What exactly is meditation

This blog post is a follow-up on the previous one: « Meditation and its applications in psychosomatics ». So what is meditation? Quite simply, it is being deeply concentrated on something, anything, rather than the usual thoughts that keep ruminating in our head day and night. Thoughts that can go anything from: « I’ll never get rid of my cancer completely » or « I’ll never be good enough » or « If only I would get this promotion »; you get it, a flux of negative thoughts. Meditation obliges us to stop this mental rumination by being deeply concentrated on something outside ourselves. This can be our breath, but it can also be a monotonous, repetitive task, like sweeping the floor (often a morning ritual at Buddhist temples), pulling out weeds, or knitting. (A few years ago I remember knitting being a « thing » and both Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow being huge knitting advocates precisely for its calming action; I don’t know whether this is still the case:-) ). 

But meditation can also be the action of being completely, utterly absorbed by a good book. Just like during what happens during hypnosis; when the brain is distracted by an outside stimulus and this allows our heart rate to slow down, regulating blood pressure and bringing a host of other health benefits; our brain activity goes into « calm » mode, producing more alpha and delta waves. These « lower » frequency brain waves bring about the deep relaxation responsible for the wellbeing associated with meditation. Yet, the feeling that many of my patients report, of going to a meditation practice or class, and finding that not only are they unable to concentrate or focus but that their thoughts run wilder and more negative than ever, so that they end up leaving the half hour or hour long meditation practice with a horrible backache from sitting in the lotus position for too long, their anxiety levels higher than ever. This is definitely NOT what meditation is about. Maybe a Buddhist monk can meditate for an hour straight after decades of practice, but for a beginner it is simply too difficult. 

So next time you want to have a deep meditation session, you might as well get absorbed in something you really enjoy doing. A run through the forest, if running is your thing. Baking a three-layered cake for a loved one’s birthday. Or simply snuggling up with a good book. The activity itself is less important than the state of flow we get into whilst doing it. And of course, the happiness this brings.