How Does Meditation Improve Physical And Emotional Health
Meditation:
Meditation is a mental exercise that trains attention and awareness. Its purpose is often to curb reactivity to one's negative thoughts and feelings, which, though they may be disturbing and upsetting and hijack attention from moment to moment, are invariably fleeting.
The Benefits of Meditation
It is impossible for us to make our thoughts disappear; often, the more we try to suppress them, the louder they become. But practicing meditation can help clear away the mind’s chatter. Studies show that meditating even for as little as 10 minutes increases the brain's alpha waves (associated with relaxation) and decreases anxiety and depression.
Why should I try meditation?
Meditation has been shown to increase focus, reduce stress, and promote calmness. It can also help people recognize and accept negative emotions—especially when it is done in combination with mindfulness practices that keep people grounded in experiencing the present. It may be particularly effective when the meditator has social support, such as in a structured group setting or with the help of a friend or family member.
What types of meditation should I try?
In mindfulness meditation, one turns their attention to a single point of reference, such as one’s breath or bodily sensations, or a word or phrase known as a mantra. The practice has been shown to decrease distraction and rumination, make negative automatic thoughts seem easier to let go of, and promote greater enjoyment of the present moment. Loving-kindness meditation directs one’s focus toward developing feelings of goodwill, kindness, and warmth for others. It can help boost empathy and compassion, and curb charged responses to negative thoughts.
How does meditation improve physical and emotional health?
Meditation acts on areas of the brain that modulate the autonomic nervous system, which governs such functions as digestion and blood pressure—functions heavily affected by chronic stress. Through its physiological effects, meditation has been found to effectively counter heart disease, chronic pain, and other conditions. It is also valuable in improving emotion regulation.
What do people misunderstand about meditating?
Meditation doesn’t require someone to get rid of all their thoughts, which isn’t even possible. While meditating can be relaxing, it is also physically and mentally demanding to train oneself to focus differently. People tend to think of meditating as a solitary activity, but it can be just as beneficial in a group setting. And people often believe they’re not capable of meditating, but the truth is that there is no wrong way to meditate—just trying can bring about positive changes.
Is meditation recommended for people with mental health concerns?
For people who struggle with emotional regulation generally, or with specific psychiatric diagnoses, meditation can be a way to circumvent or avoid negative self-talk that is otherwise difficult to ignore. Meditation helps to provide an emotional buffer, giving an individual time to reflect before succumbing to negativity or acting impulsively. As a result, meditation has become a common prescription for mental health conditions.
How to Meditate
Most forms of meditation are meant to decrease distractibility and promote focus on and enjoyment of the present moment. Like many forms of meditation, requires that one turn attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word or phrase, known as a mantra. Successful meditation takes into account both internal and physical states:
Does the mind have to be completely blank to meditate?
It’s common for a person’s thoughts to wander during meditation, especially when they are first starting out. Trying to stop thinking completely is futile and often serves to intensify unwanted thoughts. Instead, the key is to notice when the mind wanders and bring one’s attention gently back to the meditation practice.
How long do you have to meditate to see results?
Meditation involves a heightened focus on the present moment that can be disorienting at first. Many beginners start with short sessions of three to five minutes each and gradually increase the time they spend meditating. The length of the meditation is less important than being consistent, as many meditators agree that they see results practicing just 10 minutes every day.
What if a person has trouble sitting still while meditating?
Contrary to the image of a meditator sitting cross-legged with eyes closed chanting “Ohm,” there are many ways to meditate that don’t require perfect stillness. Some common styles include getting comfortable and lying down, where one will not be disturbed during meditation. Walking meditation, movement meditation, and even meditating while performing everyday activities. Meditation can and should be individualized to benefit the meditator.
Two major types of mindfulness meditation are focused attention and open monitoring.
Evidence suggests focused attention may be the best meditation for beginners.
Focused attention training might reduce stress faster than open monitoring, particularly in those with elevated stress and anxiety levels.
(1) Focused attention is when you bring your awareness to an anchor point that is with you every moment of the day, such as the breath, a part of the body (e.g., palms of the hands, soles of the feet), or sound. In doing so, we train the mind to be where we choose it to be, which develops our attention control. Attention control is one of the mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation is theorized to work.
(2) Open monitoring focuses on bringing awareness to our physical sensations, emotions, or thoughts to see what is present there, as the entire human experience pretty much happens through those three channels. What is being shared with you through them, and do insights arise based on what is experienced at this moment?
Evidence
There is even evidence that one step is better to take first. Specifically, work by Cullen and colleagues showed that focused attention training might reduce stress faster than open monitoring, particularly in those with elevated levels of stress, anxiety, or depression. This makes sense in that if our thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations are overwhelming, and we have few focused attention-trained skills to redirect our attention to something grounding like the anchor point of the breath, then open monitoring may not be especially helpful in the beginning. It may even cause some unwanted effects.
That is why the best first step could be the attention control meditation described above, followed by open monitoring once we’ve developed greater attention control skills to direct our mind where it feels healthiest for it to be.
Many people have used focused attention meditation as their main practice for decades (e.g., using the breath as an object of meditation). Then, if and as you feel it's a good fit, you can try the open-monitoring meditation, which can particularly enhance self-awareness. Both have their purposes and can complement each other.
Evidence-Based Resources to Learn Mindfulness Meditation
There are many sources to learn meditation these days. Overall, I recommend finding a great teacher, some helpful teachings, and a community to practice with that resonates with you. If you’d like to try open monitoring and focused attention meditations you can find them on most streaming platforms. With all mindfulness practices, including my recordings, I encourage you to try them on for size. If they feel like a good fit and lead to well-being for you and others, that’s great.
If they don’t, please trust your wisdom more than the words of others, including mine, as there are many paths to well-being, and you know best which paths resonate most for you. Having a live, skilled teacher can also be really helpful and a community to practice with. You might like to try out different options to see who resonates with you.
One place to start if you like is the free daily sessions offered by certified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) teachers at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. There are many other options too. Wishing you the best on your journey.
- Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/meditation
