People who meditate say the practice restores
their energy, and some claim they need less sleep as a result. Many studies have reported that the brain works differently during meditation - brainwave patterns change and neuronal firing patterns synchronise. But whether meditation actually brings any of the restorative benefits of sleep has remained largely unexplored.
So some Scientists decided to investigate. They used a well-established "psychomotor vigilance
task", which has long been used to quantify the
effects of sleepiness on mental acuity. The test involves staring at an LCD screen and pressing a
button as soon as an image pops up. Typically,
people take 200 to 300 milliseconds to respond,
but sleep-deprived people take much longer, and
sometimes miss the stimulus altogether.
Ten volunteers were tested before and after 40
minutes of either sleep, meditation, reading or light conversation, with all subjects trying all conditions. The 40-minute nap was known to improve performance (after an hour or so to recover from grogginess). But what astonished the researchers was that meditation was the only intervention that immediately led to superior performance, despite none of the volunteers being experienced at meditation.
"Every single subject showed improvement," said one of the scientist. The improvement was even more dramatic after a night without sleep. But, he admits: "Why it improves performance, we do not know."
The team is now studying experienced meditators, who spend several hours each day in practice.
Brain builder:-
What effect meditating has on the structure of the brain has also been a matter of some debate. A Doctor at at the Massachusetts General Hospital in United States, and colleagues have used MRI to compare 15 meditators, with experience ranging from 1 to 30 years, and 15 non-meditators. They found that meditating actually increases the thickness of the cortex in areas involved in attention and sensory processing, such as the prefrontal cortex and the right anterior insula.
"You are exercising it while you meditate, and it
gets bigger," she says. The finding is in line with
studies showing that accomplished musicians,
athletes and linguists all have thickening in
relevant areas of the cortex. It is further evidence, says Lazar, that yogis "aren't just sitting there doing nothing".
The growth of the cortex is not due to the growth
of new neurons, she points out, but results from
wider blood vessels, more supporting structures such as glia and astrocytes, and increased branching and connections.
HOW MEDITATION WORKS:-
Meditation is an extremely simple process.
It follows three distinct steps:
1. We start with the superficial, scattered mind (This is the level with which we often carry out our day-to-day chores, ‘bring in the newspaper’, ‘cook the meal’ - it is often characterised by lots of thoughts, positive and negative, with very little control or knowledge of how they got there). If we are often in this state of mind, we will find that we are easily distracted, have difficulty concentrating, probably worry about unimportant things and have little understanding of the real 'us'.
2. We then progress by virtue of our heart’s concentration - to deeper, analytical thinking. When our mind is focused completely on one thing, we are the most efficient and purposeful
in our thinking (This is the basis of the rules
of ‘time-management’ -> to be focused absolutely on one task at a time). The analytical level reveals the deepest we can go with thought. We can use a number of meditation techniques to achieve this, and they will be explored in further classes.
3. From this very deep thinking we enter into intuitive states, revelations, "I know this is right" feelings or extremely vivid goals or intense creativity or spiritual dreams. When thinking stops and intuitive experience takes over, this is meditation . We call these moments, 'Aah' moments. These moments are where the deepest moments of revelation and intuition are born, and we reveal our real self. The task of meditation is to enter the very focused thinking of the analytical mind and from there the shift to the intuitive mind or heart takes place automatically. (View steps to learning meditation)
BENEFITS OF MEDITATION
Meditation has two important benefits:
•Meditation prevents stress from getting into the
system.
•Meditation releases accumulated stress that is in the system.
Both of these happen simultaneously, leaving one refreshed and joyful.
Physical Benefits of Meditation
With meditation, the physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with more prana (energy). This results in joy, peace,
enthusiasm as the level of prana in the body
increases.
On a physical level, meditation:
•Lowers high blood pressure.
•Lowers the levels of blood lactate, reducing
anxiety attacks.
•Decreases any tension-related pain, such as,
tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, muscle and
joint problems.
•Increases serotonin production that improves mood and behavior.
•Improves the immune system.
•Increases the energy level, as you gain an inner
source of energy.
Mental Benefits of Meditation
Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an
Alpha state that promotes healing. The mind
becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful. With regular practice of meditation:
•Anxiety decreases
•Emotional stability improves
•Creativity increases
•Happiness increases
•Intuition develops
•Gain clarity and peace of mind
•Problems become smaller
•Meditation sharpens the mind by gaining focus
and expands through relaxation
•A sharp mind without expansion causes tension, anger and frustration
•An expanded consciousness without sharpness can lead to lack of action/progress
•The balance of a sharp mind and an expanded
consciousness brings perfection
Meditation makes you aware - that your inner
attitude determines your happiness.
Other Benefits of Meditation
Emotional steadiness and harmony: it cleanses and nourishes you from within and calms you, whenever you feel overwhelmed, unstable, or emotionally shut down.
Meditation brings harmony in creation: when you meditate, you are in the space of vastness,
calmness and joy and this is what you emit into the environment, bringing harmony to the Creation/planet.
Consciousness evolves: with the assimilation of
meditation into daily life, your consciousness evolves and in time, is able to experience the
higher and refined states of consciousness.
When your consciousness evolves and expands, the disturbances in your life become negligible. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish. You start living in 'the moment' and let go of 'the past'. Personal Transformation: meditation can bring about a true personal transformation. As you learn more about yourself, you’ll naturally want to discover
more about the mystery of life, this universe, etc. Then the questions that arise in the mind are - What is the meaning of Life? What is its purpose? What is this world, what is love, what is knowledge...?
Once these questions arise, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be understood; you cannot find the answers in books. As you live through answering them you’ll witness that life transformation to a richer level. Cosmic consciousness dawns in you
With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, the fifth state of consciousness*, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness - is to perceive the whole cosmos as part of oneself. When you perceive the world as a part of yourself, love flows strongly between the world and you. This love empowers you to bear the opposing forces and the disturbances in your life. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish. You start living in 'the moment' and let go of 'the past'.
The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you become beautiful yet strong - a soft, delicate and beautiful blossom capable of accommodating different values in life without any conditions.
How to get the benefits
To experience the benefits of meditation, regular
practice is necessary. It takes only a few minutes
every day. Once imbibed into the daily routine,
meditation becomes the best part of your day!
Meditation is like a seed. When you cultivate a
seed with love, the more it blossoms. Similarly, the sapling of consciousness is within you. It needs to be nurtured with simple meditation techniques. Some palm trees yield in three years, some in ten years. And those that aren’t nurtured - never yield! They simply exist. Busy people from all backgrounds are grateful to
pause and enjoy a refreshing few minutes of
meditation each day. Dive deep into yourself and enrich your life.
