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How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#41

Post by mercer »

LunaSea wrote: post #21
personjerry wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my understanding, our minds are are not literally filled with things in the real world (for they would not fit) but are instead filled with "thoughts" which "refer" to real things. But my "thought" of peanut butter, for example, might have significantly different "connotations" for me than for someone with an allergy to peanut butter. So what I'm saying is, these "thoughts" and what they "connote" to the individ…

So how would you alter your thought of a real problem if it seems legitimate to worry about it?

If you define worry as "the state of being anxious and troubled over actual or potential problems", then I'd argue that worrying in itself has no positive effect on the 'real' problem anyways.

The only mechanism by which 'worry' might be useful is if it triggers the problem-solving part of the mind and ultimately leads to actions that solve this problem. In my opinion this mechanism is highly inefficient and in fact often backfires: we focus on the worry instead of thinking about solutions, let alone implementing these solutions.

Meditation, and a mindful approach to life is first of all useful as a debugging mechanism. As you train your ability to direct your thoughts and pause them, you learn to discern what kind of thinking is useful, and what isn't.

So, for example, you might realize that you've been caught up in worry and just the act of being aware of this pointless train of thought might prompt you to sit down and create an action list of how to get out of this situation.

Another benefit is that frequent meditation somehow improves the connection between the thinking mind and the subconscious, as well as the body. I've had moments where meditation helped me suddenly realize a solution to a problem that I couldn't previously solve. And almost every time that I meditate, I will be aware of hunger, or thirst, or some other feeling or physical need that I would otherwise completely neglect.

Now I'm a particular type of person, so these benefits might be more explicit to me, but from what I understand most people will experience these things to some extent.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#43

Post by AnthonBerg »

Meditation didn't "click" for me for a long time because it wasn't ... aggressive enough.

A friend taught me this: Sit or lie still. Burn your body with a white-hot fire, starting at your toes. Incinerate yourself. Visualize intense fire with a child's pure unfettered imagination. Let that fire burn your body slowly, creeping up inch by inch with its quiet impersonal anger. When your body has burnt up, the fire quiets down and the weightless ash blows away. Then you open your eyes.

This worked for me - I felt it! - and opened up meditation for me. I have since had very good success with the Headspace app, for instance.

Another important thought for me was "Meditation is watching your thoughts go by like the bubbles in a glass of champagne."

Overall, in a nutshell, what meditation has done for me is: There is more of what should be. There is less of what shouldn't be.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#44

Post by manuelflara »

Scarblac wrote: post #40
personjerry wrote: post #14

For those of you who consider meditation a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, I get it, for I felt (and sometimes still feel) the same way. But let me try to phrase meditation in the terms I understand it as. We often find ourselves in stressful or difficult situations, we are constantly bombarded by external worries, and we think it is difficult to deal with our problems. However, no matter how big external issues are, the way t…

I don't consider it mumbo-jumbo. But I feel it doesn't fit well with my Western mindset: it costs a lot of time, and is that really the best way to spend that time? I'd rather go out and walk, and think about problems I want to solve. Or use the time to get something done.

A lot of time? I'd say 30 minutes a day (consistently) is enough to get significant benefits. And after all, don't we all easily waste 30 minutes a day or things which really don't contribute much to our lives? Say, browse reddit or watch a TV show. Personally, I've found that trying to meditate in the middle of the day, even late at night, when I'm all "wired" from/during work, or just everyday life, is hard. What I found way easier to stick to is meditate first thing in the morning, only after going to the bathroom. At this point, if you're like me, you're the least anxious / stressed / wired or however you want to call it, and it's way easier to justify spending 30 minutes just being present and quiet. Any other time of the day and it feels like "I don't have time for this", even if I just wasted 30 or 60 minutes procrastinating (or I know I'm about to).

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#45

Post by manuelflara »

AnthonBerg wrote: post #43

Meditation didn't "click" for me for a long time because it wasn't ... aggressive enough. A friend taught me this: Sit or lie still. Burn your body with a white-hot fire, starting at your toes. Incinerate yourself. Visualize intense fire with a child's pure unfettered imagination. Let that fire burn your body slowly, creeping up inch by inch with its quiet impersonal anger. When your body has burnt up, the fire quie…

Your last statement really resonates with my experience. The effects of meditation are indeed subtle but powerful. And I also vouch for Headspace.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#46

Post by lomnakkus »

mkesper wrote: post #31
erdojo wrote: post #18

There is also a growing body of evidence that for some people mindfulness and meditation can cause intense and lasting anxiety and exacerbate depression. (Just one of several recent stories on the subject: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/23/is-mindf... ) That has been my experience. I've done meditation retreats and the like. I do find it slows down my mind, but can also surface things that frankly I…

... can also surface things that frankly I'm perfectly happy to leave under the surface. Mind you they _will_ hurt you over time if you just push them away. You probably should get professional help first before trying to meditate.

> Mind you they _will_ hurt you over time if you just push them away.

How do you know that? (I'm not being facetious.)

I seem to recall there being reasonably solid[1] evidence that thinking about traumatic experiences can actually worsen anxiety and other PTSD symptoms. (Too lazy to look up references, and I don't have access to any paywalled journals anyway, so...) The evidence seems to point to just leaving things be may be better (well, less bad) than trying to "work through" the issues because it means that you'll be wallowing in the traumatic experience over and over.

[1] By psychology standards.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#47

Post by mercer »

erdojo wrote: post #18

There is also a growing body of evidence that for some people mindfulness and meditation can cause intense and lasting anxiety and exacerbate depression. (Just one of several recent stories on the subject: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/23/is-mindf... ) That has been my experience. I've done meditation retreats and the like. I do find it slows down my mind, but can also surface things that frankly I…

If you've sustained some leg injury or are recovering from one, you should probably not go for a run, but taking a walk might be crucial in the recovery, or at least beneficial.

Similarly, I'm sure that some form of meditation is healthy for the vast majority of people, even if it's just five minutes of staring out your window and focusing on your breath, or at least not getting wrapped up in a thought. I know quite a few people (including myself pre-meditation) who run a constant internal monologue, and even that little bit can be hugely beneficial.

But fundamentally I do agree that going off to something as intense as a retreat is probably not a good idea for everyone. It's just not either/or, in my view.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#48

Post by mbrock »

Scarblac wrote: post #40
personjerry wrote: post #14

For those of you who consider meditation a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, I get it, for I felt (and sometimes still feel) the same way. But let me try to phrase meditation in the terms I understand it as. We often find ourselves in stressful or difficult situations, we are constantly bombarded by external worries, and we think it is difficult to deal with our problems. However, no matter how big external issues are, the way t…

I don't consider it mumbo-jumbo. But I feel it doesn't fit well with my Western mindset: it costs a lot of time, and is that really the best way to spend that time? I'd rather go out and walk, and think about problems I want to solve. Or use the time to get something done.

Well, downtime can be valuable. When I think about problems all my waking time, I get kind of burned out. So sitting quietly and just breathing, in that situation, is actually more valuable than thinking. It's kind of like having a nice bath or sauna.

Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body

#50

Post by mercer »

fsloth wrote: post #11
Tharkun wrote: post #7

If you're looking for a low-entry start to meditation, Headspace is a great little app. It starts off easy, with 10 10 minute guided sessions.

Even a lower entry: sit down, put five minutes on a timer, start counting your breaths up to ten. one - out, two - in and so one. Once at ten, start from one. The odd breath out functions as a check sum. If five minutes seems easy, try 10. If you notice you've lost count, it's ok, just start from one. If you notice you are lost in your thoughts, it's ok, just try to gently move focus back to counting and breathing. D…

There's not one 'proper' way to meditate, but what you're describing is indeed the most basic, no-frills approach, and so far it's been my preferred form.

That said, even most basic teachings add a 'warmup' and 'cooldown' to the breathing part. I've been using the Headspace app and the core template always includes the following:

- sit down comfortably, and use a soft focus on some point in front of you - breathe in and out a few times, audibly enough that someone sitting next to you would hear it - close your eyes and focus on the points of the body that connect with the chair/floor/whatever. - do a 'body scan' from the top of your head to your feet. As you do this, make note of tensions, as well as pleasant sensations, but don't dwell on them. - this body scan often leads to a more general awareness of how you're feeling physically and/or emotionally. Make note of that too, but once again don't dwell. - do the 'core part' that you describe - once you're done with this, basically do the earlier steps in reverse. - for bonus mindfulness practicing: think of what you want to do next, and practice maintaining the state of mind you're in (focus only on what you do now, rather than constantly being ahead of yourself in your mind)

Personally, I've found the warmup to be crucial to my own meditation, and the cooldown to be very beneficial in 'maintaining' the calmness throughout the day.

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