So what exactly IS meditation?

[J-rap]

My daughter who has had a non-stop headache for four years was being considered for a research study at Johns Hopkins.  However, by the time they got to her, they had more participants than they could handle.  It is a study that looks at alternative solutions for helping chronic headaches.  Part of it involves meditation and relaxation techniques.  They sent us a letter saying they couldn't take her in the study right now, but then suggested she try it on her own and sent us a workshop she could attend.

 

The workshop is a week long and is not associated with any religion.  (They make sure to take that part out of it so that all can feel welcome and comfortable.)  They have courses, group meditation, and then hours upon hours of individual meditation. 

 

What do you do for hours and hours of individual meditation?  We're trying to imagine!  Are you really supposed to just listen to your breathing and think about nothing?  For hours?

 

I've never really understood this, but she is open to trying it if it will help her hyper-sensitive vascular system settle down.

 

ETA:  I don't mean to be making fun of meditation.  I know of several people who have found it very helpful in their lives, which is why we are looking into it!  I just have never had a good understanding of what it is, in its purest form.

[Corraleno]

I would look for books and guided meditation CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He's an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, which was the first of its kind. There's been a lot of research on this approach, with regard to stress reduction and pain management, with very positive results. Many of the stress-reduction and pain management programs at hospitals and clinics all over the US use his CDs as the basis for their programs.

[MBM]

Meditation is a process through which you can physically change neural circuitry in your brain which then affects your emotional and physical health. It works by diverting blood to various parts of the brain, building up areas of neurons and dismantling other areas of neurons. Contrary to what many still believe, the brain is not immutable; it can change at any age. That's neuroplasticity. That is what meditation does in a nutshell.

 

The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live--and How You Can Change Them by Richard Davidson explains the physical changes neuroscientists see in the brain before and after a period of meditation and how it affects emotional and physical health (all meditation will create immediate change if done properly, but it usually takes a certain amount of build up or pruning of neurons to feel the effect). Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry who specializes in neuroscience and was one of the first to do certain brain imaging studies back in the 1980s or so. He has done numerous brain imaging studies showing that when the brain circuits change, the body changes, too. Recent studies are showing that meditation affects epigenetics, the turning on or off of genes (http://www.news.wisc.edu/22370). Other labs are finding similar results.

 

Davidson's book is a must-read, IMO, if you want to learn what meditation does. Chapter 11 explains what sort of meditation to do and how to do it for particular situations. A simple breathing awareness exercise might help your daughter.

 

Here is some info about Davidson:

 

http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/personnel/director.html

 

Your daughter might also like Dan Goleman's guided CD for children. Dan is a buddy of Davidson's from back when they were at Harvard. He has a very soothing voice and his meditations are not too long. When beginning, it is sometimes better to just establish a habit of meditating consistently for short periods of time rather than doing lengthy sittings. Generally, the longer you meditate, the quicker you see results. You can find Dan"s CD in the book Building Emotional Intelligence which he wrote with Linda Lantieri. I don't think the meditations are offered with the e-book.

 

Goldie Hawn's 10 Mindful Minutes and MindUp program might also be helpful.

 

Meditation can be completely secular, although many religions have used different forms of it throughout the ages.

 

HTH!

[VeganCupcake]

Meditation is . . . being in the moment, in your body. It is hard to define. Maybe someone else has a better definition/explanation.

 

In individual meditation, what you do is sit or stand or walk and pay attention to what is happening in your mind and body without getting taken away by thoughts and sensations. You notice sensations and thoughts (Oh, my foot is itchy. Do we have enough spinach for dinner? What did so-and-so mean when she said that yesterday?) and then you let that go and move your attention back to your breathing or walking. And you do that over and over again. :)

 

Sometimes you might have transcendent moments, but more often, you won't. :) 

[umsami]

Most people don't meditate for hours and hours…although there are retreats (usually Buddhist) where they do.

 

For kids, there are some simple meditation books like http://www.amazon.com/Handful-Quiet-Happiness-Four-Pebbles/dp/1937006212/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JE2MXYFXPN58ZX9HXY8

 

For kids, even five minutes can be a lot and have good benefits.

 

Check out the HeartMath Shift and Shine technique too.  http://www.heartmath.org/free-services/tools-for-well-being/shift-and-shine-age-3-to-6.html

[Joanne]

You might be interested in the research behind meditation; it is compelling. The positive, documented, researched based results are amazing. Regular meditators have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, migraines. The self reports are, of course, anecdotal, but still impressive.

 

I had to research meditation to give a psycho-educational lecture on it. I - a regular meditator - was surprised.

 

Some things that helped me personally:

 

Don't expect "insight"

Don't expect a "burning bush"

Don't expect a transcendent experience

Don't think it has to be productive in a traditional way to be "working"

 

Sometimes, the first 3 will happen, but don't think of it as the goal. The regular practice of meditation *changes the brain* in positive, healing, transformative ways.

 

Meditation has been a part of all major spiritual paths; I believe this is for an intuitive reason. I believe it to be equal to eating well and exercise in terms of health.

[Mergath]

My thoughts on meditation have been shaped quite a bit by the reading I've done on Buddhism, but for me, the general idea is that most of the rambling we do inside our own heads and our negative emotions are just noise.  Practicing meditation allows you to shut that off.  Of course, there are different kinds of meditation and different religions believe different things about it, so ymmv.

[elegantlion]

I would look for books and guided meditation CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He's an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, which was the first of its kind. There's been a lot of research on this approach, with regard to stress reduction and pain management, with very positive results. Many of the stress-reduction and pain management programs at hospitals and clinics all over the US use his CDs as the basis for their programs.

 

:iagree:  I did a study on meditation for my English research project last semester. 

 

Some books recommend ( have not read this one) is Full Catastrophe Living

 

A Mindful Nation 

 

This Time Magazine article is interesting

 

The Great Courses has a series on Mindfulness, which is one I've listened to a few lectures. 

 

If you have access to a university library, you can google and get many studies done on mindfulness. The Mayo Clinic did a report on it in their October 2013 health Newletter. Search also MBSR, Jon Kabat-Zinn, or meditation. 

[Joanne]

The Great Courses also has an option, currently on sale:

 

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1933

 

I am on lecture 4 of it.

[J-rap]

I would look for books and guided meditation CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He's an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, which was the first of its kind. There's been a lot of research on this approach, with regard to stress reduction and pain management, with very positive results. Many of the stress-reduction and pain management programs at hospitals and clinics all over the US use his CDs as the basis for their programs.

 

Thanks!  I'll look into ordering this for my daughter.  It looks like it could be a good place to start.

 

[J-rap]

Meditation is a process through which you can physically change neural circuitry in your brain which then affects your emotional and physical health. It works by diverting blood to various parts of the brain, building up areas of neurons and dismantling other areas of neurons. Contrary to what many still believe, the brain is not immutable; it can change at any age. That's neuroplasticity. That is what meditation does in a nutshell.

 

The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live--and How You Can Change Them by Richard Davidson explains the physical changes neuroscientists see in the brain before and after a period of meditation and how it affects emotional and physical health (all meditation will create immediate change if done properly, but it usually takes a certain amount of build up or pruning of neurons to feel the effect). Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry who specializes in neuroscience and was one of the first to do certain brain imaging studies back in the 1980s or so. He has done numerous brain imaging studies showing that when the brain circuits change, the body changes, too. Recent studies are showing that meditation affects epigenetics, the turning on or off of genes (http://www.news.wisc.edu/22370). Other labs are finding similar results.

 

Davidson's book is a must-read, IMO, if you want to learn what meditation does. Chapter 11 explains what sort of meditation to do and how to do it for particular situations. A simple breathing awareness exercise might help your daughter.

 

Here is some info about Davidson:

 

http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/personnel/director.html

 

Your daughter might also like Dan Goleman's guided CD for children. Dan is a buddy of Davidson's from back when they were at Harvard. He has a very soothing voice and his meditations are not too long. When beginning, it is sometimes better to just establish a habit of meditating consistently for short periods of time rather than doing lengthy sittings. Generally, the longer you meditate, the quicker you see results. You can find Dan"s CD in the book Building Emotional Intelligence which he wrote with Linda Lantieri. I don't think the meditations are offered with the e-book.

 

Goldie Hawn's 10 Mindful Minutes and MindUp program might also be helpful.

 

Meditation can be completely secular, although many religions have used different forms of it throughout the ages.

 

HTH!

 

This sounds great, and is exactly the aspect of it that I'm interested in.  I know a lot about neuroplasticity of the brain, just hadn't thought about how meditation could help that along.  His book sounds fascinating and it looks like Amazon has some used ones for a few dollars.  Thanks!

[J-rap]

Meditation is . . . being in the moment, in your body. It is hard to define. Maybe someone else has a better definition/explanation.

 

In individual meditation, what you do is sit or stand or walk and pay attention to what is happening in your mind and body without getting taken away by thoughts and sensations. You notice sensations and thoughts (Oh, my foot is itchy. Do we have enough spinach for dinner? What did so-and-so mean when she said that yesterday?) and then you let that go and move your attention back to your breathing or walking. And you do that over and over again. :)

 

Sometimes you might have transcendent moments, but more often, you won't. :)

 

It definitely sounds like something we could ALL benefit from!

[J-rap]

Most people don't meditate for hours and hours…although there are retreats (usually Buddhist) where they do.

 

For kids, there are some simple meditation books like http://www.amazon.com/Handful-Quiet-Happiness-Four-Pebbles/dp/1937006212/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JE2MXYFXPN58ZX9HXY8

 

For kids, even five minutes can be a lot and have good benefits.

 

Check out the HeartMath Shift and Shine technique too.  http://www.heartmath.org/free-services/tools-for-well-being/shift-and-shine-age-3-to-6.html

 

Thanks!  It's actually a type of retreat that we are looking into, although they stress that it is not affiliated with a particular religion.  It does involve literally hours of meditation, which is what I was so curious about, not really understanding what it was.  It sounds like my daughter might be better off starting with a book or CD.

[J-rap]

You might be interested in the research behind meditation; it is compelling. The positive, documented, researched based results are amazing. Regular meditators have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, migraines. The self reports are, of course, anecdotal, but still impressive.

 

I had to research meditation to give a psycho-educational lecture on it. I - a regular meditator - was surprised.

 

Some things that helped me personally:

 

Don't expect "insight"

Don't expect a "burning bush"

Don't expect a transcendent experience

Don't think it has to be productive in a traditional way to be "working"

 

Sometimes, the first 3 will happen, but don't think of it as the goal. The regular practice of meditation *changes the brain* in positive, healing, transformative ways.

 

Meditation has been a part of all major spiritual paths; I believe this is for an intuitive reason. I believe it to be equal to eating well and exercise in terms of health.

 

Thanks -- those are good things to keep in mind.  And, I'm VERY interested in the research behind meditation.  I'll have to do more research into the research.  :)  Especially into how it can affect chronic pain/migraines.

 

[J-rap]

I once took a meditation course.  It is kind of hard to explain, but the "being in the moment" thing kinda sums it up. 

 

I didn't care for it.  I can't say that it did anything particular for me.  And 9 out of 10 times I'd fall asleep or start coughing violently.  It was rather embarrassing.  LOL

 

Haha, I can definitely see this happening to my youngest!  (And maybe me!)  Three of my daughters and myself took a yoga class together a few years back, and one of them giggled throughout the entire class.  :)

[J-rap]

My thoughts on meditation have been shaped quite a bit by the reading I've done on Buddhism, but for me, the general idea is that most of the rambling we do inside our own heads and our negative emotions are just noise.  Practicing meditation allows you to shut that off.  Of course, there are different kinds of meditation and different religions believe different things about it, so ymmv.

 

Boy, it's hard to imagine being able to shut off that noise.  Maybe I should do it along with my daughter!  That's a good way of explaining it.  Thanks!

[J-rap]

:iagree:  I did a study on meditation for my English research project last semester. 

 

Some books recommend ( have not read this one) is Full Catastrophe Living

 

A Mindful Nation 

 

This Time Magazine article is interesting

 

The Great Courses has a series on Mindfulness, which is one I've listened to a few lectures. 

 

If you have access to a university library, you can google and get many studies done on mindfulness. The Mayo Clinic did a report on it in their October 2013 health Newletter. Search also MBSR, Jon Kabat-Zinn, or meditation. 

 

Thank you!  I'll check these out.  I'm especially interested in the Mayo report.  That's where my daughter is doing her medical testing as well.

 

[happi duck]

A grief group I once attended brought in someone to teach mindfulness techniques...the quiet in my mind was such a huge relief. It was really helpful to have a guide. I think a retreat would be amazing.

[Chris in VA]

Jhat, I know you are a Christian. You might be interested in contempletive prayer, which is in the meditation in the Christian tradition.

I find it has all the bennies of secular meditation. :D

[Joanne]

Jhat, I know you are a Christian. You might be interested in contempletive prayer, which is in the meditation in the Christian tradition.

I find it has all the bennies of secular meditation. :D

Centering prayer and lectio divina are also an option.