Wellness and Healthy Tips

Thirty years ago, after a HIPPY wave that hit world for a decade, the western country discovered a new science that they can make a grip of life is meditation. These previous studies did not respond by them seriously, because the presumption of those who associate meditation with Satan science, witches and so forth. They fear when learning meditation, the soul can not be saved and closed the door of heaven for ever.

The traditional conservative thinking is not too be taken seriously by the hippies who think that they become slaves to dogma over the centuries and handcuffed in full view of the scope of suspicious of the views or way of other. Therefore, they seek more friendly to nature, they generally have a much more opened minded, not tied to the dogma, and ready to accept something new and very "exciting" is meditation.

 Now the development of western meditation greatly increasing exponentially, so that meditation trained to everywhere, by all classes. The development of this meditation has been phenomenal, the times magazine on August 4th, 2003 edition published the meditation as the main article.

The western world are now welcome to meditation with more enthusiasm because after they hold a research and experiments proved there are great benefits to be had by those who practice mediation, which is for mental health as well as for physical health (in the world today all the benefits of physical materialism is considered more profitable than spiritual benefits).

At the beginning of meditation guide books Visuddhi Magga mentioned that life is full of fuck-up, and the content of Visuddhi is a way to describe such unruliness. One way of meditation by focusing on four cornerstones of attention (satipatthana). Lack of attention to the human era is now very serious, because it is based their ability on very many things that make us become less attention to ourselves.

In recent years Western scholars began to recognize psychiatric disorders today's on humans, and they called this disorder with the term "attention deficit disorder (ADD) or lack of attention disorders." Attention meant here is a concern for all our activities are accompanied by vigilance, not the attention of parents, friends and so forth. All human beings have a common abnormality in various intensities, it seems in line with Visuddhi Magga, which states that the ADD is what causes this tangled world.

 Why do those who practice meditation more and more able to decrease the stress self-control than those who do not practice meditation? In research conducted by Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin by using image engine of the brain (brain imaging) apparently meditation makes aactivity on prefrontal cortex (see picture) from the left to right (right behind the forehead), from the left to the right. According to Davidson's research by meditating regularly, the brain changes from opposition to acceptance of the stressful nature of the cause to feel satisfied and accepted. For the people who have negative traits are more likely to use the right prefrontal, whereas the left prefrontal is closer to enthusiasm, more on the attraction, more relaxed and tend to be happier, although somewhat less materialistic.

There were also experiments performed with respect to psychiatric problems, at a rehabilitation center north of Kings County near Seattle,a group residifis are jailed to prison because of drug or alcohol crime but without violence. Vipassana meditation taught them for ten days, 11 hours a day, sitting and walking meditation in turn. Those who are selected are need of rehabilitation, because it requires a strong commitment from participants to stand on meditation for 11 hours a day. Some of them are 56% of the practicing Vipassana returned to prison compared with 75% who did not practice Vipassana. practicing Vipassana they use fewer drugs or alcohol, and less depressed. Wendy Weisel the author of "Daughters of Absence" spent most of his life by drinking anti anxiety before practicing Vipassana three years ago, after practicing vipassana he was entirely independent of drugs.

In another test conducted on advanced meditators actually has the ability to recognize the objects quickly, the meditator recognizes the mood at a series of facial expressions, which is exchanged with the speed of thirty-expression per second! The ability of these meditators exceeded the ability of groups of experts in this field such as psychiatry, customs officials, and screat intelligence agent. Is it possible for them to learn meditation due to compulsory curriculum? 

 Eric Lander, is the Human Genome Project leaders loudly predicted at a conference of scientists and Buddhist scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), that it is not impossible in the future, the United States Department of Health will recommend to practice meditation sixty minutes a day , five times a week.

Jon Kabatt-Zinn who learn the Buddha Dhamma in the '60s and founded the stress reduction clinic at U Mass Medical Centre in 1979, has helped 14,000 people treat their pain without medication. some patients suffer cancer , AIDS, acute pain. The way is similar with Vipassana, he teaches them to focus and see the shape of their pain, and trying to accept the pain rather than against it. Lately, he is studying a group of patients suffering from psoriasis, a disease that is incurable and generally is often treated by asking the patients to come to the hospital, installing anti-UV sunglasses and stood naked in the box of strong and heat ultraviolet light.

This treatment is stressful for most patients. Kabat-Zinn gives meditation therapy for stress reduction to patients who were exposed, in two experiments, which involved meditation of their skin to be clean four times faster than the skin of those who did not participate in meditation. In another study, he with Richard Davidson from the University of Wisconsin in Madison provide an injection of influenza to new group of meditators and non-meditators, to measure levels of antibodies in their blood. The researchers also measured their brain activity to see mental activity shifted from the right brain to left brain. The result was those who practiced meditation not only have much more antibodies in the fourth and eighth week after injection, but their mental activity has shifted posses more antibodies. In other words, the better techniques of meditation is more healthy for immune system. 

Serious research on meditation is earliest recorded in 1967 by Dr. Herbert Benson, a medical professor at Harvard Medical School. Clandestinely in every night, he puts 36 people meditator of Samatha bhavana (transcendental) to his laboratory, to measure heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, and temperature of rectum. After review, they were on average use 17% less oxygen, heart rate lower than 3 beats per minute, the theta wave is emitted (which usually occurs before sleeping) increasing, but the tuner is not the same beam pattern with people who are asleep. Several years later, Dr. Gregg Jacobs, professor of psychiatry at the same university, working with Professor Benson, recording EEG (electro encephalograph) brain waves in the two groups, one taught meditations, while others are allowed to listen to tapes that inner calm. After a few months, those who practice meditation produces theta waves larger than those who listen to tapes, their beta waves are down.  

With the invention of brain imaging studies of meditation will become more forward again. In 1997, Andrew Neuberg neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania studied a group of Buddhist meditators to enter the liquid dye in the blood. Neuberg was waiting in the next room, connected by a rope on meditators in the next door room, then pull the rope to the liquid dye injected into their blood, after the meditator feel into a deep meditation on the circumstances. From the experiment showed that brain activity does not stop when the subjects were practicing meditation, but only to block information coming from the parietal lobe thus losing the sensation of space-time, then he felt united with the universe.  

How is the real condition happened in the process of meditation? Actually the situation experienced by those who meditate, after entering the state of "anuloma" then the information went into sensory does not get attention because the concentration of the object image has integrated into the inner or nimitta (on Samatha bhavana), while to the Vipassana-are focusing on visual object name. Therefore it look at a brain scanner that moment as if meditators are similar to those who are sleeping but it?s not the same. It Looked at a brain scanner, the information will be entered into the parietal lobe is blocked. Actually, These are the working of the thalamus as the gateway of information originating from the nerves in our senses and distribute the data to the brain and blocking other signals remain on track. 

How is the process that actually occurs in the brain during meditation? 

There are some parts of the brain that are involved directly in the process of meditation. They are: 

• Frontal lobe, is useful as an analysis, planning, emotion, and consciousness of self. During meditation, the frontal cortex tend to be inactive (offline).
• Parietal lobe,is useful for processing information from the senses about the environment of us, giving the impression of space and time orientation. During meditation activity in the parietal lobe is slowing.
• Thalamus, is the gate to the door of the senses, which focus on channeling more of sensor data to the brain and stopping other signals on the track. Meditation reduces the flow of information coming. 

Recent development of the epidemic in the world of meditation is now in the United States offered in schools, hospitals, law firms, government buildings, offices and companies. At the airport, can be found meditation room besides chapel worship and internet stalls, even according to the Harvard Law Review Spring edition 2002, the subject of meditation become one of the lessons in the military academy ?West Point?. 

TIME magazine articles besides expose about Vipassana meditation, also expose on the transcendental meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Samatha bhavana (respiratory, love), Tantric meditation is visualization (imagine or create the picture) and also the sex of tantric meditation.

Some list of famous people who feel the great benefits of practicing meditation in their lives after them, namely:
David Lynch (director),Heather Graham (actrees) Actress Goldie Hawn, Bill Ford (Motor Company leaders) Hillary Clinton (U.S. Ex-first lady), Al Gore (Ex U.S. vice president) Shania Twain (Singer), Richard Gere(actor) 

 Those lists are only a few of the famous people who became fans of meditation in the world. This lists continue to grow, may be one of them is you?