Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory.
ne recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory.
Ah hA! I must start meditating now
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Just got google wave
That baby is sooo cute! HAHA.
Who truly meditates these days? I bet those slimmy yoga fanatic cougars just think about how to look good naked when their om….
I can’t do meditation. My brain always try to talk with itself when I’m quiet.
For those that would like to try this – but have tried and failed because they get too easily distracted – try guided meditation. Where someone on a CD guides you through it. Very effective. Would recommend Robbie Write – based in Redruth – CD’s available online – and cheap others are not so great and are expensive – avoid Christopher Penzac would be my advice lol
Meditation is actually really helpful. And it isnt something that is hazy and off with the fairys. Its really down to earth, and actually quite hard. Need to take it up again, but my legs ache so much! Full lotus is a nightmare. Would break my pelvis trying to get into it.
Wow….informative blog post.
Or not.
gee, i guess they’ve been onto something fer the last 5000 years…
I can vouch for that. A friend took me to a bhuddist meditation class a while back and while I don’t subscribe to the bhuddist doctrine, meditation as a basic mental exercise really helped me to focus and relax. I should start doing it again.
The basic idea is to find a quiet room, turn off the phone, and sit in a comfortable position with a straight back. Then simply count your outbreaths for 10 minutes, starting again at 1 each time you reach the end of 10 breaths. Then do the same on the inbreath for a further 10 minutes, then try concentrating on the breathing and nothing else, and finally the sensation of the air where it first touches the skin on the inhale (as it gets into your nostrils). There are good CDs out there to talk you through the specifics and to time out each 10 minutes for you.
I always thought meditation looked a bit silly, but I took it up a couple of years ago, and it’s actually really helpful. Sometimes, when I’m stuck with a bit of college work, I’ll go away and meditate for a while, and the answer will just suddenly pop in to my head out of nowhere. It is difficult to get at first, but once you learn how to ‘switch your brain off’, you find you can go in to that state whenever you like. I think people should definitely try it.
I started writing a comment two hours ago, left and went out for breakfast came back and now I forgot what I was going to say. Guess I could do well with some meditation.
Been meditating 10-15 min every day for the past month (or close to it). It’s difficult, but makes a difference.
Can be reached without the traditional ways of meditation as well, and is very personal .. not all people go via the same path to their sharpest and best brain structures. With age people will normally learn this all by theirselves .. at times they have not even choice. Some need to go down, others need to go up. Is very personal, only we ourselves will know where to go (let alone those who have great insight in other people’s structures).
Not much medidation going on around the coffee machine … in fact .. it does not stimulate the brain .. it will sort of boost you out of your own self .. which is not recommended.
true meditation requires no effort, its simply letting the mind rest in its natural state. It is one of the most wonderful and relaxing state and is the greatest gift we can give others or ourself, of basically being present.
Ive been studying meditation techniques, practices and practitioners mainly in amongst Tibetans and in the himalayas. When you strip away all the cultural and religious beliefs, what is left is very straight forward, non mystical, present awareness. Thoughts become passing objects rather than narcisstic, neurotic habitual patterns to take seriously. As the old buddha said, There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way…..
if you want to learn more….visit…www.tigersnest.com
toodle pops…x
Funny how people who have practiced such things for thousands of years, have been saying essentially the same thing, yet been pretty much told to shush.
A few scientists conduct a study and everyone starts going “ooohhh, maybe it’s worth a shot then”.
I meditate to gain focus, center myself and open my mind. During the hectic and often noisy world of today, it is very difficult to clear your mind. Living in a block of flats doesn’t help either. But I’ve learned to do it quite well with music playing (normal music, I like).
If you can find a quiet space, concentrating on just your breathing is pretty effective. It doesn’t have to be in lotus position, it can even be done laying down. The legs crossed and back-straight method, I believe, is just to prove discipline.
(Continued…)
The ‘Aum’ chant is used by some because it is believed that this is the word/sound that was used to create the Universe.
There are also (in some practices) 4 different stages that one can reach whilst meditating. Each one is a further progression into a state of freeing the mind from the eathly bindings of the body… closer to a point in which you are beyond the material and enter spiritual realm of existance.
I like it when I go all tingly
And before someone says it… I am fairly certain that I don’t have a problem with my circulation and I know it’s not a mild form of stroke.
(However, all of the above could be wrong. I don’t know everything/anything really).
Pax, amor et concordia.
x
Whilst I don’t quite buy in to the totally trancendental/spirituality side of meditation I have no doubt that it as excellent relaxation tool for the mind and body and enables you to sort the clutter in your thoughts.
I used to go to a tai chi class where we would do a 5/10 minute meditation at the end of each class and also attended the same teachers self hypnosis/meditation workshop. Although I don’t use them regularly the techniques I learned there have been very helpful.
I think how helpful it is does depend on your core personality though. I know someone who meditates pretty much every day but is still rather highly strung and self-involved whereas another person I know does not do any and has such a calming and giving aura about them because that is just who they are.
Sorry, just want to make a slight correction:
The ‘Aum/Om’ is the sound/vibration that is believed to have been the cause of the Universe forming (from what I gather). The resonance (if you like), that came from the absolute divine entity, to bring the matter of the Universe into material form, from the void.
Just in case anyone is considering ridiculing this idea completely, especially those who are soley of a scientific mind. Consider the frequencies that the scientific community have ‘discovered’ in their research.
Then perhaps, take into account the basis ‘String Theory’?
Isn’t that, in itself, based on a singular unified frequency vibration, of which everything is supposed to consist of and contain?
(Again, I know nothing… I’m just lil old me, so am probably wrong).
Pax, amor et concordia.
x
Once one can begin to quieten the inner chatter; clarity and stillness decends like a quiet winter\’s morning.
Worry not about folding oneself into an esoteric position or following any particular chant.
You can become.
I try to meditate when I can. It helps me to unwind when I’m feeling stressed and over-burdened with rubbish.
I’m unclear how it works and I’m sure that I’m practising meditation in a very superficial way.
However, it does work for me and I would definitely recommend it as way to relax and clear the mind.
After years of migraines, trying all sorts of medications, adjusting my diet and all that stuff . . . who would have known ten-fifteen minutes a day meditating would have cured it. Haven’t had a migraine in three years!
My doctor told me to give it a try.
i dont know how i feel about medition. for a long while ive thought it is probably a lovely and beneficial thing to do, but i also cant think of anything worse than sitting still and emptying your mind. i like the way i think of twenty random things a second and never spend very long concentrating on one thing, gives you the chance to experience more thoughts. but probably isnt healthy. to be honest – and i feel silly saying this – but im affraid to try meditation. has anyone else felt this?
I don’t have time to meditate but that baby is cute!
Like you say, everyone knows that meditation is beneficial. And so the question is “If meditation is so good for you, why doesn’t everyone do it ?”
The problem is that, using traditional techniques, learning meditation is very difficult. In fact, I think the meditation ‘industry’ has shot itself in the foot by making out that learning to meditate is easy.
Using traditional methods, it’s very, very difficult. It can take many months – and probably years – of disciplined practice before you gain control of your mind and attain meditative states.
Fortunately, there are modern meditation techniques that are incredibly effective.
If you are interested in learning to meditate quickly and automatically, checkout our website at http://www.MeditationsUK.com.
On the other hand, you may decide to go the traditional route. And that’s fine too.
I would like to know your thoughts on games where user plays an online game and submits score. Depending on score, user gets a reply from website which has explanation about person’s memory. The information like, type of memory, memory strength and its weaknesses are given to user in explanatory format. Thank you.