Article Essay On Meditation

There is not much research demonstrating negative effects of meditation. The arguments against meditation are proposed based upon the validity of the experiments, the human error of the experiments, and the significance of the data (95 percent accuracy or higher). For instance, the experiment with the monks does not consider the amount of brain function each person had before meditating. “it remains for future studies to show that these EEG signatures are caused by long-terming training itself and not individual differences before training” (Lieberman). The issue revolves on the amount of brain activity before meditation and the amount of meditation that has been practiced since the beginning to

Meditation helps Buddhists to understand that the Buddha should be treated as their example, and the attachment on things and how to cope with the feelings of unselfishness and desiring. It helps Buddhists to develop genuine emotions, rejoice in the happiness of others, and do everything they can to free others from suffering. It can help you become a more loving person in daily life.

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

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

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.

Although admired by many very few of us truthfully know what meditation is. It is more or less mental activity aiming at shifting human concentration to something else; others consider that humans meditate when they visualize something that gives them peacetime or satisfaction. No matter what the scientific definition is, the goal is to slow down and, eventually, completely break the continuous activity of the human mind. Mariam Emara is supporting meditation powerfully as she is an Arhati Yogi, pranic healer and meditation instructor she is trying to transfer her knowledge to others and to inspire people to start practicing meditation. Although the writer of the article tried to promote the idea and practice of meditation, she relied more on her personal experience instead of scientific facts. She resorted to false assumption, logical fallacies and weak evidence from different cultures without explaining any of them.

Published in “Newsweek”, “The Neuroscience of Meditation, And the Virtues of Shutting Up,” by Zoe Schlanger, is an article to persuade stressed out and skeptical people towards meditation. Published in 2015, the focus of this article is to help those who don’t understand how “powerful” meditation can be and how others may react to the situation. Miss Schlanger not only puts in her own personal experience, but also brings in other information to try to help guide them to a positive outlook on the way meditation helped her and how it could help them as well. This piece effectively helps the target audience lean toward the idea of meditation by switching from casual to formal diction, using personal experience, and organizing to keep the flow interesting.

“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).

read about how mindfulness mediation can improve mood, quality of life, and attention for those adults who struggle with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). What they were trying to discover was ways to alleviate the signs or impairments that can occur with an individual with affective problems or impaired attention. Most adults with ADHD have a hard time with staying alert and attentive to their surroundings. In the study, all participants in the treatment group received an 8 week course where they were taught meditation techniques and those in the control group did not receive any sort of meditation techniques but instead were prescribed an ADHD medication to take. The medication obviously helped those not receiving the meditation

The article “Capitalizing on Behavioral and Emotional Strengths of Alternative High School Students Through Group Counseling to Promote Mindfulness Meditation” appeared in the September 2013 issue of The Journal for Specialist in Group Work. This research article was written by Betsy L. Wisner and Christine Lynn Norton.

It is so sad to say, but many people do not know what mindfulness meditation is and its benefits. Unfortunately I was one of the people that did not know what it meant although I was close, I wasn’t exactly right. I thought it was changing ones state of mind from negative to positive in order to over come a fear of a certain thing. In this research paper, I will discuss the benefits that mindfulness meditation does and the alternatives there are to this meditation.

Sona Dimidjian and Marsha M. Linehan, from the University of Washington, agree with these points as well. Dimidjian and Linehan published an article in 2003 to the American Psychological Association that dealt with “Defining an Agenda for Future Research on the Clinical Application of Mindfulness Practice.” Scientific and clinical questions that they want answered are along the lines of truly defining mindfulness, what the consequences are with practices and therapies like MBSR and MBCT, what truly makes mindfulness work (or not), how should therapists and teachers be trained, and if mindfulness practices can be spread to all people. An important fact to note is that no study thus far has isolated the effects of the pure mindfulness component in either MBSR and MBCT. Studies that have been done thus far have primarily done pre-post measurements of the results people reported after their practices; however, only a handful have done controlled trials with clinical populations (Baer, 2003). This poses a true threat to the true accuracy and applicability of the results of these studies. Dimidjian and Linehan propose that the isolation of mindfulness and other aspects of these treatments must be done in order to see what is truly making people improve, remain the same, or get worse. Once these dependent and independent variables of these practices and therapies are determined, then those variables can be further tested into their applicability to certain disorders, mental health issues, and much

Meditation means to concentrate and connect with ones’ own mind, to explore identity and emotions in order to be aware of conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious thoughts. Meditation originates and has been has been practiced in Asia for thousands of years for different reasons such as increasing concentration abilities, religious purposes and also to train the mind. This essay will focus on how meditation affects brain plasticity (ability to change), emotionally and intellectually, leading to better performance and coping abilities in stressful situations. Things like attention span, memory functions and complexity of emotions will be further explored and may interest the reader since meditation can answer many questions on improving mental health that affects almost everyone. I will make the claim that meditation practice needs to be introduced early into educational institutions such as schools. Because evidence suggests that that meditation increases the volume of the cortex in the brain, leading to a higher and more powerful emotional intellect and cognition that improves things like memory, attention and emotional control. It is logical to assume that in order to alter thickness of cortex, mental thought functions and emotional strength, meditation should be introduced to children early in school for greater performance.

Mindfulness meditation consists of skills and methods to unplug from the busy world around you and from the busy 'monkey brain ' so often experienced in today 's life and particularly in ADHD, anxiety and depression. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness meditation trains and reinforces the ability to pay attention to the present moment, on purpose which helps to increase concentration, decrease anxiety, improve sleep, improve mood, decrease the stress response, and improve physical and emotional health. The studies are compelling about the health benefits of mindfulness meditation. In fact, studies show that mindfulness meditation actually changes the brain in positive ways. The cortex of the brain is thicker in certain areas of the brain in those who practice mindfulness meditation. And brainwave patterns are changed in healthy ways as well.