Meditate Already, Dammit

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Meditate Already, Dammit

Jan 25, 2011 | 3 Comments

Photo: artforumrenaissance

So, you think that meditation doesn’t work? That it may relax you for a moment, but then you just jump right back into the insanity of your day? That’s is too hard to do all the time? Well, if you’re into those pesky little studies, there’s a new one on Mindfulness Meditation that’s about to show up in the January 30th issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

According to a post at Science Daily, Mindfulness Meditation can actually re-structure the brain. It’ll make your memory better, improve your sense of self, have more empathy, kill some of that stress. Even better, in just 8 weeks. Here’s what they have to say about it:

For the current study, MR images were take of the brain structure of 16 study participants two weeks before and after they took part in the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. In addition to weekly meetings that included practice of mindfulness meditation — which focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind — participants received audio recordings for guided meditation practice and were asked to keep track of how much time they practiced each day. A set of MR brain images were also taken of a control group of non-meditators over a similar time interval.

Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.

This is only one form of meditation, but other studies have determined benefits for techniques ranging from Buddhist meditation to Trancendental Meditation, among others.

Time to get crackin’. Here are a few resources to help you get started or take you further in your practice:

Learning Meditation

The Ultimate Guide To Vipassana Meditation

A No-Nonsense Guide to Meditation: No Gurus and No B.S.

With Insight Guide to Meditation

Breathe.

About the Author

Christine Garvin holds a Masters degree in Holistic Health Education and is a certified Nutrition Educator. She is co-editor of Confronting Love and has written for a variety of health, travel, and relationship sites and magazines. When she is not writing, she gives wellness consultations and choreographs and performs hip-hop and bhangra routines. She currently calls Black Mountain, NC home. Follow her on Twitter @livingwholesoul or on her FB page.

3 Comments »

Leigh said:

Thanks Christine. I have never tried meditation before but I think I’ll try some of these resources and see how it goes.

# 27 January 2011 at 2:18 PM

Carlo Alcos said:

I don’t know why I haven’t already started a daily practice, I just seem to do it at random times. But I am quite determined to make it a daily thing!

# 29 January 2011 at 10:01 AM

Raymond said:

Lorin Roche wrote a book called “Meditation made easy”, if I recall correctly. In this book he mentions how many westerners make the mistake of assuming that a meditation style and philosophy originating from celibate monks living in the Himalyan mountains is the way to go. It might work, maybe not. Or maybe parts of it. So by taking someone else’s authority on how things might be, as he mentions, has ended up shipwrecking peoples’ lives. One must take into consideration a style of medition consistent with one’s make-up and life style. He gives many examples from his book. Walking, gardening, and smelling coffee are among them as meditation styles. By trial and error one can often find the right one.

Ray

# 27 March 2013 at 12:02 PM