Meditation
Meditation is an extremely important part of the healing package. Some feel it is the most important part. I feel that almost everyone should take time to meditate, given the pace of our lives and the pressures most of us are under. It is doubly important for those with chronic illness. The evidence for the benefits of meditation on health is enormous and growing rapidly. A 2006 review showed that there was clear evidence of benefit for epilepsy, premenstrual syndrome, menopausal symptoms, mood and anxiety disorders, autoimmune illness, and emotional disturbance in cancer patients.1 Given the difficulties associated with ‘proof’ in medicine, it is likely that meditation is helpful in considerably more conditions.
Many experts recommend meditation twice a day. The competing demands of work, family and social life just won’t allow that for many people. The evidence suggests the more it is done, the greater the benefit. We need to focus all the energy we can on healing. If we are wasting energy with our minds being overactive, we are at a disadvantage. There is ample scientific evidence of the value of meditation. But like the diet, it only works if you do it. It is very important to make time every day for this activity.
Excessive thinking in effect gradually removes us from the present moment by dulling our senses to what is really going on in our lives. The antidote to excessive thinking is to concentrate on feeling and sensing our physical bodies again in the present moment. This is where the technique of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as taught by Ian Gawler in his meditation workshops is of great benefit. As an introduction to meditation it is really good for relaxation, but more importantly, because the focus of concentration is on how the physical body is feeling, it helps to centre us again in our bodies, and hence helps us to live in the present moment.
Sometimes the continuous mind babble that we all have keeps returning to a theme. It might be how we have been harshly treated by a friend, or how we were hurt in a particular relationship. This indicates that at a deeper level, in the subconscious, we have not resolved an important issue in our lives. Our subconscious mind is very powerful. Until we satisfactorily resolve such issues, it will keep returning to the problem. This may not happen consciously, although it often does, but may take the form of dreams around a certain theme. Worse it may take the form of illness. To have the necessary energy to heal the illness, we have to heal the underlying problem in our subconscious. To marshal all our energies to deal with the illness, we have to resolve those underlying issues so that the energy is ours again to deal with the illness. Just by being aware of these mechanisms, we may liberate enough energy to begin dealing with the problems.
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Excessive thinking in effect gradually removes us from the present moment by dulling our senses to what is really going on in our lives. The antidote to excessive thinking is to concentrate on feeling and sensing our physical bodies again in the present moment. This is where the technique of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as taught by Ian Gawler in his meditation workshops is of great benefit. As an introduction to meditation it is really good for relaxation, but more importantly, because the focus of concentration is on how the physical body is feeling, it helps to centre us again in our bodies, and hence helps us to live in the present moment.
Sometimes the continuous mind babble that we all have keeps returning to a theme. It might be how we have been harshly treated by a friend, or how we were hurt in a particular relationship. This indicates that at a deeper level, in the subconscious, we have not resolved an important issue in our lives. Our subconscious mind is very powerful. Until we satisfactorily resolve such issues, it will keep returning to the problem. This may not happen consciously, although it often does, but may take the form of dreams around a certain theme. Worse it may take the form of illness. To have the necessary energy to heal the illness, we have to heal the underlying problem in our subconscious. To marshal all our energies to deal with the illness, we have to resolve those underlying issues so that the energy is ours again to deal with the illness. Just by being aware of these mechanisms, we may liberate enough energy to begin dealing with the problems.
The first part of the process is to quiet the conscious mind enough to start to get in touch with the subconscious. This is the value of meditation. Some prefer other methods of quieting the mind. Yoga, tai-chi, playing music, gardening; all may be equally good, depending on personal preferences. Until the mind slows down though, and leaves enough gaps in the constant stream of mental chatter, the issues bubbling up from our subconscious remain elusive. While music or gardening may be helpful in quietening the mind, they are only really capable of slowing the mind a little.
Slowing the mind is in fact the correct physiological term for what happens. Normal brain wave recordings show waves of a frequency of greater than 12 cycles per second with a fairly small amplitude (height), looking a bit like a saw tooth pattern, termed beta waves. As meditation proceeds, or we get into reflective states while listening to music or gardening, the frequency slows. When it goes to about 8-12 cycles per second the waves are called alpha waves. This is the state we get into early in meditation, or when we are in that focused attention state, like seeing a movie, and other things are blocked out. For most people, this is where most meditation happens. In deeper alpha, we reach a twilight state like just drifting off to sleep, and the frequency drops further. This state is good for learning, and people feel very relaxed.
As meditation deepens, the brain wave frequency slows further, to between 4 and 8 cycles per second becoming theta waves. This is the brain wave pattern associated with dreaming during rapid eye movement sleep. It is also associated with visionary experiences, enhanced creativity and sudden breakthroughs. Some experienced meditators can get down to this level without difficulty.
As the brain quiets even further, the wave pattern continues to slow and grow in amplitude until we are experiencing waves which are large, but below 4 cycles per second. This is the delta wave pattern, and represents the subconscious mind. The brain waves by now are very large and slow. This is the state of deep dreamless sleep, but if it is experienced with awareness, as during meditation, there is an intense feeling of oneness and connection with the underlying energy of life. Mystics and very experienced meditators describe this state in detail and clearly have experienced it. Getting into this awareness of the subconscious mind can throw up all sorts of emotional difficulties, as long buried issues surface into awareness. But as a result it has the potential to be very healing too.
Slowing the mind is in fact the correct physiological term for what happens. Normal brain wave recordings show waves of a frequency of greater than 12 cycles per second with a fairly small amplitude (height), looking a bit like a saw tooth pattern, termed beta waves. As meditation proceeds, or we get into reflective states while listening to music or gardening, the frequency slows. When it goes to about 8-12 cycles per second the waves are called alpha waves. This is the state we get into early in meditation, or when we are in that focused attention state, like seeing a movie, and other things are blocked out. For most people, this is where most meditation happens. In deeper alpha, we reach a twilight state like just drifting off to sleep, and the frequency drops further. This state is good for learning, and people feel very relaxed.
As meditation deepens, the brain wave frequency slows further, to between 4 and 8 cycles per second becoming theta waves. This is the brain wave pattern associated with dreaming during rapid eye movement sleep. It is also associated with visionary experiences, enhanced creativity and sudden breakthroughs. Some experienced meditators can get down to this level without difficulty.
As the brain quiets even further, the wave pattern continues to slow and grow in amplitude until we are experiencing waves which are large, but below 4 cycles per second. This is the delta wave pattern, and represents the subconscious mind. The brain waves by now are very large and slow. This is the state of deep dreamless sleep, but if it is experienced with awareness, as during meditation, there is an intense feeling of oneness and connection with the underlying energy of life. Mystics and very experienced meditators describe this state in detail and clearly have experienced it. Getting into this awareness of the subconscious mind can throw up all sorts of emotional difficulties, as long buried issues surface into awareness. But as a result it has the potential to be very healing too.
There are many different forms of meditation. For many people, finding one that does not have a religious connection is important, and this is now easy. I recommend the Gawler Foundation’s series of meditation tapes and CDs as a good way of learning meditation. These can be purchased on-line at the Foundation’s website (www.gawler.org). The Foundation also offers meditation retreats.
I also offer a breath-based meditation on this website that you can do on-line with a pair of speakers or headphones, just click on the arrow below to activate.
If you would prefer to download the file and save it to an MP3 player for practice later, please click here.
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I also offer a breath-based meditation on this website that you can do on-line with a pair of speakers or headphones, just click on the arrow below to activate.
If you would prefer to download the file and save it to an MP3 player for practice later, please click here.
- Arias AJ, Steinberg K, Banga A, et al. Systematic review of the efficacy of meditation techniques as treatments for medical illness. J Altern Complement Med 2006; 12:817-832
- Arias AJ, Steinberg K, Banga A, et al. Systematic review of the efficacy of meditation techniques as treatments for medical illness. J Altern Complement Med 2006; 12:817-832