Meditation and the Human Meditation and the Human Mind/BodyMind/Body

Navadeep Khanal

Hanover College

IntroductionIntroduction

Physical and mental fatigue can make a person prone to illness.

Regular exercise, good nutrition, sanitation and good sleep and relaxation help keep mind and body healthy and less prone to illnesses.

Meditation is one of the many ways to relax body and mind

PastPast ResearchResearch Benefits of meditationBenefits of meditation

improvement in mental and physical health

feeling good about oneself and others

relief from stress and anxiety

alleviation of pain greater sense of self-

actualization self-directedness

-Kelly, 1996

PastPast ResearchResearch... What happens in the ... What happens in the bodybody

Body reaches a heightened restful state while at the same time the brain became calm but remained in a state of heightened alertness.

Heightend restful state,– lowered heart rate and pulse, slow and calm breathing, and relaxed

muscles, -Orme-Johnson (1987, 1995)

Heightened alertness. – EEG recordings show high activity of alpha and beta waves -

Persinger’s (1984, 1993)

PastPast ResearchResearch... What happens in the ... What happens in the body...body...

Decrease in the concentration of arterial and blood lactate

levels 4 times faster than in sleep Wallace and Benson(1970, 1971,1972) Blood lactate level goes up with increased physical activity

and stress and normally go down with rest and sleep

Bloomfield, et.al., 1975. Body metabolic rate down 16% in about 1 hour of

meditation 5 – 10 % decrease after 6 – 7 hours of sleep.

General State of the MindGeneral State of the Mind

it is restless

cluttered by thoughts, desires, memories

randomly moves from one thought to another

hard to focus the mind especially when you want it to be still/calm

What happens in the mind...What happens in the mind...(Pertaining to the techniques used in this study)(Pertaining to the techniques used in this study)

With lots of practice, the minds stops reacting to thoughts, memories and desires and follows constructive actions

With this training one starts to act constructively rather than react to life-situations

When the mind is calm, so is the body

HypothesisHypothesis

People who practice meditation on a regular basis for at least a month will experience better physical health, will feel better about their lives, will have a higher sense of self esteem and feel better oriented in life.

ParticipantsParticipants

11 college students

7 females, 4 males

between the ages of 17 and 22 years

3 females and 2 males in the meditation group

4 females and 2 males in the control group

MaterialMaterial

3 meditative techniques– awareness of sitting– awareness of breathing– awareness of body

4 part before-after Questionnaire – basic health questions– self-esteem inventory– life satisfaction scale– social adjustment scale

ProcedureProcedure

Filled questionnaire (before)

meditation group trained in 3 techniques of meditation for 6 weeks

Filled questionnaire (after)

ResultsResults

Pretest ANOVA showed no difference between participants in the meditation group and the control group

Repeated Measure Analysis of life-satisfaction showed significant difference between the meditation group (M = 28.4) and the control group (M = 24.3), p < .05 after 6 weeks of meditation.

Results 2Results 2

Within subject test showed a significant difference in the means of the meditation group before meditation (M = 25.4) and after meditation (M = 28.4), p >.05.

Within subject test for the control group showed no significant difference in the means before meditation (M = 24.6) and after meditation (M = 24.3).

Results 3Results 3

There was no significant difference between the meditation and conrtol group in health, self-esteem and life orientation.

There was a growing difference in the means in life orientation between and within groups however it was not significant.

DiscussionDiscussion

Suggestion that meditation allows the person to look within oneself in relation to oneself, others and their sorrounding helping them to find satisfaction within their own lives.

There was also some suggestion that people can orientation of their lives better by this inward search.

LimitationsLimitations

Time period was very small– Change through meditation not a short term process

Very few participants– difficult process– time consuming– frustrating at times– some self-selection bias