Meditation

One function of consciousness is to knit together our sense of self-identity. But many religious traditions believe that enlightenment can be achieved only by breaking the shackles of self and attaining "purer" states of consciousness through meditation.

Meditation is best defined as a self-induced process of relaxation providing heightened awareness and opportunities for internal reflection. Since its wide-scale introduction in teh West during the 1960s, meditation has been the source of considerable research and controversy among psychologists, who have been interested in it primarily as a method of relaxation and stress management. Research suggests that, while useful in these ways, meditation is perhaps no better than other methods. The latter include techniques such as progressive relaxation, exercise, and biofeedback, in which patients learn to monitor their own physical processes (such as heart rate or muscle tension) and to control them.

Although meditative techniques are most often associated with Eastern systems of belief, they are also a feature of the Christian faith and are increasingly used in a secular context. For example, transcendental meditation, which gained popularity in the West in 1960s, is largely free of religious connotations. Many top athletes also use techniques akin to meditation to fine-tune their performances; and practising psychologists report that meditation allows people, whether religious or not, to improve their self-esteem and come to terms with previously suppressed feelings.


Forms of Meditation
Meditation has been practiced in a variety of forms in many cultures, both in the East and the West, for thousands of years. Its traditional contexts have been religious or spiritual, or having to do with personal growth.

There are many forms of meditation; some are active, such as dancing, but most are passive. The latter seem to fall into two general categories -- concentrative and opening-up meditation. Concentrative meditation, in which a single object or thought provides a focus that helps the meditator to remove all else from consciousness, has been formalized in numerous meditative traditions. Concentrative meditation includes forms of meditation that develop a concentrated attention focused, for example, on one's own breathing, as in Zen meditation, or on a mantra(a word or phrase selected for this purpose), as is common in Indian practices. Christian meditators, such as the 15th century scholar Thomas Kempis, would focus on the image of Christ crucified, while practitioners of yoga use a mantra or set of words, as the focus of concentration. In the Tantric traditions, body posture acts as the focus.

The psychologist's interpretation is that a person's body image is intimately linked with his or her sense of self. Body image -- the visceral sense of being -- is shaped by the constant barrage of sensory information reaching the body. Maintaining the same posture for long periods of time sends a uniform, continuous input to the brain's perceptual and sensory systems, and the resulting habituation reduces awareness of body image, and so is said to loosen the shackles of self.

Another form of passive meditation, termed opening-up meditation, develops an unencumbered, objective observation of oneself. The latter is common in many Buddhist traditions. Opening-up meditation uses the techniques of concentrative meditation, but moves beyond them. The meditator is told to become aware of what is happening without actively focusing, to become open to all the perceptions that constitute the buzzing confusion normally filtered out by the brain. This should result in an expanded awareness and greater mental clarity.

Benefits of Meditation
As well as its psychological benefits, the meditative state has marked physiological benefits -- these phenomena are measurable and reliably repeatable, and thus are a suitable object of a scientific study. Such studies have revealed some remarkable effects: meditation can lower a subject's metabolic rate, decreasing blood pressure, pulse rate and muscle tension. Studies of one Indian guru, published in the highly reputable science journal Nature, showed that the subject could reduce his oxygen intake to one-third of the normal resting state. Other studies suggest that meditation can help to alleviate bronchial asthma, hypertension and insomnia, and reduce stress.



Aside from controversial issues about the usefulness of meditation as a relaxation technique, research suggests the possibility that meditation, when practiced correctly and for a substantial periods of time, may lead to increased creativity and interpersonal sensitivity.



Who Counts

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat; who strives valiantly; who errs and may fail again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who does know the great enthusiasm, the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt