For 35 years I belonged to an Eastern religion whose teachings required 2 1/2 hours of meditation a day. The reason for that length of time wasn’t made very clear. Typically the religion’s guru would say that we should “tithe” one-tenth of the day to God-realization, or 2.4 hours. Rounded off, 2.5 hours.
For many years I put in that time. Eventually, though, I came to feel that quality was as important as quantity in meditation. Then I typically meditated for about an hour every day, usually in the morning.
However, I was aware that the guru who initiated me had said that ten minutes of meditation with full attention was better than several hours of meditation with a scattered mind. So I became even less committed to an hour or day, preferring to meditate for a shorter period with hopefully better concentration.
After I deconverted from the religion, I felt more free to experiment with different forms of meditation. Mindfulness appealed to me, because it was something that could be practiced either with eyes shut or eyes closed, while sitting quietly or moving about vigorously. Currently I aim at 20 minutes of sitting meditation a day, sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more.
Today I saw a story in the Washington Post, “Stressed? Just a couple of minutes of meditation might help.” That’s a gift link to the story, so everybody should be able to read it. I’ll also share a PDF file, along with some excerpts.
Even 2 minutes of meditation can affect your brain, study suggests – The Washington Post
Research has long shown that meditation influences brain function, but exactly when changes begin after starting — and how they evolve with continued meditation — has been less clear. A recent study suggests even a few minutes of the practice can positively affect your brain.
In the study, published in the March edition of Mindfulness, researchers analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) brain wave data of 103 people practicing isha yoga breath watching, a simple meditation that involves paying attention to natural breathing. With this type of meditation, you bring your focus back to the inhale and exhale if your mind wanders. Previous studies have shown this quiet, attentive state can promote relaxation and lower stress levels.
The study included people who had never meditated, those who were new at it and those who had advanced experience. The researchers looked at how the participants’ brain wave activity changed during a 10-minute meditation session. Within just two or three minutes, all groups showed EEG changes that suggest a more relaxed state.
…Meditation is generally defined as “putting focus on something,” said Helen Lavretsky, geriatric integrative psychiatrist and professor in residence in the psychiatry department at UCLA Health. Whether that focus is on breathing, sounds or mantras, it can have both short- and long-term benefits for the brain.
Meditation primarily affects the brain’s executive function, or the ability to manage and regulate what you think, feel and do. When practicing it regularly, “we see the executive network become more intentional, so you’re more in the driver’s seat of thoughts, emotions and impulses,” said Cortland Dahl, research scientist at the University of Wisconsin Center for Healthy Minds.
Studies suggest meditation may increase brain thickness in areas related to emotional regulation and sensory processing, and that it may reduce emotional reactivity, boost cognitive functions such as focus and attention, and improve stress resilience. Meditating can also make you more resilient to stress and your body less reactive to it, decreasing blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone levels.
…In the new study, researchers explored these relaxation benefits by analyzing levels of different brain wave frequencies in participants during the meditation. Gamma brain waves, the highest-frequency waves, are associated with fast brain activity, such as anxious thoughts. Slower beta brain waves represent active thinking, alpha are even more relaxed, theta represent a drowsy state, and delta waves are present during deep sleep.
After just two or three minutes of meditation, participants of all experience levels showed an increased relaxation response. They had heightened alpha and theta wave activity, and decreased delta and gamma activity, with the response peaking between 7 and 10 minutes of meditation. Subramaniam described this state as “relaxed alertness,” a calm but focused state that eases stress while promoting problem-solving and creativity.
What that looks like in the real world: Imagine you feel stressed due to a challenging work project. “If you have a drink, alcohol might help you relax, but your senses are blunted,” Subramaniam said. “With meditation, you get the relaxation, but you also have alertness that can help you solve the issue at hand.”
While the study looked at focused breathing, experts say any type of meditation can yield similar results. As with physical exercise, there are many forms of mental training, and the important thing is to find one you enjoy. “People often ask what’s the best practice, and it’s the one you actually do,” Dahl said.
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God ( Shabd )is within everyone. I meditate 24/7 because that’s how often I realize that. And I’m nothing special so what does that make you ?
I’m still involved in that for 70 years and counting. The same religion I’ve always been involved in. The one I was born with.
It behooves Satan to eat sheep and die
I don’t need science to verify what’s been known by mystics since the beginning of time. And I didn’t need a guru either except for about 5 seconds.
Everybody needs to write Gurinder Singh a letter and mail it to India, the address is easy to find. He loves getting those especially now on his deathbed.
Never for a second does the thought of Shabd leave my mind, not even while looking at him.
I’ll keep it brief but remember when they used to paper houses with toilet paper (at least in Texas they did because football is big in Texas) Like before a big football game or something. Do that for Gurinder would you. Make some pretty drawings of him for him to put on his wall.
>> … an Eastern religion whose teachings required 2 1/2 hours of meditation a day. The reason for that length of time wasn’t made very clear<<
when our beloved little son could use the bicycle on his own I told him … now hear upon me, little one …. the bicycle will teach you how to be used it and you pay attention.
Years later, looking out the window for him to come home from the 3 elementary school in centre town, i saw him with his arms stretchend out like a bird, completely lost in the movement of making a curve.
I knew there and then that he must have cycled the whole traject of a mile of 5 trough busy streets lost in enjoying what he was doing without paying attention to anything else.
That is, I have come to realize, the way to practice, irrespective the school of meditation … the more details told in advance, the more obstacles, the longer it takes to understand.
Meditation, to use the words of honorable Sawan Singh Ji, is not to be taught but caught … by prolonged attention and concentration it will show its secrets.
Those secrets will spread over other more profane activities in the end.
Nobody taught our son … he found it by loving participation.
Yes .. some will understand earlier than others … those that focus on copying others might take a while.
Whether THEY did it on purpose , I do not know but there is hardly to find any meditation practice where the practitioner is left to find out the details for himself from within than in sant mat…AND ..even THAT is never made clear…. so let it be the thoughts of an coffee drinker.
YOU are the walker, the meditator, the "cyclist"
What I wrote is the outcome of reading many biographies where the practitioners had all something in common …. they were able to GIVE something of themselves ..they PAYED attention to what they did without DEMANDING anything in return
Most people, i feel meditate like children that are asked to wash the dishes .. contre coeure ..because they HAVE too
In sant mat terms …do it with love and devotion
These are all attributes humans have, it is all theirs, it is about them whether the want to invest it on what activity .. it can be given to ALL activities and not only to the sensual pleasures
The activities do not matter …NOT AT ALL
what matters is the GIVING
And yes .. the more one gives, the more one gets from it in return.
It is all psychology and personal choice ..everything outside is an obstacle …. walking the streets of the world offers enjoyments of its light but not the KEY …the KEY is IN the house.
Nobody is to blame .. if one enjoys the streets of the world, the companion of the eloquent experts, enjoy it it to the brim but it doesn’t offer anybody the possibility to GIVE for free
It is a choice like whether to drink coffee or not