Arguments Against Meditation Research

Buddha was a big advocate of meditation. He became established as a teacher about 500 B.C. His ideas were stretched into various Asian countries and in other places people created different forms of meditation based on his teachings. In Islam the Sufi tradition of meditation was purported and the leaders (Sufis) think that when Mohamed began Islam that is when meditation started with that religion. Meditation is part of Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, and aboriginal religions.

In conclusion, while transcendental meditation appears to benefit some practitioners, the presence of conflicting research and data causes me to question the validity of the practice. I believe the presence of negative data has caused the movement to die down in recent years. While transcendental meditation might not be the next endeavor that I pursue on my own spiritual journey, the insight that I have gained during this class gives me hope for other possible spiritual practices in the

This paper is about my experience with mindfulness based meditation and scientific inquiry of these experiences. Mindfulness based meditation is describes as technique used to cultivate nonreactive, non-judgmental and stable awareness of the present moment (Garland and Gaylord, 2009). The end goal is to sustain this meta-cognitive state for a long period of time. I practiced non-denominational form of mindfulness based meditation for the first time in my psychology class, which was devoted towards intellectual and experiential examination of meditation. The practice was conducted in a group it was instructed by our own professor and it begun at the end of class. There was one sessions per week and each session was structured meaning it was

Rooting back to its’ ancient times, meditation has been around for thousands of years, especially in the Eastern part of the world and has spread to the Western countries in early 1970s.

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

Josephine P. Briggs, M. (2010, June 25). Exploring the Power of Meditation. Retrieved from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: https://nccih.nih.gov/about/offices/od/2010-06.htm

It's too religious for me. It's true that mindfulness meditation has its roots in Eastern traditions and Buddhism. But Jon Kabat-Zinn brought the skills and practice of mindfulness into the mainstream over 20 years ago. The mindfulness skills I teach are not based in religion and are practiced by those of any or no faith. They can be used in a religious context, but the approach I use for clients is non-secular.

“Meditation is a means of transforming the mind” (The Buddhist Centre 2015). Buddhists practice and teach meditation to help enhance the concentration, clarity, positivity, and find a calming sense of the mind (The Buddhist Centre 2015). Buddhists believe that we have full control and power over our minds meaning that we have the power to change how we think and feel during situations through meditation. (ReligionFacts 2015). Buddhist’s believe dedicated meditation can encourage people to have a clearer, more positive, and peaceful world view. Buddhist’s believe people can alter negative perceptions of themselves and turn it into something positive through meditation/ (The Buddhist Centre 2015).

Research suggests that meditation may physically change the brain and body and could potentially help to improve many health problems and promote healthy behaviors. In a 2012 study, researchers compared brain images from 50 adults who meditate and 50 adults who don’t meditate. Results suggested that people who practiced meditation for many years have more folds in the outer layer of the brain. This process (called gyrification) may increase the brain’s ability to process information (Meditation: In Depth).

Some of the earliest confirmed written records found detailing meditation come from Vedantism, a hindu tradition at around 1500 BCE. The religous writers or "Vedas" talk about the ancient indian tradition of meditation. From this point in history forward, meditation is said to have spread through out China and India.

The second stated “long-term meditators would show superior performance to short-term meditators”. And the third stated “concentrative meditators would be more subject to expectancy effects…mindfulness meditators would show superior performance relative to concentrative meditators when the stimulus was unexpected” (Valentine & Sweet, 1999, p. 63). Using the Wilkins’ Counting Test (a measure of sustained focused attention) the control group was placed in a classroom to perform the test while the meditation groups were tested post meditation sessions in a separate room. The test was comprised of a series of tones which each group was asked to count (the meditation groups were told there would be three rather than two sets). The results confirmed the three hypotheses, overall concurring the use of meditation leads to improved concentration with little difference between concentrative and mindfulness meditation (Valentine & Sweets, 1999).

The implications of meditation have long been controversial and abundant research studies have been done in support of meditations potential to change the brain and body. The results within this research paper center on main changes in the brain such as reducing depression, effecting levels of cognitive flexibility, and creativity due to meditation. The research also focuses on variations within the body as well as changes that may be included in both topics of brain and body relating to stress regulation, heart rate variability, and emotional responses. This research paper examines these articles and their studies in order to support the argument that meditation encourages positive changes

A major impact meditation has is on the physical increase of thickness of the cerebral cortex (outer layer of brain tissue) and grey matter

Argumentative thesis: Although many people assume medications such as antidepressants are the only way to treat patients with depression, meditation is a better choice of treatment as it prevents relapse in patients that are recurringly depressed, is accepted by a large portion of patients that are typically unwilling to take medication to treat their depression, and rebuilds brain structures affected by the mental illness,

Neurophysiologists have shown interest in that state of no-self that Buddhist monks can reach while in prayer. It has been found, using a specialized brain imaging technique based on CT scanning, that the brain-state of Buddhist monks in deep meditation is radically different from that of the average waking person (Newberg et al., 2001). In fact, during meditation the body changes its physiological ‘state' to a more beneficial pattern (Weiten, 2005, p. 145). This is not to say that Buddhism is "the path" – similar brain patterns have also been found in Franciscan Nuns deep in prayer. Interesting work has also been done researching the effect of electromagnetic interference on brain function. Researchers