Mental health articles

meditation techniques for beginners free Meditation is taught in many forms and for many diff erent purposes. In the
context of stress management, meditation is a skill that promotes a relaxed
and patient attitude. Th ough it is particularly helpful, it is challenging to master
for those students who are accustomed to multitasking. Th e goal of meditation
is to shift from a busy, judgmental, critical frame of mind to a more
single-focused, peaceful concentration, and so ultimately to achieve greater
concentration and relaxation.
Although meditation can certainly be taught in individual sessions, it is
very easily taught in fairly large groups, as has been the case with the extremely
popular six-session groups at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Th ese
groups begin with a discussion of the benefi ts of meditation, based on both
research and personal examples. Th en there is a description of what meditation
is and is not, which challenges the misconceptions that meditation is just
turning the mind blank, or that it involves gaining psychic power. Rather,
meditation is the process of slowing down and exploring one’s mind.
Students are then taken through the basic steps:
1. Assuming an upright sitting posture
2. Focusing on breathing, physically and mindfully
3. Possibly employing some minor muscular relaxation
4. Focusing more closely on the breathing process, fi rst in the lower
abdomen, then in the upper chest, and lastly in the nostrils
5. Focusing on relaxing images, such as a still lake or blue sky
Another focus in meditation is on the concept of loving-kindness. Lovingkindness
is a meditation practice that focuses not on changing oneself, but on
accepting and befriending oneself. One basic practice is merely to repeat to
oneself, “May I be happy and free from suff ering.” As meditation practice proceeds,
the focus on loving-kindness extends to the self, to friends, to neutral
acquaintances, and fi nally to those toward whom the meditator feels anger
(Chodron, 1996). Loving-kindness is a concept that is thousands of years old
but fi ts neatly into a modern model promoting self-acceptance.
Aft er the exercise, there is an opportunity for questions and answers.
Students are then encouraged to meditate 5 minutes a day, gradually increasing
to 20 minutes. Th e group sessions focus on repeating the meditation exercise
and reviewing members’ weekly experiences. A fairly high percentage of
stressed students enter the meditation group skeptical of the potential benefi ts but feeling desperate enough to try. Th ey will report common concerns: “I
have too much on my mind,” “I don’t have time,” “I am too tired,” “My mind
is like a tsunami,” “My mind won’t stop,” “I can’t sit still.” Because the stressed
students enter the group with such hesitation, the positive results that typically
occur within the fi rst few weeks are very striking to them. Th e most
common eff ects reported are improved sleep, increased ability to concentrate
and focus, and increased feelings of relaxation.
Meditation practices have many variants, but the basic skills of sitting still
and focusing attention seem to be universal. Th e benefi ts of employing meditation
seem to transfer easily to diff erent crucial areas, as studying, sleeping,
and eating (Bien & Bien, 2003; Davidson, 2004; Lutz, Greischar, Rawlings,
Ricard, & Davidson, 2004). Until recently, the long-standing metaphysical
tradition of meditation generated little research interest. Now researchers
(Lutz et al., 2004) are collecting electroencephalograph data that indicate that
regular meditation may induce short-term and long-term benefi cial neural
changes.

Tags: meditation