suffering and symptoms, improve mental and psychological well-being, and promoting one’s thoughts without judgments and emotional reaction.
Their pre-intervention analysis showed that there was a defensive response related to death in people but was not found in the post-intervention analysis (Park & Pyszczynski., 2019).
This statement was supported by other meditation researchers and suggested that mindful people tend to perceive threatening information as less threatening as they see thoughts as occasions in the brain rather than an exact portrayal of the real world and self (Baer, 2003; Safran & Segal, 1990).
A study done on cancer patients showed the mindfulness-based stress reduction was successful in decreasing stress level and promoted mental wellbeing leading to better health. On the question of how does mindfulness training works, he found that mindfulness training strengthens the regions of the brain which associates with concentration and executive function, interception (capacity to observe inward body sensation) and mental flexibility. Furthermore, the training evidence to regulate with less secretion of stress hormones decreases cardiovascular reactivity and improved immunity system of the body.
(Bauer-Wu, 2010)
Another research by Bloach et al., 2017 showed that involvement in a meditation course brings improvement in mindfulness and making sense of life holistically. As the meaning of life is positively related to wellbeing, people who can understand the meaning of life can have better wellbeing (Bloach et al., 2017).
Recommendations:
- As mediation and mindfulness are associated with both internal and external regulation of the body, meditation for a minimum of half an hour per day is recommended.
- Also, mindfulness meditation is very safe and has a potential few risks at the beginning of learning as people may feel an increase in anxiety.
- Advanced mediators who meditate for long hours need to closely work with the experienced teacher while meditating immensely.
References:
- Bauer-Wu, Susan. “Mindfulness Meditation.” Oncology (Williston Park, N.Y.) 24.10 Suppl (2010): 36-40. Web.
- Bloch, Jacob H., Jennifer E. Farrell, Joshua N. Hook, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, J. Kim Penberthy, and Don E. Davis. “The Effectiveness of a Meditation Course on Mindfulness and Meaning in Life.” Spirituality in Clinical Practice 4.2 (2017): 100-12. Retrived from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/scp0000119
- Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848.
- Hafenbrack, Andrew C, Zoe Kinias, and Sigal G Barsade. “Debiasing the Mind Through Meditation: Mindfulness and the Sunk-Cost Bias.” Psychological Science 25.2 (2014): 369-76. Retrived from DOI: 10.1177/0956797613503853
- Hanh, T. N. (1999). The miracle of mindfulness: An introduction to the practice of meditation. Boston, MA: Beacon Press
- Park, Young Chin, and Tom Pyszczynski. “Reducing Defensive Responses to Thoughts of Death: Meditation, Mindfulness, and Buddhism.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 116.1 (2019): 101-18. Retrived from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000163
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