In essence, meditation is about being rather than doing. It is about being present in the moment, tuning out of your busy outer world and instead shifting your focus to your own inner world. Meditation involves creating a state in which the body is completely relaxed and the mind remains alert and focused.
Meditation is an ancient form that has been practised for at least the last five thousand years, often as part of spiritual contemplation, and takes on many types and methods. It is linked to many different ways of life and religions, particularly Eastern religions. Western medicine is taking an increasing interest in the tangible benefits that meditation can bring to regular practitioners.
What is the Harmony Days approach to meditation and relaxation?
Our approach to meditation is non-religious and highly practical. Our aim is to enable you to use meditation and relaxation tools to make a real difference to your day-to-day life and your workplace. You won't need to go on a lengthy course, you won't need any special props or even a special place to meditate - the beauty is that you can meditate any time, any place or anywhere, fitting in with your busy schedule.
Which meditation and relaxation techniques can you experience and learn with us?
We'll provide you with a toolkit of techniques so that you can pick and choose those which are most effective, easy and convenient for you to use, including:
- Breathing exercises
- Moving meditations
- Guided meditations
- 'On the spot' meditations
- Visualisations
- Gentle stretching exercises
What are the benefits of meditation and relaxation?
Meditation and relaxation techniques are associated with a wide range of benefits, including:
Physiological benefits
- Decreases in blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels
- Increases in white blood cell count
- Stimulation to the immune system
- Lowers levels of cortisol (the stress hormone)
Psychological benefits
- Improves the ability to deal with stress
- Lightens and improves moods
- Improves attention, concentration and focus
- Increases self-esteem and confidence
- Improves energy levels
- Improves ability to think laterally and creatively
- Establishes a feeling of inner strength and calm
- Encourages deeper sleep and more consistent sleep patterns
As meditation becomes more mainstream, and indeed is recommended by the NHS, it has become associated with positive benefits in relation to specific problems such as, amongst others, hyperactivity, ADHD, anger management, epilepsy, depression, period pain, post viral fatigue syndrome, tinnitus and Meniere's disease.
What does the research say about meditation and relaxation?
Due to the experiential nature of meditation, research in the past has been limited. Early research, from the 1950s onwards, often struggled to make a positive case for meditation. Difficulties in research design, as well as a lack of theoretical framework for meditation itself, led to uncertainty in interpreting research results. However, the development of fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and its use since the early 1990s has enabled medical researchers to make a robust case for meditation making a measurable difference to brain activity and structure.
Brain scans show meditation changes minds, increases attention, June 25, 2007
http://www.news.wisc.edu/13890
'For hundreds of years, Tibetan monks and other religious people have used meditation to calm the mind and improve concentration. This week, a new study shows exactly how one common type of meditation affects the brain. Using a scanner that reveals which parts of the brain are active at any given moment, the researchers found that meditation increased activity in the brain regions used for paying attention and making decisions...'
Study shows compassion meditation changes the brain, March 25, 2008
http://www.news.wisc.edu/14944
'Can we train ourselves to be compassionate? A new study suggests the answer is yes. Cultivating compassion and kindness through meditation affects brain regions that can make a person more empathetic to other peoples' mental states, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison...'
Take a deep breath; meditation may boost brain size and increase mental performance, according to new research, WASHINGTON, DC, November 13, 2005
Society for Neuroscience
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=news_111305d
'The ohms and ahs of meditation do more than provide feelings of serenity and peace; they also transform the structure and function of the brain, according to a series of new studies. Although Buddhist monks and many westerners have been meditating for years, only recently have scientists begun to study how the practice affects the brain. Now new research presented at this meeting provides evidence that meditation may be able to create important brain changes, perhaps including an actual boost in brain size as well as alterations in brain activity that aid mental performance and increase attention...'
How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006
Scientists find that meditation not only reduces stress but also reshapes the brain
By LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN
http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/web/News/Time_Jan06.html
'...One 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. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age...'
Meditation found to increase brain size
By William J. Cromie
Harvard News Office
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/01/23-meditation.html
'People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don't. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input...'
Further reading about meditation and relaxation
The therapeutic effects of meditation
Peter Canter in the British Medical Journal, Vol. 326, pages 1049-50
Mindfulness based stress reduction and health benefits: a meta-analysis
Paul Grossman et al. in Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 57, pages 35-43
Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness
Sara Lazar in Neuroreport, Vol. 16, pages 1893-7
Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice
Antoine Lutz et al. in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Vol. 101, pages 16369-373