“The greatest of all miracles is to be alive, and when you breathe in, you touch that miracle.” Thich Nhat Hahn
Meditation has exploded in popularity, used by many as a way of alleviating stress, reducing blood pressure, and improving sleep. It is promoted as a tool to enhance cognitive skills and regulate our moods. A variety of meditation practices have found their way into classrooms, businesses, sports, even political campaigns. Thanks to media reporting on meditation research, along with apps such as Headspace and Calm, this ancient practice has blossomed into a billion-dollar business. But for all its popularity, we still do not know exactly what it does to the brain and who benefits from it. Although meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, it has been only recently that scientists have started to study its effect on our health. And despite media reports about the healing powers of meditation, research has not yet found compelling and conclusive evidence related to its efficacy.
Still, many are drawn to meditation but may be unsure where to start. The first hurdle is understanding what meditation really is. Should you sit cross-legged on a mat staring at a statue of Buddha while burning incense, or sprawl out on a couch while listening to an app? Can you sit in your office chair and just breathe, or must you chant in a room full of strangers? All meditation, regardless of its style, is a formal practice meant to strengthen our ability to observe and regulate attention, emotions, and physiological processes. Each style follows certain traditions and uses specific techniques, but all share a common thread of enhancing concentration and expanding our capacity for open minded, present-centered, and expanded awareness. It is the road used by each of these styles to cultivate these qualities that determines which benefits we reap from meditation.
Ancient meditation practices are rooted in spiritual traditions that are based on sacred texts such as the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads. These practices are not intended to be used as a tool to reduce stress, improve health, or enhance our mood. Quite the opposite, as the goal is to dissolve the boundaries between ego--our sense of a separate self with a focus on our individual needs and desires--and that of the universe or a divine creator. Practitioners move through several processes, from breath control to one pointed concentration, with the intention of establishing an unwavering flow of attention that eventually leads to the experience of being absorbed into the divine. This type of meditation is enhanced through the study of ancient texts, so it is attractive to those who seek spiritual growth and development.
Not all people are comfortable with ancient meditation practices, especially given their emphasis on spirituality and the study of philosophical texts. Some find meditations rooted in Buddhist traditions to be more approachable, especially that of loving-kindness, also referred to as metta. Focused on building social connectivity and cultivating our relationships, the practitioner is guided to direct feelings and specific intentions toward a range of individuals, from loved ones, strangers, and those with whom we may feel strong negative emotions. Although loving-kindness meditations have been found to cultivate compassion and empathy, they can be difficult and even distressing when one is struggling with trauma, strong emotions, or difficult relationship issues.
Focused attention meditations cultivate one’s powers of concentration. They involve directing attention to internal processes such as the breath or a part of the body, such as the heart. When thoughts, sensations, or feelings spontaneously arise, the practitioner is instructed to redirect attention back to the object of concentration. This type of meditation also uses mantras, visualizations, chanting, or chimes, providing a focal point which helps to corral one’s attention. Athletes use this type of meditation as a means of improving performance, visualizing a particular movement, such as the swing of a bat or the sensation of swimming in open water. Some evidence shows that focused meditations create structural and functional changes in the brain that affect cognition, executive functioning, and visual processing abilities. The practice of chanting and the use of mantras may even improve the motor control processes of speech.
Perhaps the most popular form of meditation, the one practiced on apps such as Headspace and Calm, is mindfulness meditation. Modeled after the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, mindfulness meditation focuses on body sensations, breathing, and environmental stimuli. The breath is the anchor as practitioners are guided to stay centered in the present moment, observing whatever arises with open, nonjudgmental awareness. Thoughts are acknowledged but then released, allowed to fade away. There are different styles of mindfulness meditation, but all follow an open format that encourages us to remain nonjudgmental about whatever arises, meeting uninvited stimuli without resistance while staying present.
More than other forms of practice, mindfulness-based meditations have exploded in popularity. Given their secular foundation, they are more approachable than traditional meditations, offering straightforward instructions of staying in the moment while focusing on breathing and body sensations. Unlike traditional approaches, mindfulness-based meditations lack chanting or visualizations, Sanskrit words, or references to deities, which some find uncomfortable and distracting. As such, this type of meditation lends itself to scientific research, which has generated a great deal of data. These studies attract considerable media attention; reports of techniques to reduce stress and improve health are attractive “click-bait” material for news outlets. But despite the hype, the evidence for the reported benefits of any type of meditation, including mindfulness-based, is not strong, with many studies showing only weak to moderate—and sometimes a lack of--significant effects.
Weak data that supports meditation’s effectiveness may reflect the difficulty of applying scientific techniques to the subjective experience of a contemplative science. Unlike studies that administer a medical procedure or a pill, meditation is a subjective experience, one that is hard to replicate and is hard to measure directly. Researchers can obtain brain scans and measure blood pressure, but these show us only a moment in time, telling us very little about the impact of dose, experience, a person’s history, or the influence of other habits. Much of what we know about meditation’s impact comes from self-report inventories, which are problematic. And many studies lack scientific rigor, using small sample sizes and weak methodology. There is even a lack of agreement in the scientific community as to how one defines “mindfulness”. Adding to the confusion is a factor known as “social-desirability bias”, which is similar to a placebo effect and can skew results. Social-desirability bias reflects a person’s desire to experience a certain effect. People participating in a study may have heard about the benefits of mindfulness meditation, so they expect the intervention to help. This conflates the desire to be mindful with the actual experience of mindfulness.
We may not have good data about how, or if, meditation changes us, but we do have good data showing that developing mindfulness, by itself, does reduce stress and enhances our self-regulatory skills. The human mind has a remarkable propensity for time travel. We spend a great deal of time wandering between stories about our past and predictions about the future, while touching down into the present only briefly. This propensity for time travel serves some of the time--it allows us to learn, reason, and plan. But all this thinking causes us to miss a great deal of life. And, as happens with many treatments, the dose can be the poison. Spending too much time in the past leads to rumination while incessant planning triggers worry and anxiety, establishing a mindset that is fertile ground for a number of negative emotions.
Mindfulness is an awareness that arises when we pay attention on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally. Awareness is not the same as thinking. It is another style of cognition that compliments the thinking process. Just as we can improve our reasoning skills, we also can cultivate our capacity for awareness. Curiosity grows with awareness, sparking a desire to investigate the world as it unfolds in the present moment. Awareness helps us be more skillful at understanding the present. As we develop mindfulness, we expand our options for navigating the world, going beyond the strict confines of problem solving, opening the door to an innate sense of knowing that we call wisdom.
Meditation can be beneficial, but what you get from it depends on your level of commitment and how well the style and tradition match what you hope to gain from the practice. Keep in mind that contemplative practices, given their subjective nature, are particularly vulnerable to reports of exaggerated positive claims. Not all people can or even should meditate. And, if you choose to start a practice, be prepared for some hard work. Meditation is not a blissful process but an arduous task of repeatedly noticing your thoughts and redirecting your attention. It can be deeply satisfying, but takes concentration, dedication, and patience. And if a formal meditation practice is not appealing, you can find ways of practicing open minded awareness at various points throughout your day. Find moments to take a pause, tune into your breath, scan your body, and drop into the present moment. Like meditation, this is also hard work, but can be equally satisfying.
Neither mindfulness or meditation are the answer to life’s challenges. But both can teach us to meet life’s problems with grace, wisdom, and skill. Whether you decide to sit cross-legged on a mat and stare at a Buddha or pause for 10 minutes several times throughout your day, both paths can lead to expanded present moment awareness. Whatever path you take, what might you notice when you drop your attention into the moment?
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