Practical Points on Meditation Practice

 

Dear Yogis and Yoginis,

   Last week I participated in a webinar  titled “Scientific Research on Yoga and Meditation” and I’d like to share its most interesting points with you. The western medical side was presented by Dr. John Denninger of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and the Ayurveda side by Ayurvedic healer/ Yogic Wisdom teacher Indu Aurora (btw for those of you who don’t sleep well at night, she will teach “Yoga Practices for Better Sleep” at Kripalu in mid-September) . 

   Dr. Denninger presented studies showing that people who meditate at least 20 minutes daily experience changes in the brain’s gray matter (compared to people who don’t meditate or meditate just occasionally).  These changes influence the function of genes for inflammatory response, and thus the meditation practitioners experienced fewer non-communicable diseases (NCDs) afflicting global populace: cardiovascular and respiratory ailments, arthritis, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, as well as psychiatric ailments - depression, anxiety, psychosis. The meditators were also able to activate their Relaxation Response (the opposite of the Stress Response), bringing on physiological changes such as decreased heart, rate decreased blood pressure and decreased oxygen consumption (no hyperventilation.) Chronic stress kills, so these findings are very important.

   Indu Aurora gave a few wonderful points on how to meditate. First, choose a pleasant focal point. Second, our body position should be governed by ease: ease of facial expression, ease of posture and limbs and ease of breath -  our meditation breath should be “QSEC” - quiet, smooth, even, continuous. Then, meditation.  Thoughts will come and go.  When they come, Indu recommends focusing on our breath and saying a little Sanskrit mantra such as “niti niti” (not this, not this), “naham naham” (I am not that). She points out that both our meditation and yoga practice should be pleasant, allowing us to step into a pose or movement effortlessly, focusing on contentment and steadiness in our physical asanas. This is the reason I always stress to you, during our practice together, to pay attention to your body and stop when your body says “stop”. 

Anyway, I could go on and on, since this topic is so important to me personally. But I wanted to challenge you today - do you want to try meditating for 20 minutes every day? I am planning to and I hope you can join me in this “tapas”, as we say in yoga.