Quotes & Phrases

Meditation has been practised for thousands of years in many forms. It is easy to see meditation simply as part of Buddhist monastic discipline. How could meditation have a practical application in our lives?

James has found that meditation has many benefits: first and foremost, it permits him to enjoy a degree of calm that he can’t achieve without it. Other benefits include increased happiness, increased creativity and a greater reserve of mental strength to efficiently deal with the daily stresses and strains of life.

Meditation as medicine?

It is easy to view meditation as an activity we can do when we are feeling stressed, like taking a pill for a headache. There is no doubt that controlling our breathing can calm our minds but this is not the primary benefit. Meditation should be viewed as a way to prevent ill-health – just ten minutes a day can make a real difference.

The type of meditation that James practises most often is zazen, from the Zen Buddhist tradition. This form of meditation does not require the reading of sutras, chanting or the following of precepts. Simply, all that is required is to sit, to regulate your breathing and to quieten your mind. By following these three steps, we become more mindful. Practically speaking, this means being profoundly involved in the present moment and setting aside the regrets of the past or projected anxieties of the future.

Where is the evidence?

There are any number of reasons that explain the benefits of meditation and many have been explored and validated using scientific research. Since the 1960s scientists have investigated the effects of meditation on the mind, but interest from the scientific community on this subject has exploded in the past decade. Current research has explored brain wave activity and measured the effects of meditation on a biological level.

Here are some of our favourite examples of scientific research on meditation:

Harvard: Meditation positively affects both body and mind

John Denniger, a psychiatrist and the Director of Research at Harvard Medical School says that their research demonstrates that “there is a true biological effect…The kinds of things that happen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body, not just in the brain.”

MIT and Harvard: Meditation reduces stress

The research of this joint MIT and Harvard team confirms that meditation can elevate the alpha rhythms of the brain and proves that this elevation helps us deal with stress more effectively. Catherine Kerr, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the paper, says of her subjects that ‘their objective condition might not have changed, but they’re not as reactive to their situation… They’re more able to handle stress.”

So what will meditation do for me?

In the short-term, meditating regularly will help you to handle your stress more effectively and to be more productive in both a professional and personal sense. In the long-term, meditation will improve your mental and physical health.