Meditation And Religion

Meditative breathing is effective in treating anxiety for several reasons. First, meditative breathing reduced the person's heart rate and therefore has a positive effect on the physiological symptoms of anxiety. Second, meditative breathing is convenient and practical in that it can be performed in any location and takes little time to complete. Third, initial results are immediate- producing an instant calm when performed. Lastly, it can be combined with other treatment modalities (Vukovic, 2003).

Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.

The first dimension used to understand a religion is based off its rituals. Buddhist perform rituals as a way to offer respect to the Buddha and find peace from within. The common ritual practiced by Buddhists is meditation. Meditation is all about focusing and purifying the mind. In meditation, Buddhists go through the steps called Samadhi (calming of the mind) and Vipassana (self-contemplation). During these steps they must adjust their body, breath, and mind, in order to achieve the goal of meditation. The rituals are an important part of Buddhism.

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).

In the practice of Buddhism meditation is the primary means of purifying ones soul and letting go of all worldly desires. Elimination of the desire to cling to works of the world such as judgments, possessions or pleasure by gaining wisdom serves to free the mind and gives one sense of peace. It is the clinging that limits the ability to be at peace. Buddhist who has obtained enlightenment are free from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth and have transcended. It is thru the process of this intense meditation that the ultimate goal of Buddhism can be reach, the achievement of Nirvana.

I also learned the method can be used to treat real medical conditions like high blood pressure and insomnia. The article talked about using the techniques of measured breathing and imagining calming surroundings. Telling you to completely immerse yourself in this scene, and stay there for at least five minutes. The article claims that doing this exercise will improve stress management, confidence, communication skills, performance anxiety, focussing, and clear thinking (SMS).

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 intervention has shown to be effective in alleviating depressive symptoms. In particular, Transcendental Meditation (TM) helps depression patients to relieve stress and depressive symptoms, to improve overall life satisfaction, and to reduce anxiety. Since the underlying mechanism of neurobiological changes brought on by TM intervention to depression patients is yet unknown, this study attempts to investigate how TM helps to relief depressive symptoms by regulating the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis function through the measurement of cortisol response. College participants were randomized into an eight-week program with either a TM intervention or no intervention. During the course of the study, biological function measurement

Meditation causes you to think on God and his Excellencies, which can possibly change your life, all by itself.

* How does the ritual seek to change the participants? –Protect them from future sufferings, provides more insight into meditation

"The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt."

Cultural influence spurs from the Middle Eastern religious practice of Buddhist Meditation. The geometric Square Shape- Western perspective- religions like Christianity and Judaism celebrate beliefs as a congregation where spiritual practice is a communal activity. Hence the square rectangular spaces for gathering.

Instead of seeing a "soul" or a "mind" as the seat of personal identity, in Buddhism, the self is to be found in processes. Meditation, then, has the therapeutic effect of disengaging the practitioner from self-consciousness, freeing the mind. The view of the world without the construct of a permanent essence enables one to "experience reality as it really is" (3). It is important to note that Buddhism does not distinguish mental processes from other senses. Just as seeing takes a visual object, the mind takes a mental object (1). Just as the eye is free to take in different visual objects, the mind is free, as well. While meditation aims to develop "single-pointedness of mind," it is ultimately to free it from external objects. The focus is on the process of breathing, in Zen, and, eventually, one can reach a state where one is not considering anything (2). Zen considers the "blank-mind" stage to be a higher form of consciousness because it is free from attachments.

Start by enhancing your ability to focus. The scientifically proven way to improve your focus and therefore your ability to have more willpower is through meditation. Research to the benefits of meditation and mental health is overwhelmingly positive. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to find a study saying meditation is negative for you. It isn’t even just the positive impact on your mental strength – studies have shown meditation to be beneficial for your physical health as well. Meditating can provide you with more energy, which is useful for your mental strength as well. When you have energy, you are more able to make good decisions and have the mental and physical strength to keep moving forward.

Meditation can destroy the stress accumulated during the day and bring you inner peace. Now we'll show you how easy it is to learn to meditate when you need it most.