Why meditation is important: an analysis on the main practices

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Meditation is a term associated with several contemplative practices spread both in western world and in Asia. A useful term to describe what I’m talking about is “dhyana” which literally means “to see, to look”, “to show” indicating a state of mind of complete awareness and concentration, a practice of detachment and mindfulness. This ensemble of adjectives can barely narrow the endless depictions of the practice of meditation because, overall, every tradition from Buddhism to Hinduism (and their countless school of thoughts) shares the idea of a practice in which the whole attention is concentrated in one point whether the thoughts themselves or the breath, or parts of the body (body scan).
Vipassana is a Pali word literally meaning “insight” or “clear seeing”. In Buddhist tradition it is a fundamental practice in the process of “enlightenment” and purification of the mind. It consists in the nonjudgmental observation of the thoughts and concentrating attention on the breath. As you inspire and exhale the whole spectrum of the mind observes the breath coming in and out, putting all the attention in the nose or the diaphragm. The aim of the technique is to acquire knowledge on yourself, that is, becoming aware of who you truly are.
Mindfulness wasn’t born as a practice itself, it’s rather a quality of the mind as posited in Buddhist tradition. Mindfulness is the ability of meta-attention to the content of the mind (emotions, thoughts, etc.) in the present moment. So, the current mindfulness techniques come from a broad set of traditions all associated by this cognitive faculty. Its importance is, nevertheless, due to the impressive amount of scientific evidence that have highlighted the amazing healing and preventive effects of mindfulness-based meditation on mental health, stress, anxiety, depressive disorders, and even psychotic episodes. Thereby overall this term outlines the aware presence of ourselves in the observation of what happens around us.
Transcendental meditation arises from multiple Hinduist traditions. It was created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian spiritual master along with the Transcendental Meditation movement, a non-religious cultural movement. This approach consists of the repetition of mantras, which are sounds like phonemes or words that in some cases have sacred meanings, for some minutes and concentrating your attention on the sound. Despite its fascinating historical and cultural background and its impressive diffusion, it has collected little to no convincing evidence of effectiveness to heal stress or anxiety.
The influence of transcendental meditation on popular culture is astonishing. Some of you might remember that celebrities like Paul McCartney have contributed to the spread of the technique to the public, but one celebrity has strived to popularize it: the director David Lynch with his Transcendental meditation foundation.

Meditation and mental health

Over the years the massive number of studies on meditation’s impact on mental health has shown a broad range of beneficial effects on sleep, anxiety and stress coping, chronic pain, addiction disorders, depressive disorders, brain function, eating disorders and many other pathological or dysfunctional conditions. Moreover, it helps us to become more aware of our emotions and thoughts, that is, developing a more nuanced understanding of our subjective way of reacting to things.

Luigi Costantini
costantiniluigi3@gmail.com

Bibliography/sitography
● Meditation for posttraumatic stress: Systematic review and meta-analysis – PubMed (nih.gov)
● Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression – PMC (nih.gov)
● Mapping modalities of self-awareness in mindfulness practice: a potential mechanism for clarifying habits of mind – PubMed (nih.gov)
● 9 Types of Meditation: Which One Is Right for You? (healthline.com)
● The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue (escholarship.org)
● Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
● Mindfulness: le origini della pratica e il Buddismo agnostico (stateofmind.it)
● The magic of mindfulness – Harvard Health
● Overeating? Mindfulness exercises may help – Harvard Health
●https://www.bing.com/searchq=david%20lynch%20transcendental%20meditation