Meditation Rx: Three Doctors' Perspectives
by Nicole
While those who meditate may focus on the ethereal, scientists are getting to grips with the tangible physical effects that meditation has been proven to produce. And armed with this new empirical evidence, the men and ladies in white coats are hitting the lotus position alongside those who may have previously been dismissed as kooks and hippies.
Dr. Sara Lazar, a mediation researcher from Massachusetts General Hospital, used MRI scans to compare the brains of experienced meditation practitioners against the gray matter of those that have never practiced the ancient Buddhist technique. She found marked differences in the thickness of certain areas of the brain's cortex, including the area associated with emotion, and hypothesizes that meditation had caused the physical changes.
In another study, Harvard Psychology and Psychiatry professor Dr. Richard Davidson, a longtime friend of the Dalai Lama who has been working with the spiritual leader in his quest to validate Buddhism with science, observed the brains of a test group of office workers. He found that after a course of meditation and stress reduction techniques the participants' brains appeared to have changed the way in which they functioned, and showed increased activity on the left side, which is associated with happiness and enthusiasm.
Numerous other studies have found mediation helpful in warding off stress-related illness such as heart disease, high blood pressure and digestive disorders. But while the physiological effects and benefits of meditation are easier for scientists to track, the emotional empowerment meditative practices bring should not be overlooked.
The thought-controlling discipline is a powerful tool in psychiatry's box. A treatment known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is heavily based on meditation techniques, is even available to British citizens on the nation's National Health plan.
As we master physical conditions, those of the mind are increasingly coming into focus, especially as populations in the West age, and quality as well as quantity of life becomes a priority. Indeed, one recent study found that those with a history of depression are two and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's in old age, so a holistic approach to peace of mind, happiness and mental illness also appears to be a pragmatic one.
For many, depression can be a downward spiral that starts with issues of low self-esteem, fear of judgment and failure. Such thoughts can start a cycle where the negative becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, and depression ensues. But meditation can help control such thoughts, and arrest the cycle.
"It teaches a way of looking at problems, observing them clearly but not necessarily trying to fix them or solve them," says Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, who is a pioneer in the field of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. "It suggests to people that they begin to see all their thoughts as just thoughts, whether they are positive, negative or neutral."
Professor Davidson concurs, "All of these things are just thoughts. And, they will come up in meditation, and learning to recognize what they are as thoughts, and let them go, can be enormously empowering for anybody."
Dr. Lazar, who practices and is a strong advocate of both yoga and meditation, hopes that "by providing concrete evidence of meditation's benefits, more people will at least try it and see if it is beneficial for them."
To get started try visiting the following sites:
learningmeditation.com (great site for meditation 101)
how-to-meditate.org (good basic information on meditation and Buddhism)
breathetogether.net (our favorite online communal breathing site - see story)
tm.org (for Transcendental Meditation)
dalailama.com/page.17.htm (The Dalai Lama on 'Training The Mind')
| 04/09/08
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