Saturday, May 17, 2014

Ohmmm...Ohmmm....

Summary
Statue of a Tibetan Buddha deity
Meditation has been practiced by humans for thousands of years. Recently, a team of Norwegian researchers, lead by Jian Xu and neuroscientist Svend Davanger, have discovered how the brain behaves when undergoing different types of meditation. The types of meditation studied were concentrative meditation—which entails the meditator focuses on specific thoughts—and nondirective meditation—in which the meditator lets his or her mind wander. For this study, Xu and Davanger chose fourteen subjects that regularly practiced meditation to limit the chance of lurking variables such as unfamiliarity with the task. The brain activity of each subject was measured by an MRI.
The results of this study were surprising. The researchers observed that the meditators that practiced the nondirective meditation exhibited more brain activity than the meditators that practiced concentrative meditation. Davanger comments on this finding, saying "that nondirective meditation allows for more room to process memories and emotions." Essentially, since the mind is unrestrained, there is more wiggle room for the brain to think.

Reflection

A woman meditating
Well, the school year is winding down, which means extracurricular activities are ending as well. This means I'm finally finding some free time! (I'm sure many of you can relate.) So, this article caught my attention because I was thinking "Heck yes, some time to relax!" So, although I've never regularly meditated before, I'm considering picking this up as a new way to unwind; and, now I know that nondirective meditation might be the best way to chill!

Have any of you guys meditated before? If not, would you ever want to? Here are some links to the benefits of meditation as well as some more types of meditation. Enjoy!

NOS Themes

Science is based on evidence: The evidence collected by the MRI proved that more brain activity occurs during nondirective meditation than concentrative meditation.

Role of motivation and curiosity: Since Jian Xu and Svend Davanger were interested in the brain activity levels of different types of meditation, they discovered that there is a difference in brain activity during nondirective meditation and concentrative meditation.

Article

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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 21, 2014 at 9:37 PM

    I loved your title and summary! It was really interesting to learn how beneficial meditation is for you.
    In another article (http://www.yogajournal.com/health/2601), I found out that meditation can actually change the brain by strengthening neuron connections, even as an adult. It can improve your concentration, attention, emotion regulation, and mental flexibility skills. Another cool thing this article claimed was that doing certain types of meditation can enhance different aspects of yourself. For example, focusing on calm acceptance during meditation can lead to greater mental resiliency to stress.

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  2. AnonymousMay 26, 2014 at 4:39 PM

    We all know how meditation can remove day's stress, provide a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both one's emotional well-being and overall health. Medication also increases one's self confidence. It can also reduce symptoms of anxiety, asthma, cancer, depression, cardiac and blood pressure, and pains. There are many types of meditation including guided meditation, mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, Qi gong, Tai Chi, Transcendental meditation, and yoga. Meditation does require practice. I think we should all try to meditate this summer. I would like to thank Emily for educating us about this subject. To find more about the different types of meditation, visit Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 26, 2014 at 4:41 PM

      http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858?pg=2

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  3. UnknownMay 29, 2014 at 10:11 PM

    Reading about all of the "pros" of meditation made me wonder if there were and "cons." I did some research and found a few things.
    Mindfulness meditation calms and relaxes humans, naturally pushing away external problems that are occurring in the their lives. The negative part about this is that it causes people to literally ignore their issues, which does NOT make the problem go away. Also, by meditating often, you begin to train yourself to avoid feelings. This can cause inability to connect with your emotions, which can affect how you interact in your relationships with others. Lastly, because meditators force negative feelings out of their lives, it actually forces positivity out too. Think about it, if you don't ever feel negativity, how are you supposed to feel positivity if that's all you ever feel anyways?
    Overall, meditation has an unlimited amount of benefits like stated in your article and the comments below it, but it also can negatively impact your life.

    Information from: http://mindfulconstruct.com/2011/02/04/17-ways-mindfulness-meditation-can-cause-you-emotional-harm/

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