Inspired discussion on the fundamental nature of meditation between Guru Andrew Cohen and Pundit Ken Wilber.  The question raised is what more can be done to make a change in the world other than simply meditation?  Meditation itself can seem as though it is an isolated and self-serving act which doesn’t really assist in the evolution of humanity.  However, both Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen take a strong position on how meditation can indeed lead one to make significant changes within the structures of consciousness — in fact, we may even need to do more of it!  Listen to this short yet insightful dialogue, which can help bring clarity to our conceptions about the role of meditation in our lives and what we can do to ultimately serve the evolutionary process as a whole.

A very thorough and detailed description of mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat Zinn. John gives clear examples and analogies that lead the “seeker” to awareness, and to ultimately go beyond thinking. Even though Zinn calls awareness, in many traditions it may be called consciousness, attention, or turiya. Whatever you call it, the beginner will quickly learn how to meditate consciously and find real happiness within.

Find other meditation techniques.

Listen to finding real happiness here.

Learn how you can awaken your own happiness on this key dialogue with Sharon Salzberg.

Great introduction on how to meditate with Sarah Mclean.  Sarah Mclean has been meditating for over 21 years, and has undergone vigorous training in Zen meditation, Bhakti yoga in India, and learning advanced meditation techniques with Deepak Chopra at the Ayurveda centre.  She is very clear in her definitions about meditation, and gets to the essence of what real meditation is, and not what we are typically taught what meditation in the West.

Sarah states several important principles about the practice of meditation such as having discipline, commitment, getting “control” of the monkey mind and “leaning back” instead of leaning forward into the posture of receiving.  She also mentions that it is important not to try too hard when meditating but rather to allow it to happen (i.e – allowing the breath), while maintaining a consistent meditation practice.

Sarah also leads us through a calming guided meditation that brings one to the present moment by focusing on the breath and relaxing any tension in the body.  Sarah goes on to discussing the importance of “meditation in action” and how one can become an agent of being while performing activities in regular every day life.

Although meditation has been practiced for thousands of years by truth seekers, the evidence for the benefits of meditation didn’t come into the light until very recently.  And although most who do maintain a meditation practice, don’t actually need evidence of the benefits it has to offer, it is something worth investigating in order to make it more accessible to the mainstream public.  The reality is most people don’t meditate, and doesn’t realize why it’s important, and how it can actually help them in their lives, even if it’s only at a physiological level which they choose to improve.

In the recent years, many studies have been done by scientists for people with health conditions.  Their objective was to see how the practice of meditation using certain meditation techniques would affect the person’s condition, and whether or not there would be reduction in it.  Scientists have tested several health conditions from stress, depression, and anxiety to heart and cardiovascular disease, as well as breast cancer.  The results which they found were nothing short of remarkable.

Over eighteen million people suffer from depressive symptoms each year, and they found that those that practice transcendental meditation for at least 20 minutes twice per day were able to reduce their symptoms considerably.  All mental health conditions were improved, and there has already been many studies which prove that stress can affect a person’s physiology.  So by reducing stress related symptoms, the body is further able to heal itself, and lead to improved health overall.

Those people with heart and cardiovascular disease also showed an improvement of about 50% with their symptoms with the practice of meditation.  And the same goes for those that had breast cancer.  There are many other health concerns which have been improved upon simply by practicing meditation, and there are many ongoing studies to see what other benefits there are with meditation.

Now although these conditions have been improved with transcendental meditation, it doesn’t mean that’s the only form of meditation practice that can help.  It’s just the primary practices that scientists chose to use due to it’s popularity with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  So practicing other forms of meditation can have similar if not even better results with a persons state of mind, and body.  It really depends on how you chose to practice, and how committed to you are to staying consistent and practicing daily.  Sometimes it’s more than just about how long you meditate, but rather how engaged you are with the practice itself and the consistency of your practice.

So meditation has been proven to have many benefits at both a mental and physiological level.  But this is also intuitive to many long term experienced practitioners of meditation simply because they have observed the mind-body connection as well.  But for the general public, these studies can be a good thing, as it can help lower the defences of those that have an aversion to meditation, or don’t feel that it really is that important to do it on regular basis.  Perhaps ongoing studies in meditation can help bring greater light in the world in regards to these previously thought esoteric methods.

Learn more about the benefits of meditation.